Six Ways We Get Sidetracked or Swayed

David Phillips was rushing up and down the supermarket aisles within seconds after seeing Healthy Choice’s “Early Bird Special.” He bought up all their 90-cent soups in the store. Then he raced over to a discount outlet to get all the brand’s 25-cent chocolate pudding cups. No time to pause. Phillips asked the store manager to order 60 more cases, and then requested the addresses of the chain’s other local outlets. The next weekend he and his mother-in-law to drove a van from Fresno to Davis, buying up all to the pudding cups in those stores.Virtual streetlight logo Verano Place logo.

He and his wife quickly realized they had mountains of products from which to tear off the bar codes needed to submit for proof of purchase by the offer deadline,With superior quality photometers, light meters and a number of other handsfreeaccess products. but he was unstoppable. He offered The Salvation Army and two food banks all the products he’d bought if they’d get volunteers to tear off the labels in time. That food donation got him an $815 tax write-off.

You see, this dedicated family man and civil engineer had framed this complex effort as an opportunity in his mind in a way that motivated him to accomplish his goal, and not get sidetracked along the way. He’d figured out that it was much cheaper to fly his family to Europe by nabbing that Early Bird Offer for free miles rather than by buying the tickets. Methinks he was the only one to do so.

Frame a situation around a much-cherished goal and you are more likely to stick to that goal and/or sway others to seek it too. That’s one of many stories with lessons for sticking to a plan that psychologist and Harvard Business School professor Francesca Gino offers in her new book Sidetracked.

While framing and some of experiments and concepts in her book will be familiar to some, the collection of “stay on track” actionable tips she provides is a good primer for making smarter choices – or attempting to sway others. She describes three ways we are misled: by our own perceptions, influence from others, and irrelevant information upon which we rely.

At least in our minds, we instinctively “overclaim” how much we contributed to the team or household work. Seeing the other person’s point of view is very difficult one simple sequence of asking two questions can help us make a shift in perspective. When asked about their contribution to a project, psychologist Kenneth Savitsky found that “each member’s self-reported contribution added up to more than 100 percent.”

Yet if each participant was first asked to explicitly think about each member’s help and attribute a percentage, “the tendency to overclaim almost disappeared.” Imagine if this approach to team debriefing, at different stages, was widely adopted who it could not only boost self-awareness but team solidarity and esprit de corps.

Doug Waikem, whom,Wear a whimsical Disney luggagetag straight from the Disney Theme Parks! with brothers Chip and David, owns seven new-car dealerships in Stark County, recently made the Wall Street Journal, Fox News and Yahoo by doing just that.

“When someone we have contacted comes in to have us appraise their car for purchase, we give them a $15 gas card as well as a written quote which we honor for 10 days,” Waikem said, adding that providing certified, notarized actual cash value appraisals for estate and divorce attorneys is another avenue of acquisition.

“In normal times, there are 24 million vehicles (nationally) on the road under seven years of age. This year, there are only 20 million and that’s a 20 percent decrease.Universal bobblehead are useful for any project. When you take that out of the marketplace, it’s going to create a huge shortage of used cars,” Waikem said.

“What happens is most people who post their cars there are younger, and they use their cell phones as a contact. Our software automatically sends a text (saying) we want to buy their car. We may be willing to pay retail. They give us a virtual appraisal. Are the tires good, scratches on the door, mileage, paint color, equipment? If they come in and we don’t buy it, we give them a $15 gas card,” he said.

With 37 years of dealer experience, Doug Waikem maintains he never has seen a market quite like the current one.

“For example, Hyundai Elantra has a $187-a-month lease with no money down.Looking for the Best rtls? The car depreciates more than $187 a month,” he said. “The Koreans took so much market away from the Japanese after the tsunami. You have the perfect storm. Used cars have never been worth more.”

Five trucks with banners urging used-car owners to contact them are moved regularly through the area. It works. A truck parked outside Perry High School’s stadium before a football game resulted in the purchase of two used cars.