‘When you're finished changing, you're finished.’
Benjamin Franklin

‘An ounce of practice is worth more than tons of preaching.’
Mahatma Gandhi

Given that we just spent the whole of chapter 9 on Movement, I couldn't let you put this book down without first talking action.

This is the point where you ask yourself: What can I do to make sure I put the ideas from this book to good use? Here are four simple suggestions to get you going:

Start small

Pick just one idea from this book, and identify a low-risk situation in which you can give it a go. Maybe you'd like to play with the three perception dials from chapter 6. Or perhaps you'll pick one of the Mood strategies from chapter 7. Whatever you choose, it is only the first step in implementing the ideas in this book. Treat it as a learning experiment. After you've tried it, step back and review how it went. What did you learn from it? What went well? What will you do differently next time?

Make yourself accountable

Create some scaffolding by setting one or two goals and talking accountability with your manager or a mentor. For example, you might set a goal of ‘Draw on the Mood strategies in each presentation I do to our key accounts next month’ or ‘Identify ways of scaffolding any workflow changes agreed with the product development team’. Make those goals visible. Include them on the agenda every time you catch up with your manager — and ask them to be your coach. (You could even discreetly leave a copy of this book on their desk.)

Work as a team

If you haven't already completed the ‘Over to you’ section at the end of each chapter, now is a great time to do so. Use those exercises as discussion points for your team or a group of friends or colleagues, and work through some of them together. Draw on the ideas in this book to build a shared language among your team. Imagine how powerful it would be if you could all talk easily about the challenges of building buy-in and offer each other support. Before you know it, you'll have created your own culture of buy-in.

‘Lean in’ to the discomfort

When you put on a new pair of shoes, they often feel stiff and uncomfortable, as if they don't really belong to you. It's the same when trying anything new. The first few times will feel unusual. The words won't feel natural. Or you may feel as though you're getting it all wrong. That's normal — in fact, it's a sign that you're challenging yourself to grow. Reading this book won't make you instantly fluent in the language of buy-in. The only thing that can get you to that place is practice and repetition, and being prepared to make a few mistakes along the way. As world champion basketball player Michael Jordan so wonderfully put it: ‘I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.’