It’s something we hear all the time: You want to do good, but even your best intentions go awry. So what can you do about it? We asked Francesca Gino, a professor of decision-making and negotiation at Harvard Business School and author of the new book Sidetracked, for some advice.

Francesca Gino. Photo credit
Rosalind Hobley.

The three forces that throw us off track

Sidetracked addresses a problem most all of us can relate to: How is it that we spend so much time making plans and charting goals, then find ourselves far afield from them later, wondering where we went astray?

“Both in my own experience and in talking with others, one consistent surprise is that we think big things are going to move us and get in the way, but the reality is that very small and seemingly irrelevant forces have a huge effect on our decisions,” Gino says.

In many cases, the forces guiding us aren’t obvious. So the first step in getting set straight again? Awareness.

Forces within ourselves. Most of us harbor an overly positive view of ourselves, and Gino’s research concludes that our intentions are often as valuable to us as our actions. “For example,” she says, “I tell you I’m coming with you on Saturday to pick up trash in the park. If it rains and I call you to postpone, I’ll still feel as good about myself as if I’d actually done it, regardless of whether or not I ever do reschedule.”

Forces stemming from relationships. We are of course influenced by the people we know, but also by people we’ve never met. In a UCLA study mentioned in Sidetracked, it was found that hotels who advertise to their guests the environmentally-friendly option of reusing their towels during their stay get many more participants when they include a statistic about the large percentage of previous guests that have done so. Whether we are conscious of it or not, most of us feel drawn to join a crowd, rather than blaze new trails of our own.

Forces coming from outside. In a study involving car insurance, policy buyers were required to report the mileage on their cars’ odometers to determine their premiums: the less miles driven, the lower the cost. Participants were significantly more truthful when the form they filled out had them sign their name and an affirmation of honesty first and then give the mileage number—rather than the reverse. In this case, a very subtle, simple visual change was the sidetracking culprit.

Do you need help staying on track?

Sidetracked

“We are all vulnerable to these forces, so let’s recognize them for what they are and take steps to minimize their impact,” says Gino. Here are her top three tips:

1. Check your perspective. “It’s good to feel confident, but also important to realize when we’re giving ourselves too much credit,” Gino says. “To avoid getting sidetracked, we need to be honest with ourselves about what we do, and give ourselves credit for following through, not just for having good intentions.” Her advice is to stop sometimes and ask: Am I being egocentric? Am I discounting the advice or experience of others because I have tunnel vision with my own?
2. Take your emotional temperature. “It sounds silly, but I think it works,” Gino says. “It’s very easy to take stress or other emotions you feel from one area of life into another, unrelated time and place.” So if you feel your emotional temperature rising in rush hour traffic, avoid getting sidetracked when you get to work by asking yourself: Are the emotions I’m feeling at the moment going to cloud my judgement? Should I cool off for a minute and then start my day?
3. See the big picture. “Often, we’re very narrowly focused on the task at hand, and we forget to step back and zoom out,” Gino says. She advises periodically stopping to revisit the bigger goals we set out to accomplish and make sure they stay on our minds, even though the details of carrying them out can require the bulk of our attention.

Do you find yourself getting sidetracked? Why do you think it happens? How do you avoid it?

_

Visit Francesca Gino’s website for more about her research on decision-making, judgement, negotiations, and other areas of behavior. Buy Sidetracked on Amazon or Barnes & Noble for more research and tips on how to stay your course.

In this series of blog posts, I’ll try to answer all your questions about anything and everything regardless of how ridiculously unqualified I am to answer them. Consider me sort of a tech-literate, bearded, Ann Landers or a work-safe Dan Savage.

Last time you heard from me, I’d invited all of you to ask me even the most random of questions. I wasn’t entirely sure if I’d get any questions at all. I did. Thank you, readers! Now, let’s see if I can actually answer them.

I recently got a degree in ‘service design’ from SCAD, and just moved up to NYC a couple weeks ago. I’m a highly motivated idealist, and I have a rare, yet amazingly valuable skill-set. But how do I find an awesome job doing awesome work for an awesome company if no one knows what my field is– and no one is posting jobs in it?
-Yosef

This is a tricky question. First of all, networking is going to be important, but you’ll have to go beyond ordinary networking. Don’t just go to parties and mingle and talk about how great you are: get involved everywhere you can and show up as a representative of your field. Get involved in your professional organization. Go to every relevant event you can. Participate, and get visible.

The nonprofit sector, which is often starved for resources, may be an especially tough sell for someone in a field like yours, which will seem to many like window-dressing or a luxury service. You’ll need to go to extra lengths to show why your work is important and how it helps organizations succeed in their mission. Telling people why your work is valuable to each organization will be your responsibility. Take it seriously. No one else will do this for you.

Build a nice-looking webpage (which I see you’ve done) advocating for your expertise, but also advocating for why your work matters. Write articles for publications explaining how valuable the field is. Look for opportunities to volunteer and/or do pro bono work for causes you believe in, and build a spectacular portfolio from the results.

Because no one knows about what you do, you have a rare opportunity to show people why it’s important, and to become the representative that everyone thinks of when they want someone to help with that field.

One reality is this: in the short term you might find yourself doing a job that isn’t exactly what you hoped, but this doesn’t mean you can’t use what you know. Your plan will be to use the deep knowledge and rare skills you possess, to build your future a little bit at a time. So look for jobs in related disciplines, and that encompass things that are like your field. You’ll bring different knowledge to your work than any other candidates, but that’s a good thing. Highlight that difference on your resume, on cover letters, and in your interview, so that you stand out. Then once you have the job, make your unique skills count.

I’m working with a bunch of college students who are serving as mentors to graduating high school seniors over the summer. Someone told me that I could give them all Google phone numbers, which could map onto their existing cell phones so that they wouldn’t be giving out their personal info to the students. How does this work?
-Lisa

Google Voice ought to be perfect for your purposes. It just takes a moment to set up a Google Voice account: you tell it what number you want it to ring, then pick a number from the available options, to have as your GV number. Setting this up takes only a couple minutes, and there’s a good support page.

Now, this basic setup won’t help with outgoing calls, only incoming. If you want to make outgoing calls, you’ll need a Smartphone with an app. Android phones are especially good for this, but iPhones can do it too. There’s also some built-in tracking if you’re in an org using Google Apps (which I heartily recommend for most nonprofits). You also can get voice mails in your email inbox, which is pretty neat.

What is the meaning of life?
-Brett

Finally, a question I’m qualified to answer! A question that has tormented deep thinkers through the ages! No problem. I’ve totally got this.

Seriously, for me there’s one simple answer: love. Not love as a noun, love as a verb. Active love: giving and being generous and trying to improve the world in some small way. Doing this means you’ve got no time for fear or discontent or angst. And there’s nothing more satisfying than giving back to the world around you. There are so many ways to give and serve, and that’s why we’re here.

It’s why Idealist.org was made, it’s why the nonprofit sector exists, and it’s why we work in it. This is always a work in progress, and having patience with one’s own imperfections is also a way to act with love. Be patient and give it a little bit each day, and you’ll be on the right track automatically.

That’s all for this installment. Have questions about anything I’ve said? Or about anything else (and I do mean anything)? Ask me.
-
Ask Ero anything (anything anything anything) at ero@idealist.org.

In this series of blog posts, I’ll try to answer all your questions about anything and everything regardless of how ridiculously unqualified I am to answer them. Consider me sort of a tech-literate, bearded, Ann Landers or a work-safe Dan Savage.

Hi, I’m Ero. I’m Idealist.org’s tech support guy. I love answering questions from people who use our website. And I’m here to help you when you’re helpless and confused.

There’s a pretty good chance you’re feeling helpless and confused right now. I know, because I get phone calls on a regular basis from people who want me to rescue a lost cat.  Or who’d like to send me a large pile of used medical equipment. Or who think I’ve just personally rejected their resume for a teaching job in Canada.

As a garden-variety computer nerd who happens to love nonprofits and the people who work for them, I’m incredibly ill-equipped to answer any questions other than “How do I use the Idealist website?” I’m actually pretty good at answering that question, which is why I have a job answering questions about the Idealist website.

I can tell you, for instance, how to sign up, reset your password, add or remove your organization, pay an invoice, and much more.

But you call and ask me how to help the sea turtles, or what the tax rate is in New Jersey. Normally I’ll answer back that I’m not really qualified, and try to point you in the right direction if I can. But in these blog posts, I’ll answer any question you ask.

Until I get your first questions, I’ll try to shed light on how the website works. I’ll start by explaining two things that people don’t always know about Idealist:

1. Everything on our website comes from you.

We maintain a great website full of useful tools, but aside from our blogs, every single bit of content in it is made by our user community, the amazing Idealists around the world. Yes, I’m talking about you.

If your nonprofit has an account on our site, it’s because someone at your organization made one. If you’re getting email alerts, it’s not because we stole your identity; you signed up for an account with us.

We do our best to keep the website up-to-date, but we only built the playground, we’re not the parents.

2. We’re here to bring people together.

We’re not a corporation trying to sell your personal data, and we’re not really interested in ripping you off. We’re a nonprofit, too, and our mission is to make the world better by helping people be effective at doing good.

We want the website to work as well as it can, so that you can connect with others, copy good ideas, take advantage of our resources, and find organizations who you know would love to have you as an employee or volunteer. We couldn’t do it without you.

Have questions about anything I’ve said? Or about anything else (and I really do mean anything)? Ask me.

-

Ask Ero anything (anything anything anything) at ero@idealist.org. 

Over the past few months, you’ve helped members of the Idealist community take one more step forward on their idea. (Go ahead. High five yourself in the mirror for a moment.)

Act on your idea before the light burns out. (Photo via Spigoo on Flickr’s Creative Commons.)

Together you:

• Offered Lisa your expertise on how to best connect job seekers looking for a new career, and encouraged her to take advantage of what’s already out there.
• Helped Alex further refine his idea to institute a progressive income tax in Oregon.
• Reached out to Everita in support of artists and learned more about what’s going on in the post-Soviet region.

We know there are more world-changing ideas out there hiding in notebooks, scribbled on napkins, and retreating in heads.

No matter what stage you’re at in your process, we’d love to hear from you.

• Individuals: Whether you want to start something of your own, volunteer with an existing organization, or simply want to be a better neighbor, let us know what challenges you’re facing and advice you’d need.
• Organizations: Looking for knowledge on how to implement a new program, campaign, initiative, etc. or want to improve an existing one? Facing an institutional roadblock you’re sure another organization somewhere has experienced? Tell us about it.

Sometimes saying it aloud is all you need to do to get the momentum going. We promise we won’t bite.

_

Don’t waste another minute. Send your awesome ideas to celeste@idealist.org.

Yesterday, one of our interns shared her reflections on Michelle Obama’s commencement speech to the class of 2012 at Oregon State University. While many of us were inspired by Michelle’s words, we wondered what advice our community of change makers would give to this year’s graduates.

What advice can our community on Twitter offer to the class of 2012? (Photo Credit: Eldh, Creative Commons/Flickr)

To that end, we asked our friends on Twitter to complete the following sentence: “Dear Class of 2012, if you want to change the world, remember…” Here is the advice they shared:

“Dear Class of 2012, if you want to change the world remember to find friends to help you out. No one can do it alone!” ~ @aimee587

“…if you want to change the world, remember you must change yourself first.” ~@SummerStrauch

“…remember to live humbly and compassionately.” ~@MAWGtheFROG

“…remember to start small but think big and watch the ripples reach a nation.” ~@KaulanaNC

“…remember to listen to those you seek to help.” ~@NonprofitJen

Thanks to everyone who shared their advice! You can read all of the responses by searching for #idealist12 on Twitter. Be sure to follow us @idealist and join the conversation.