10 climate lessons from self-improvement books

I am slightly ashamed admitting it, but I’ve read them all: the self-improvement books. The personal development recipes. The productivity porn.

Every time, it sounds so simple: I’m just 365 days of 4am-wake-ups/ cold showers/ meditations/ journal entries away from achieving all my goals and dreams, from “becoming my true best self”. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to be that simple in my life: I’m still not the CEO of a unicorn, my muscles are well-hidden beneath a couple of layers of body fat and this article took a small eternity to finish (though you could wonder what a train wreck I’d be without having read those books).

Anyway, despite the simplistic models and the endless succession of Instagram one-liners, I have to admit that some of the points they make deserve some thought, and at least some lessons are useful in daily life. As much of my daily live revolves around trying to fight the climate crisis, I will translate some of the lessons from 10 books in thoughts around climate action.

In my humble opinion, climate change and climate action are no longer about science. The science is well-understood, and remaining engineering problems can be solved by the abundant human resourcefulness present in the field. Climate action truly is about political will and inspiring management, to bring everyone (or at least a democratic majority) on board, and quickly steer the ship in the right direction. Here’s how:

Start with the why (Simon Sinek)

Lesson: The title perfectly summarizes the plot of the book (in fact, I wouldn’t recommend reading it, it’s extremely tedious): you have to start with the “why” before diving into the “what” and the “how”.

Climate: The climate crisis is an extremely complex issue, and there is no single or simple fix. So instead of getting stuck in the details of all the things that need to happen and how that could possibly be done, it’s important to focus on the “why”: quite frankly, there is no other choice but solving this issue. There are no thriving economies on a dead planet, there is no future for unsustainable practices on a finite planet, and our little blue dot really is all we got in the universe.

Atomic habits (James Clear)

Lesson: “Winners and losers have the same goals, but if you’re improving 1% every day, by the end of the year, you’re going to be 37 times better.”

Climate: I can’t help but roll my eyes at the “ambitious” net-zero targets, without any remotely believable plan to get there. What matters is not where you dream to be in 30 years, what matters is what you do today. I am waiting for a politician coming home from a COP, saying “from today, all meals sponsored by the government will be vegetarian” or “tomorrow, the sale of gas boilers will be stopped stopped”, or an oil executive announcing that bonuses and dividends will be suspended, and invested into the energy transition. Put your actions (and money) where your mouth is. Today.

The 4-hour workweek (Tim Ferris)

Lesson: This book takes the Pareto principle to the extreme: you do most of the meaningful work in only a fraction of the total time, so if you only focus on all your most impactful projects, you can work just 4 hours a week.

Climate: I see two totally different lessons in the fight against climate change. On the one hand, it’ll be important to focus the attention on the important projects that actually have a chance of scaling. Can we PLEASE stop obsessing over plastic straws, and fry the bigger fish? (pun intended) On the other hand, tackling the root causes of the climate crisis will entail a revamp of the way societies work, and I believe working less can be a huge lever in lowering unnecessary CO2 emissions.

How to Win Friends and Influence People (Dale Carnegie)

Lesson: “Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves.”

Climate: It’s not hard to find someone who doesn’t think of climate action as a priority. What is hard, is to listen to what they’re actually saying. There is too much of a narrative of “the smart and caring scientists against the stupid and selfish climate change deniers”, which is too polarizing, and which further decreases the chance for any meaningful change. Listen closely and respectfully, and you might find more common ground than you’d think. From there, anything is possible.

The 7 habits of Highly Effective People (Stephen Covey)

Lesson: One of the habits is “Put First Things First” (sometimes referred to as “eat the frog”)

Climate: The thing is: before everything else, the burning of fossil fuels needs be discouraged, and the most effective way to get started, is to end fossil fuel subsidies. There really is no sustainable future in which the use of gas is given priority over renewables, or where driving a car is encouraged over riding a bike. No techno-fix in the world can make up for the fact that fossil fuels are getting 11M$ of subsidy… per minute.

The lean start-up (Eric Ries)

Lesson: Show an Minimum Viable Product (MVP)

Climate: I fundamentally believe that solving the climate crisis will also solve other major societal issues. As an example: getting rid of diesel cars not only saves on CO2, but also improves the air quality in cities. If you have a small proof-of-concept to show people what is possible, it will be much easier to scale. Several cities are reclaiming public spaces for “pedestrianisation”. This initiative usually starts small, and is now spreading throughout cities all over the world.

The art of War (Sun Tzu)

Lesson: The best way to win is not to fight at all.

Climate: I feel that sometimes, climate action is seen as too much of a fight. A fight between two distinct camps, who vow to never help each other reaching the goal. This zero-sum thinking is really harmful for both sides! Do an MVP, show what is possible and how this can improve everyone’s life, and people might be fighting over who gets it first.

The subtle art of not giving a f*ck (Mark Manson)

Lesson: “You are wrong about everything (But so am I).”

Climate: It’s important to remain humble. What you’re working on today might not be the silver bullet you or others were hoping for, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t worth the try. Question yourself if what you’re doing makes sense. And if stops making sense, try something else.

Unf*ck yourself (Gary Bishop)

Lesson: Stop reading this book and do it.

Climate: After endless climate conferences, all the promises and the blablablabla, the world is only moving further away from a true zero-carbon world (let’s not even start about the “net”). There is no easy way, there are no shortcuts, everyone will have to do it themselves. So stop reading or talking, and just do it. (well, if you made it this far, only one point left in this article)

12 rules for Life

Lesson: “Pet a cat when you encounter one on the street.”

Climate: Climate change is causing heat domes, forest fires, freak blizzards, heat waves in winter, storms in summer. These increasingly extreme weather events cost human lives, and create a lot of damage. And they’re only getting worse. I’ll admit that sometimes, this overwhelmes me.

But whenever there’s an uncharacteristically hot day in spring or a lot of snow in winter, I just try to enjoy the day anyway. I go outside, I go for a picnic or a swim, I go skiing while I still can. I try to make the best of whatever weather is thrown at me (for now).

It’s easier to fight an existential crisis when you’re not freaking out.