Chip and Dan Heath/"Made to Stick"

If something is sticky, it is very difficult to get off, like jam or honey. Ideas can be sticky in the sense that they do are not easily forgotten. They stay (stick) with you. These concepts are difficult to “get off,” or “unstick from” the brain. I’d like to be able to do that—get people to remember what I say (write).

The Heath brothers write that templates enforce more creativity. This is certainly true for myself. If I am told to write something, I need guidelines of some sort. I don’t think everyone feels like this, though. Templates could definitely hinder some artists. Music in the twentieth century was all about ignoring preset forms, and some of the greatest pieces have been composed because of that (in my opinion, anyway).