{"id":541,"date":"2019-05-27T04:23:17","date_gmt":"2019-05-27T04:23:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.greatideasgreatlife.com\/?p=541"},"modified":"2019-07-02T04:39:21","modified_gmt":"2019-07-02T04:39:21","slug":"switch-how-to-change-things-when-change-is-hard-by-chip-heath-and-dan-heath","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greatideasgreatlife.com\/blog\/switch-how-to-change-things-when-change-is-hard-by-chip-heath-and-dan-heath\/","title":{"rendered":"Switch : How to Change Things When Change Is Hard By Chip Heath and Dan Heath"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Introduction<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Have you ever had a bad habit that you\nwanted to eliminate from your life? Do you want to learn how to make new,\nbeneficial habits? Did you ever feel like life\u2019s hitting you hard with all the\nchallenges? Did you ever have problems with adapting to the environment? Truth\nis, every single human being would answer \u201cyes\u201d, on all these questions. And\nthis is why the book \u201cSwitch\u201d is so relevant and important for everyday,\nreal-life situations- you can practically take everything you read and\nimplement it to your life. Of course, if you want to change- if you don\u2019t want\nto change, feel free to stop reading this summary. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first hurdle on the path towards change\nis acceptance. You have to accept that the change is necessary. If you don\u2019t\naccept the necessity of change, everything you do will be in complete shambles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The book itself is based on an old\nmetaphor. According to this old Buddhist teaching, the man consists of two\nparts- the Rider and the Elephant. The Rider is the cold, rational, calculative\npart of all human beings. It plans, makes schedules, does math, etc. On the\nother hand, the Elephant is much more emotional, impulsive, and hasty. Both the\nElephant and the Rider have to work together in order to find the right Path.\nThe Path is the third element in our equation, and it stands for the\nenvironment that surrounds both the Elephant and the Rider. The Heath brothers\nteach you that all 3 parts are extremely important in developing the potential\nfor beneficial change. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nRider<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As already mentioned, this is the \u201csmart\u201d\npart of our being- it solves problems. However, he doesn\u2019t do it on his own- he\nreceives all the energy from the Elephant. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the biggest problems with the Rider\nis that he analyzes a lot. He overreacts and exaggerates the negative sides of\nyour life. This is called negativity bias. Negativity bias was once extremely\nimportant because it practically assured our existence. In a harsh environment,\nit is always best to pay attention to the negative stuff, because everything\naround can practically kill you. But we no longer live in pre-historic times.\nIt\u2019s the 21st century and negativity bias actually stops you from seeing your\nown potentials. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So instead of overthinking and committing negativity bias<\/strong>, you should try to\nfocus on bright spots<\/strong>. Finding the\nthings you are particularly good at is a sure way to eliminate overthinking and\nnegativity bias from your life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For instance, Nikola Tesla chose to focus\nall his energy on only one thing-science. He actually neglected everything\nelse, and you don\u2019t have to resort to such extreme measures. But, what you can\nlearn from Tesla\u2019s example is his focus. He always knew what he wanted- by\nchoosing one or two important things in your life, you will be able to focus on\nthe so-called bright spots and thus eliminate overanalysis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can also script the crucial moves<\/strong>. This is another technique mentioned by\nChip and Dan Heath, that can be used to \u201ccure\u201d decision paralysis. This kind of\nparalysis occurs in situations when we are overwhelmed by stress. However, if\nyou sit down and practice the crucial moves, they will become completely\nautomatic- in other words, you won\u2019t succumb to the decision paralysis. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For instance, if you feel extremely anxious\nwhile speaking in public, you should learn your speech thoroughly. Secondly,\nyou should desensitize yourself by speaking in front of people- not necessarily\nlarge crowds, but smaller groups of people. Finally, you can learn non-verbal\ngestures and some jokes that can be used to warm up the crowd. Best speeches are\nthoroughly prepared, even though they seem spontaneous. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Right<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The\nElephant<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This part of our being wants it all and\nwants it now. It is very \u201cheated\u201d, impulsive, and abrupt. On the other hand, it\nis the source of our energy. This is why the Rider and the Elephant have to\nwork together. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By taking emotionally-charged goals<\/strong>, you will get the much-needed energy from\nthe Elephant. In short, when you do what you love, everything is sweet and\nsound. Unfortunately, we live in the real world, and we cannot always do what\nwe love. The Heath brothers give you a piece of good advice on how to attain\nthese less emotionally charged goals. You should make takes these \u201cunemotional\u201d\ngoals, and turn them into black and white goals. B & W<\/strong> goals are very specific and concrete- in other words,\nthey are very clear. Let\u2019s say that you want to learn how to play the guitar.\nYou can say to yourself: \u201c I will start by practicing 2 hours a day.\u201d- and this\nwould be a perfect example of B&W goals- they are clear, transparent and\neasy to attain. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

An example of a badly-chosen goal would be:\n\u201cI will practice more.\u201d This goal is so vague that it\u2019s almost impossible to\ndiscern failure from success. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Elephant often loses motivation when he\nsees that a lot of work has to be done. Psychologists were able to prove this.\nThey gave loyalty card to their participants- in short, to win a bonus car\nwash, participants first had to buy a designated number of car washes. The\nfirst group was given a card that already had few stamps on it, while the other\none received a completely empty card. Note that both groups had to buy the same\nnumber of car washes in order to get the bonus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The results were surprising- the first\ngroup, the one that received a card that already had a few stamps on it, bought\nmore car washes. They were motivated to buy more because it looked like the\ngoal was at least partially attained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In order not to demotivate yourself by\nchoosing too challenging goals, simply start\nsmall.Separate the bigger goal into several smaller and easier ones<\/strong>. When\nfirst learning how to drive a car, you want to get the basics- how to change\ngears, how to park, etc. Only after making a lot of small steps can you take on\nsome bigger challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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