Switch 01: 3 Surprises about Change (Chip & Dan Heath)

I love this book. We’re getting things done right from the get go. Here are 3 ways suggested by the authors to get the results you want:

1)      Be clear and specific about your target. (Right now you’re at Point A and you want to get to Point B. What is the Point B you’re trying to get to?)

2)      Motivate yourself: Be clear about the reasons why this change is necessary. What’s not working well right now at Point A that makes you want to switch to Point B?

3)      Be clear about the path: create a specific roadmap that will make it easy for you to make the change – a roadmap that will make it easy for you to take the necessary actions to make this change possible.

They all call for clarity. Be clear about where you’re going, why you need to go there, and how you plan get there.

Your biggest ally in making these changes is your environment. Willpower is unreliable. Willpower depletes.

And so, if your environment in not supportive of your goals, you will have a hard time taking the actions necessary, which will make it almost impossible to get the results you want. Change only happens through action. And if your environment doesn’t help you or make it easy for you to take the necessary actions, you will struggle. The reason we start with shaping the environment is because willpower is exhaustible. The best way to succeed is to eliminate the temptation altogether.

The authors mention a popcorn study that was conducted in California, USA, in which people were given different sized containers of stale popcorn. The study found that people who had big containers ate more popcorn than those with smaller containers. Keep in mind that this popcorn was stale, so they were not eating more because the popcorn tastes good. And they got the popcorn for free, so they were not eating to avoid wasting their hard earned money. They ate more because they had bigger containers. They ate more because their environment invited them to eat more.

The environment plays a bigger role in your success than most people realize, or are willing to admit. If you want to give yourself a better chance of success, then you need to shape your environment to support your goals. If your environment is set up for productivity, you will take more productive actions. 

Your knowledge, skills and attitudes surely play a role, but shaping your environment makes everything else much easier. Often, you might think that you’re the problem. And it’s true. Your willpower is  a finite resource. And if you rely on willpower alone to create the success you desire, you will be fighting an unnecessary uphill battle. The smart thing to do is to preserve your willpower by making success habits as automatic as possible. Eliminate the need to make a conscious decision every time something needs to be done. Make these habits automatic.

If you want to change the results in your life you have to start acting differently. Nothing inn your life will change until you start behaving in a new way. And to start acting differently, you need to tweak your environment. 

If you truly want your actions to change, you must do more than change your environment. As important as environment is to your success, it is not the only factor. You also need the emotional and mental fortitude to persist with your new habits.

In any given moment, there’s a battle going on inside of you – the battle between your emotions and your mind. Your mind is telling you to push away your blankets and go for your morning run. You know this will be good for your health and general wellbeing. But then you decide to pick up your phone and check your TikTok feed. The craving to lose yourself in the glorious TikTok madness  is so intense you think to yourself, “What harm could 5 minutes of downtime do?” before you know it, 5 minutes of downtime turns to 3 hours of doom scrolling.

Your change efforts have failed in the past because you succumbed to the craving of instant gratification and you lost sight of the greater benefit you said you wanted. Your emotional side is searching for instant gratification while your analytical side is thinking about the long term consequences. Big changes require big amounts of willpower, leaving you susceptible to temptation.

Your emotions are not the enemy, not entirely. They are important to your success because they help drive your ambitions. That’s why people like Jim Rohn and Tony Robbins emphasize tying your goals to emotional and logical reasons that drive you towards the better life you seek. When you want it bad enough, your emotions will help you drive towards your goals in the face of adversity.

On the other hand, your mind is not always your best friend. Your mind can overthink, analyze endlessly, worry, spin its wheels without helping you move an inch towards your goals.

When it comes down to the wire, your emotions are more powerful than your willpower. In any head-to-head battle, your willpower will lose. Willpower runs out of steam. This is not to say you can’t develop your willpower and train it into becoming stronger. However, if you want to succeed long-term, you might want to get your mind and your emotions inn alignment – get them working together for that added impetus.

Not only that, be clear about how you intend to get there. What action steps are required for you to get to your goals? What behaviors do you need to change to get to your goals?

If you want your change efforts to succeed, you must provide clear direction. Be specific about what you want and how you plan to get there. Be clear about the logical and emotional reasons that are driving this change. What are you trying to change? What are the consequences if you fail to make this change? What are the benefits if you succeed?

Paint a clear picture of what the end result looks like. Create an action plan. What actions do you need to take to get there? Be specific about the result you want to change. Be specific about the time-frame within which you want to achieve these results. Tweak your environment to make it easy for you to start and maintain your new habit.

Some is not a number. Soon is not a time. Be specific. What? How much? By when?