Three Core Factors of Change

DAY 5

One of my own personal goals is to become a writer. One who is a sharer of ideas and a master of words. To reach this goal I've been reading a lot and recently discovered the three engines of change. Originally the concepts were from the book The Happiness Hypothesis which was written by University of Virginia psychologist Jonathan Haidt. I found it elaborated and explained in Chip & Dan Heath's book Switch: How To Change Things When Change Is Hard. Knowing these factors will allow you to understand how change works and help you on your process.

The book uses analogies to describe the relationship between our rational thinking side and our emotional thinking side. Our emotional side is called the Elephant and our rational side is called the Rider. Our brains make decisions based on these two perspectives. The situation and environment that the Rider and the Elephant go through is called the Path. This is the analogous to the same situation and environments that we go through. These three forces characterise our everyday decision making and process of change. I'll explain the role of each one in a little detail.

The Rider and The Elephant

Providing the Elephant direction is the Rider's most important job, and without a strong one the Elephant would always overpower the Rider's decisions. Our rational side, The Rider, represents willpower and that willpower can be exhausted by your emotional side's resistance to change. The Elephant focuses on short term satisfaction and the Rider plans for long term. Think of it as someone trying to steer a 6 ton elephant into going the direction that it wants. The Rider can only force the Elephant in a direction for so long before the Elephant exhausts the rider and changes direction.

A 'strong' Rider is one that can provide crystal clear instructions for the Elephant. It's strength comes from it's ability to influence the Elephant. The ability to inspire our emotions and cause motivation is what makes the Elephant go in a direction. The Elephant is very simple and volatile so when things aren't working the way they seem it would react. It's stubbornness causes resistance to change and reverting back to old ways. A coherent step by step process is needed for the Elephant to understand why the Rider wants to go in a direction. From understanding each piece the Elephant would be more inspired and motivated to move towards change.

An example of this is if a person wanted to change himself to exercise regularly. That person's 'Rider' would need to define a clear goal and provide the steps to that goal. By looking into what exercises build towards the goal and generating a plan towards the goal, the Elephant would be inspired and motivated to move in that direction. Without a goal and without a direction the Elephant would do what it feels like and often does not result in change. The Rider needs the drive and energy of the Elephant to move in the direction of our goals. We need to emotionally inspire ourselves towards rational decisions to get lasting change.

The Path

The environment and situation that we are proposing change in matters. This is independent from the relationship between the Rider and The Elephant. If we are placed in a Path that leads us towards a general result then eventually we will end up there. A Path can be preventing us from reaching a certain destination so we need another path that leads us towards change.   

For example - studies show that people who eat from larger containers generally eat more. This information can be useful for a person trying to lose weight. It's rather simple, but its an example of how a situation can affect our direction towards a goal. Now that the person identified the Path, they can follow another Path in which they eat from smaller bowls. This makes them generally eat less and move towards their goal no matter what.

Paths can be identified and changed so that one is generally moving towards a goal no matter what. It is just as important to identify ones situation and environment to see if it encourages change.

If you want to know more about these concepts read Switch: How To Change Things When Change Is Hard. It's an interesting read that goes a lot more in depth about each of these roles with real world examples.