IGX

http://www.amazon.com/Switch-Change-Thi ... 341&sr=8-1

Great book.

The central point of this book is that our behavior is controlled and affected by 3 main things.

1. The Rider -- this is our analytical side.

This is the side that says I'm going to follow a 5/3/1 training program, or rationalizes the reason why a girl doesn't like us. The rider is a strong force but it gets bogged down if the direction isn't clear e.g. Tell someone to eat good and when they are out they think "well grains might be bad because of gluten, and dairy's bad because we weren't made to drink milk" and so on, paralyzing via analysis and draining the will power.

2. The Elephant -- our emotional side.

By the analogy it should be apparent that the elephant is hard to control for the rider, oftentimes we emotionally want something -- say a donut, and then the Rider comes up with a way to rationalize it. If there is not an emotional connection to a behavior it can make change nearly impossible.

3. The Path -- this is the ease of traveling along a course of action.

If others are doing it, if the environment supports it (let's say our fridge at work is stocked with healthy food), then it makes it easier. If our wife is eating fried food all day, stocking the pantry with chips and candy bars and telling us we hate her because we're eating spinach and egg whites, that would be an unsupportive environment.

The goal is to provide all 3 elements in creating change:

"Whether the switch you seek is in your family, in your charity, in your organization, or in society at large, you'll get there by making three things happen. You'll direct the Rider, motivate the Elephant, and shape the Path."

You can read the first chapter here:

http://www.heathbrothers.com/switch/chapterone.php





----- My experience so far with the material

It's shocking to me to see how much rationalization I go through on a regular day, currently I'm trying to implement the ideas to help my personal training clients adhere to a good diet, so that ultimately they can be in the best shape they can be.

I've used small quotes to inspire emotional responses, I've made simple eating plans to reduce the analytical side and I've tried to provide back up meals locally so that in a worse case scenario they can grab healthy, nutritious fast food. Still have lots of work to do, but even coping with failure is addressed in the book

"People persevere only when they perceive falling down as learning rather than as failing."

Sigmund Freud called and he wants his model back.

Fat Cat wrote:Sigmund Freud called and he wants his model back.

LOL!!!

Rider = Ego
Elephant = Id
Path = Superego

Did I get that right? It didn't even occur to me until you pointed it out.

I've never "got" Freud or the concept of the ego/superego/id.

But looking at it on wikipedia, I can see ego and id corresponding to rider and elephant, but the superego does not equate to the path.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Id,_ego_and_super-ego

Haha, Freud's a weirdo

While it's not a seamless comparison, I thought about the super-ego element before I posted and I see it as very similar in the sense that they are both internalized mechanisms of social reference. The superego is the grafting on to our own conscience the values of the group, the path is the grafting on of the values of the environment as expressed in resistance/non-resistance, if I am understanding Bram correctly.

BTW, I am not advocating the Freudian model, just pointing out the similarities.

Fat Cat wrote:While it's not a seamless comparison, I thought about the super-ego element before I posted and I see it as very similar in the sense that they are both internalized mechanisms of social reference. The superego is the grafting on to our own conscience the values of the group, the path is the grafting on of the values of the environment as expressed in resistance/non-resistance, if I am understanding Bram correctly.

The path is a metaphor to keep their concept of change in your head.

There are 3 main sections to The Path:

Habits

Behavioral auto-pilot or a constant decision to follow or not. Every monday send email to all business prospects -- this is as opposed to at some point I may do this (and then the hemming and hawing that comes with it). Brushing teeth, making bed, making lunch for work, etc

Tweaking The Environment

Make it easier on yourself (or harder on yourself). Not drinking enough water at the office? Install a water cooler next to your desk.

Rally The Herd

If your friends are doing it, if you're accountable to someone, you increase your chance of success (or failure). This section is where I found that obesity study claiming a 57% greater chance of obesity if your friend was.

The book has many examples and each section is further divided

Interesting stuff, I may have to read it. Some of it jives with my own experience (tweaking the environment, for one). I'm less a fan of "rallying the herd" because in my experience most people lack drive and are destined to fail at anything and everything; surrounding yourself with people like that is a surefire way to fail yourself and at the same time, finding a group of people with similar passion is tough.

Rally the Herd is about perception as well of behavior, such as:

Seeding a tip jar with cash.

I used to do this when I worked at a pizza place. If I put 5-10$ in at the start of my shift vs. leaving it empty, I'd usually make 20$+ as opposed to 5-10$. People would tip more based on the perception that other people were already tipping 1's and a 5. With just coins in there, people would tip low.

Or inspiring competition:

My gym posts the sales of each personal trainer for the month on a bar graph. The top sales usually gets 100-300$ as a bonus and then you possibly get a negative feeling if you did poor comparatively, or perhaps more confident if you did high.

Those should give you some hope for the concept

thanks Bram!

for sure, thinking about it more is good for me, helps me grasp the idea better

Check out Nudge, it shares some of the same turf.

Ok, nafod I'll check it out

EDIT:

In the back of Switch, Nudge is referred to as a book worth checking out. Since I have to return my copy of Switch to the library soon, I thought I'd write the other books down here

The Happiness Hypothesis

Mindset

The Heart of Change

Mindless Eating

One Small Step Can Change Your Life

Divorce Busting

Influencer

Unleashing Change