My 3 Takeaways From The Book: Switch

Switch – By Chip Heath & Dan Heath

I decided to read the book Switch because I’m interested in human psychology.

I’ve always been intrigued by what makes us do the things we do. Whether that’s within myself for personal goals or influencing others for business reasons—understanding change seems useful to me.

The Heath brothers go deep into “how to change things when change is hard.”

Innovating, growing and improving all mean change.

People are complicated. There’s science and art involved. Emotions and logic.

Here are my 3 takeaways from reading Switch:

1.     Changes start with emotion.

We’re all emotional and operate based on feelings. These wants and needs are what get us going. Jason Silva has said, “Ego gets us into the gym, ego writes the book, ego gets the task done.” The emotional desire to be fit and healthy or rich and famous drives us to make the decisions we make every day.

The theme analogy that’s often referred to in the book is “the elephant, the rider and the path.” Our emotions are the elephant, powerful and moving us forward.

The same stubborn emotions are just as capable of keeping us completely still (from change). Fear or lacking inspiration can prevent us from moving forward.

If we emotionally connect with the outcome – we’re more likely to embrace whatever is ahead.

2.     Logic is the guide.

 Logic is the rider on the elephant. Watchful eyes ensure that we’re going in a direction that’s safe.

While necessary for steering the elephant, the logical rider is at risk of over analyzing and slowing things down. In times of change there can be a lot of unknowns which rightfully are cause for concern or hesitation.

 Rationale helps—it’s still not enough.

Ryan Moran says, “If information was the problem then we’d all be millionaires with six-pack abs.” There’s truth to the statement. There’s more to creating real change…

3.     The path forward.

The path is the most important step. This is the tipping point for a transformation to happen.

It can sound overwhelming to “get in shape” or “clean the house.” The Heath brothers thoroughly researched and concluded that change happens most when we shrink the outcome into singular actionable steps.

The path is about building momentum. Not winning it all with a homerun but making changes in stages.

Instead of taking on the broad goal of health and fitness, try first consistently doing ten pushups or squats each day. Instead of cleaning the entire house, try setting the timer for five minutes and clean only what you can in those five minutes every day.

Getting the ball rolling makes it easier to stack and commit more impactful behaviors.

I’ve been trying to apply this framework to everything from sales to parenting and self-development. I’ll always be a student of change psychology because change happens forever.