Switch is another book about getting your ideas out there, by Chip and Dan Heath, two authors who are rapidly climbing my list of favorites. The book delves into the reasons people resist change. Whether it’s change at work, at home or in our daily lives there is reluctance to change our everyday habits.
Most of us are already familiar with the duality of our minds. We have a rational mind and an emotional one. Sometimes the rational side wins and other times the emotional side does. Think of going on a diet. Your rational side knows you shouldn’t eat that cookie, but your emotional side really wants it. The side that wins depends whether you eat it or not.
These two sides don’t always have to be at odds with each other. Change is much easier to implement when we get both sides to agree. Switch shows us how to align both sides. And it works whether you’re convincing yourself of something or a group of people.
The way they describe it in the book is that your emotional side is like a huge elephant and your rational side is the little man that rides on the elephant and steers him.