Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard

by Chip Heath

To change someone’s behavior, you’ve got to change that person’s situation.

The problem is this: Often the heart and mind disagree. Fervently.

Planner and the Doer.

our emotional side is an Elephant and our rational side is its Rider. Perched atop the Elephant, the Rider holds the reins and seems to be the leader.

But when Elephants and Riders move together, change can come easily.

Change is hard because people wear themselves out. And that’s the second surprise about change: What looks like laziness is often exhaustion.

If the Rider isn’t sure exactly what direction to go, he tends to lead the Elephant in circles. And as we’ll see, that tendency explains the third and final surprise about change: What looks like resistance is often a lack of clarity.

If you want people to change, you must provide crystal-clear direction.

To change behavior, you’ve got to direct the Rider, motivate the Elephant, and shape the Path.

Solutions-focused therapists learn to focus their patients on the first hints of the miracle—“What’s the first small sign you’d see that would make you think the problem was gone”—because

“What’s working right now?”