Why Reason Alone Can't Change Your Habits

A new year is just around the corner, and most of us will be setting ourselves goals, big and small. Here we look at how the "Elephant and Rider" concept can help us break old habits, achieve our goals, and influence the people around us.

Psychologist Jonathan Haidt put forward the "Elephant and Rider" concept as a metaphor for the emotional and rational sides of human nature. He argues that even the most skilled rider can only be dragged along by an elephant that refuses to budge; and even the cleverest elephant will lose its bearings if the rider has no idea how to steer.

In the metaphor, the "elephant" represents the emotional side of the mind, while the "rider" represents the rational side. Rationally, we know full well the damage that late nights do — yet day after day we still can't resist scrolling on our phones into the small hours. It's much like a rider who knows exactly which way to go, while the elephant keeps charging off in the opposite direction.

Haidt believes the key to making change happen lies in getting the two to work together. With a new year approaching, most of us will be setting ourselves goals, big and small. Here we look at how the "Elephant and Rider" concept can help us break old habits, achieve our goals, and influence the people around us.

Direct the Rider — Persuade Your Rational Self

Haidt argues that one big reason people resist change is uncertainty.

The rider (our rational side) tends to overthink and analyse the situation. When the rider doesn't know where the destination is, or how to get there, it simply has the elephant circling on the spot. So as long as the rider knows clearly what the outcome of the change should be and how to bring it about, the goal becomes far less daunting to reach.

But the rider's weakness is that it is always swayed by negative bias. Negative bias refers to the way negative things affect a person's psychological state more than positive ones. For instance, some celebrities can receive a hundred positive comments, yet a single piece of negative criticism is enough to blow it out of all proportion and shatter their confidence. Applied to facing a difficulty, we tend to fixate on solving the problem that is blocking us from reaching the goal, while overlooking the other routes that lead there. To engage the rider, we can start from the changes we have already made, or from the actions that are easier to change (Find and follow the Bright Spot), and apply the methods that worked for past changes to different goals. The last step is to persuade your rational self: this goal isn't hard, and you are certain to reach it.

Motivate the Elephant — Move Your Emotional Self

Often we know rationally how important change is, but the inertia in our hearts keeps that change stuck at the daydreaming stage. Haidt noticed that not everyone can manage sweeping change, so breaking a task that looks gruelling into smaller pieces — trying to make ourselves see that finishing the goal is in fact easier than imagined (Shrink the Change) — naturally makes it easier to adapt to and sustain change.

On top of that, we all need to "move ourselves emotionally" and persuade ourselves, on an emotional level, that change is necessary. When you feel weary or your resolve wavers along the way, it helps to picture it for a moment: what kind of life will you be living once the goal is reached? And what will things look like if you give up now? Feeling the benefits that change will bring can strengthen the drive to see the task through.

Shape the Path — Adjust the Environment and Clear the Obstacles in the Way

The rider has found the bearings of the destination and knows the direction to head in, and the elephant is poised and ready — so the next step is to clear the path. Adjusting the environment is about making the actions that help us reach the goal easier to carry out, and the actions that run counter to it harder to happen. For example, someone trying to save money won't be wandering around department stores all the time, and someone on a diet won't be a regular at fast-food joints. The three steps below let us act one step at a time and reach the goal.

Step one: Be clear about the goal and the plan to achieve it

Suppose you're an ordinary "working stiff", and your goal for the new year is to earn more money. You can start by asking yourself: why earn more money? To reach a monthly income of HK$50,000 within half a year? To have more than two sources of income? First break the big goal down into smaller goals that are clearer, easier to measure as success or failure, and progress in sequence — then plan out the ways to achieve those smaller goals.

Step two: Steer clear of negative bias, find the bright spots, and don't rush to change just yet

Suppose your short-term goal is to develop a coffee-related side business, but when you start out you find that your weak English communication skills are a big stumbling block. Rather than pouring all your energy into improving your English, it's better to focus on honing your coffee expertise. Working as a barista at a café before starting up — refining your skill at brewing coffee — also gives you a way to pick up knowledge about running a restaurant along the way.

Step three: Shape the Path

Building a successful business can't rely on expertise in the field alone; it also calls for building a network of people and broadening your knowledge in every direction. You can think about which areas to invest in yourself in to best serve your goals, big and small. Get to know a group of friends in the same field? Take a course to learn business skills? Add other sources of income?

As long as we can persuade the rider in each of us to set off on a clear, far-sighted and workable plan, while also moving the elephant so we have the steady drive, confidence and determination to keep going — and then adjust the environment to fit the goal so the process of change runs more smoothly and easily — once these three points are in place, changing ourselves, and even prompting others to change, is no longer an impossible task.