Switch – Chapter 6, Going Small Gets You BIG!

The gates of large goals are lined with small accomplishments.  In this chapter of “Switch, How to Change When Change is Hard,” the authors Chip & Dan Heath  propose that the only way to get to your larger goals is to accomplish smaller goals first, and build momentum.  They call this “Shrink the Change.”  It is a fascinating concept and one that I tend to believe in.  They provide numerous examples including businesses, financial and sports success.

Here is one example of how it works: Two car wash companies offered a promotional deal.  The first company’s offer was to give you a stamp when you bought a car wash. Get eight stamps, get a free car wash.  The second company’s offer was a free car wash after ten stamps. The difference…the second company gave the customer two stamps to begin with.

Both offers are the same. Buy eight car washes and get one free.  However with the second company the consumers’ perceptions, feelings and beliefs led them to think they were 20 percent on their way to their goal.  A few months after this promotion, the second company had a 34 percent market share versus 19 percent for the first company.

This story is intended to illustrate that the further along you are to your goal the more you will work towards your goal.  When we are overwhelmed with a task, it is often because we have had no success on that task. However when we have some success, it is easier for us to build on that success, and keep going.

The authors recommend lowering the bar first, and then raise it after you have had some accomplishments.  When you set the bar high from the beginning, you may become overwhelmed.  This contributes to individuals, and even teams, to give up before they even get started.

When I was in high school I was a high jumper, I cleared 6′6″, which is not great and not too bad for a 6′2″ country kid.  When we would begin a high jump contest, often times the good jumpers would not jump at the lower heights.  I always did, because I wanted to stay warm and loose.  It is clear to me now why I won so many contests, I was experiencing small success that then led to winning the competition.

Bill Parcels said that his goal was never to win a Super Bowl, rather, it was to have a great practice today.  Because the success of that practice will lead to players believing that they can win a Super Bowl.

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