Hey guys and welcome back to ChangeWired podcast , the podcast for leaders , founders , change agents everywhere and anywhere , Humans who are committed to growing what matters Growing yourself , your community , your vision , your character , your career , Growing , your career growing . We are here about the tools , the systems , the most effective concepts and practical takeaways and things you can build to help you change more effectively and help change stick again , whether you're creating change in yourself or those around you . And by the end of today's podcast , you're going to have a very practicable , simple , research-backed , very important tool in your toolkit for change which will help you to help yourself to change and do hard stuff when the going gets tough , as they say , and also this will help you to help others to change and stick to change when things get hard . And you know , I truly believe that it's important to nail just not just the simple stuff , but the hard stuff , the stuff that somebody has to get done in order for the system , for things , to get better . Somebody has to do the hard work as well , not just simplifying , looking for shortcuts and figuring out how to make everything more optimized right Sometimes . You just have to do the hard work and do it consistently . So how do you do that ? How do you help yourself and others to do the hard work when you don't feel like it , when you don't have time , when it's inconvenient , when you don't have energy ? How to do that ? So keep that in mind . That's what we are going by the end of this very short podcast .
Speaker 1But I want to start with a phrase that I got from the book by Dan
Heath . He is a researcher , a journalist . He writes an amazing book about systematic change , about change in general , how to change people , how to change the world , how to solve problems , and he has this amazing book Upstream how to solve problems before they happen . And I love this phrase in the book your zip code is more important than your genetic code . Again , your zip code is more important than your genetic code .
Speaker 1There is plenty of research and data showing that what matters , what seems to have the greatest outcome on people's life , is not their internal potential , their talent , but the ecosystem that allows , that promotes , certain innate talents or predispositions to either flourish , to sprout or not . I like this comparison , this metaphor of a garden or a plant . If you want to grow a beautiful garden , first you want to take care of soil , Because even the most amazing trees , seedlings and seeds will not grow if you put it in a dry soil that has very few to none nutrients and it's in the place where there is no rain , no sunshine , right . It's very hard to grow a garden like that , even with the best seeds kind of like plants and without proper ecosystem , without proper setup of what's around us , it's very hard for our talents and our innate abilities to deliver results , effectiveness or all the great stuff that we see in the world . Think about Silicon Valley and hot spots of entrepreneurship like that . It's not that the people who are there that are special , it's the ecosystem that is special , it's the resources , the connection . Yes , you are surrounded by like-minded people . It's the finances , it's the learning opportunities , it's the finances , it's the learning opportunities , it's the conversation that you overhear in coffee shops . All of that create a perfect environment for
a plant of entrepreneurship to spread .
Speaker 1You think about blue zones . If you don't know what it is . Those are areas and you can Google them everywhere . On Wikipedia , you can chat GPT , obviously .
Speaker 1Blue zones places on Earth that were centenarians , were people who lived to 100 and more without diseases , where those people are concentrated , blue zones , and they studied those zones and they figured out certain aspects that those zones have in common . But what's even more interesting for me is there were experiments and there is a documentary on Netflix with the guy who authored the book Blue Zones . So there were experiments where they tried to manufacture blue zones in areas which geographically didn't look much like blue zones in the climate etc . But because they figured out that social aspect of it and the ease of accessibility of certain things like walking spaces were the most important things , so they tried to manufacture those blue zones . And it's hard to obviously measure whether people will live to one hearted or not . So they just measured health outcomes in certain communities . People will live to one hearted or not . So they just measured health outcomes in certain communities and they redesigned communities . They created more walking spaces , they made healthy food more prominent and more available , they created those communal spaces where people could make friends walk together , exercise together , right ? So they did these experiments and they improved health outcomes without having to preach to people what is healthy or not healthy for them . So it's the ecosystem .
Speaker 1It turned out that places geographically don't matter that much when for us humans , social , environment and ease , accessibility of things is so much more important , right ? So next time you're trying to preach to people to yourself , don't look at appreciating people or changing people's minds . You know , in change management , change leadership , in the corporate environment , they always talk about how you need to communicate really well , why it's needed to be done and how it's going to be done and what it means to people , etc . Yes , but what matters even more is actually the ecosystem you create , so the things that you want to do become easy , accessible , defaults , visible . So it's almost like a foolproof system for people to do the right things .
Speaker 1I always give the simple example of a fridge to do the right things . I always give the simple example of a fridge . If you put all the healthy food , all well prepared and deliciously cut and accessible , and make it super easy , and you remove all the junk from there , guess what people are going to eat . Or guess what your kids , your family , are going to eat . If you put a fresh bowl of fruit which is washed , you know , pre-cut if needed for the day , If you put that out , guess what people are gonna do . They're not gonna be going and looking for some junk . Uh , they're gonna eat what's available . And the same in the work environment right . So it's the ecosystem and that has been proven by so much research and again upstream book by dan he's how to solve problems before they happen . Uh , they talk a lot about ecosystem , about designing the environment and in general , Dan Hees writes a lot about that .
Speaker 1Where I live , there is a gym and there is a group of people they have WhatsApp group , it's called Sunrise Squad , and adults in their 40s , 50s , 60s and they get together for workouts and they do stuff , fun stuff , fit stuff on the weekends and they celebrate birthdays and holidays together in a fit and fun way and they don't preach to each other . I joined this group but I don't do much with them . But it's interesting to watch them how they don't again talk about , you know , we need to be healthy or we need to get fitter . They just do stuff and they created an easy , accessible culture of health , wellness and fitness , Silently promoting this idea of people like us do things like this and we exercise together . We do other mouthier stuff together and whoever
enters or joins this ecosystem is going to do that without them again having to talk to them about those workouts or doing stuff . That is good for you .
Speaker 1It's about , again , the ecosystem and for us , human beings , social aspect of it is one of the most important aspects and that's why people are a part of your ecosystem . So there have been a lot of studies and research showing for example , there is hard data on when you sit in proximity to a high performer , you're going to be more productive , more effective , more motivated , more energized by about 15% and there was what is it ? Five feet of a high performer . But then the opposite is also true If you sit in the proximity of a low performer , you're going to be 30% less productive , less effective . For high performer it's 15% , For low performer it's 30% . We are like they call it also the chameleon effect . We absorb the energy , the vibe , the practices and rituals and , yes , even performance from the people who are around us . That's how social aspect , how strong social aspect is .
Speaker 1So when , again , designing for change , for health , for wellness , whether that's for yourself or for people around you , for your company , for your community , Don't talk about that . Create rituals , Create a social accountability . People like us do things like this . Create ease , visual reminders , a corner for meditation or a pillow for meditation or the stretching corner , some creative routes around your office , around the building , so people walk more right , Put some stuff I don't know where the staircase is , so people certain sayings about hard work , about challenges . So walk there more often to show people by example . All of this matters a lot more , creating this ecosystem environment than , again , you preaching and communicating , however clearly .
Speaker 1We absorb things by osmosis beliefs . Even our work ethic leaves even our work ethic . But I also want to , as promised , I want to focus on something else . I want to focus on what stops us from doing the hard thing . We created these goals , these visions , these north stars , this ambition for us or organizations or people around us , and then , when the going got tough , we didn't follow through . See , this morning actually not this morning , it was yesterday night I read a newsletter from BJ Folk , one of the top researchers
of behavior change , and in the newsletter he had this image which he trademarked and it's called Ability Change and Ability Link .
Speaker 1Oh no , Ability Chain , Ability Chain . And in that chain he has five links Money time , physical effort , mental effort and then routines . Money time , physical effort , mental effort and then routines . And in the new study he talked about how , when he proposes organizations , for individuals or groups to design for habit , for behavior change . You need to make sure . You need to think of what gets in the way when you have no time , when you have no money , when you are low in physical and mental effort and energy , when you are out of your routine . Like , what's your plan for that ? Motivation is not consistent , Motivation is not reliable . So he recommends to design behaviors for ease first . Effectiveness and ease in order to even have a chance for any behavior to stick . So start small , start very easy . So none of this links in the ability chain money , time , mental and physical effort , routine or getting out of a routine . So these affect your plan the least .
Speaker 1But what I expanded on and what I want to add here , Back to this idea that but yeah , we have to do hard stuff as well , and sometimes we just don't have the time to build it up , even though it is a lot more effective . So what do you do when you actually have to get people done , get yourself to do hard stuff consistently ? And that's where I add guardrails to this ability chain , created by PJ Fogg and guardrails and it's not a new idea guardrails are things that prevent us from falling , from doing worse when we are at our worst . They help us to do better when we are at our worst . So next time , when you design for behavior change okay , now you have your aspiration , now you have your goal , now a set of behaviors that you want to do , that you want your community to do , your company to do , people you lead . So you have a set of behaviors and those are not easy and you understand that they're hard , Instead of thinking how can I motivate my people ?
Speaker 1Again , remember , motivation is very inconsistent and it's hard to design for , Not impossible , and there are companies who help with that , who do that . We need to learn how to increase our motivation as well . But it is inconsistent and we need to create systems , guardrails , so the behavior we want people to do is easier , more accessible or people are more accountable , even when they have no time , no money , very little physical and mental energy , and it's very inconvenient . So what's the plan for them for the worst kind of circumstance ? What's the plan for when things go south ?
Speaker 1As ambitious , inspiring , motivated leaders , you often think well , I want people to do this , how do I motivate them ? How do I create more incentives ? But a very , very essential question to ask is but okay , what if people not motivated don't have time , energy and don't want to do the thing , how do I ensure that they actually still do at least the minimum stuff ? And that's where guardrails come into play . And what are guardrails ? Again , it's the systems that prevent us from falling metaphorically . But to give you more examples , in a company , it's those things . When , let's say , you want people to not check email at certain hours . Let's say you want people to not check email at certain hours , then you create a system that doesn't allow them to check their email or their Slack or whatever that is , at certain hours .
Speaker 1If you want people to be more customer-centric but they might not be in the mood to speak well to the customer and to go to extra mile , now what is a system that you can put in place to make this behavior almost impossible to fail ? Maybe there should be some accountability , some reporting system . Like many companies do not reviews , but when a customer has to evaluate how the person on the other side of the call performed , Like what are the systems ? Maybe accountability you remember how we talked about how social aspect is so important . Maybe it's having a not stand up Monday morning but stand up at the end of each day to keep people accountable . Or maybe midday , like , how are we doing Customer centricity ? What did you do ? What did you do ? How did you handle this or this or that situation ? Right ? Make people share and make people more aware . Make people feel more accountable . So even when they're not motivated , they still going to follow through because they feel accountable . That's why people hire coaches . It's like , yeah , I'm not going to feel motivated , but this person will check in with me and I will feel bad if I , day after day after day , say that I'm not able to do that , even though I said it's important and I'm going to work on my goals .
Speaker 1Social accountability Don't underestimate the effect of it . Guardrails at home or again workplace for your family . If you're trying to eat healthy , eliminate all the bad stuff , and that's when it's night and you're bored and you're hungry and you're stressed , you don't reach out for that cookie , because the cookie is at the store where you have to go and that additional work will prevent you from , so to speak , falling . And if you want to not skip your workouts , who can you make ? Keep yourself accountable . Maybe a few training sessions , maybe a workout , maybe somebody calling you like hey , Angela , you waking up , are you going and working out and make it a call from a person . Who do you feel bad if you don't follow through ? Who do you don't want to look bad in front , right , if you're a leader ?
Speaker 1Like , how can you keep your people accountable because they keep you in high regard , so how can you check in with them regularly to make sure that they feel like they are accountable ? So those are guardrails where you ask okay , my people will be busy , overwhelmed , overworked , not have a mental , physical energy and I'm going to be asking them often to do what's inconvenient and uncomfortable and I still want them to do it . Like , what are the systems in place to ensure that ? And it is a much more important question for long-term follow-through and getting the results , the ambitious results that you want . It is a much more important question to ask what we're going to do when we're all at our worst then , what systems we have in place , what ecosystem we have in place . It is a much more important question than asking how do I motivate my people ? Because , yes , you can motivate your people and the strong enough Y will carry people through the hardest times , but they're still going to have a lot , a lot of weak moments and the bigger the organization , the harder it is to design for optimal motivation . That's where you want to create systems , guardrails which don't allow people to fall .
And that is again the principle also for systematic change , for self-change . Because if you think about your last misstep or your last failure where you didn't show up as you wanted to show up , what did happen ? Was it because you lost motivation or was it because you didn't have time , you were busy , you were overwhelmed . Your physical , emotional , energy , it was out of routine , it was inconvenient . So now that you know that , how can you create a system , how can you put a system in place to make sure that you follow through , even when you feel like it's the worst day ever ?
Speaker 1So that is the main takeaway of today , guys , Whenever you design for change , for personal , for changing your team , for changing your community , in your family , in your company , your inspiring goals will keep . People will start the movement , the going . But to keep the going , even when the going gets tough , you need to have guardrails , systems in place which will answer the question how do I make people follow through , how do I make myself follow through with action when I'm and people are at our worst , Whether that's lack of time , of money , of physical , mental , energy , inconvenience all of this will break the most audacious goals and visions . And that's it for today , guys , Guardrails . And we are not what we aspire to be , but based on research and data , our ecosystems . So be good , be great at designing ecosystems and see how easier it's going to be to change people's minds and help people take action . Thank you , guys , for listening . I thank you for tuning in and being such an amazing willing to learn and change and get out there and do the hard work .
Speaker 1Change agent Guys , please do a rate review our podcast on iTunes , on Spotify , on Stitcher , on Podcast Addict , wherever you find your podcast . It means a lot . That's how we change the world , a couple of years at a time . Share this podcast episode with your family member , with your team member , with your leader . Help people change their thinking , so we change our doing , so we change the world . Be an agent of change with me . Share this podcast episode rate review or help it reach more ears . And until next time , dear leader , change agents , keep growing , keep tuning in and together we'll change the world . Have an awesome day and talk to you very soon .