The Science of Success Podcast

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This Is How You Create Life Changing Moments Starting Right Now with Dan Heath

Lace Gilger
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In this episode we explore the power of moments in our lives. Moments are the way we remember our lives, they define us, and yet we don’t have a coherent way of thinking about and understanding them. Can you engineer the defining moments of your life? Can you create more moments that are powerful and impactful? We discuss that and much more with our guest Dan Heath. 

Dan Heath is a Senior Fellow at Duke University’s CASE Center where he founded the Change Academy. He received his MBA from Harvard Business School and is the co-author of several New York Times best sellers. Their book Switch was named one of the best nonfiction books of the year and spent almost an entire year on the bestseller list.

  • The power of moments - why did Chip and Dan decide to study the defining moments in our lives?

  • Digging into the academic research of what makes moments special

  • Why do certain moments in our life have such disproportionate impact and meaning?

  • How do we become more in control of them and intentional about creating them?

  • Are there patterns that link the defining moments of our lives?

  • The four elements of defining moments?

  • Elevation - the high points

    1. Insight - in an instant your view of the world shifts

    2. Pride - times when are at our best, when we’re recognized for what we’re capable of

    3. Connection - when we deepen our ties to other people - either individual or groups

  • Struggle, especially with a group, can create deep connections

  • If you look at powerful moments, they tend to be composed of these four elements

  • You can flip that around and make it practical - if you want to create better experiences in your own life - these are the ingredients of HOW to do that

  • We don’t remember our own experiences 

  • What’s so special about the The Magic Castle Hotel in LA?

  • What’s the secret behind the second highest rated hotel in Los Angeles?

  • Ahead of the Ritz Carlton

    1. Ahead of the Four Seasons

  • Moments have power. Great experiences hinge on peak moments 

  • The academic research on memory and how that shapes the power of moments

  • “Duration neglect” 

  • There are two kinds of moments that we disproportionately recall - the Peak and the End

  • We are in the business of creating great experiences for people. If you get the Peaks right - you can create a great experience.

  • The power of things that are obvious in retrospect

  • “Moments are the medium of memories” - and yet we don’t live in a way that’s intentional around creating more moments

  • Inconveniencing yourself to create a powerful moment is worth it - you will remember the powerful moment but not the inconvenience 

  • “We feel most comfortable when things are certain, but we feel most alive when they’re not"

  • “The reminiscence bump” phenomenon in psychology

  • Novelty is what we remember, period. 

  • What can we do to create more dramatic and memorable moments in our life?

  • We can get alot of bang for our buck with moments. We have to learn to break the script more often and disrupt our routines more often. 

  • “The Saturday surprise” - how you can break your script and create novelty in your life. 

  • Sometimes you need to resist your routines

  • When you start thinking in moments you start spotting all kinds of strange phenomenon in your life

  • Fixing problems doesn’t make people happy

  • How do set about creating peak moments for ourselves (and others)?

  • Peaks, ends, and transition points are disproportionately memorable for people

  • We can be the authors of amazing moments in our lives

  • Powerful insights come with speed and force - in the flash of moment

  • What does it mean to “trip over the truth?"

  • Reconstruct the insight that you’ve had - and allow someone else to discover it themselves. Let the epiphany happen in their brains. How can you engineering someone else discovering the truth that you’ve already discovered?

  • How change happens:

  • People see something

    1. That makes them feel something

    2. That makes them CHANGE sometime

  • How can creating new rituals help us manufacture transition points in our lives that become powerful moments?

  • “The Fresh Start Effect”

  • The power of forgiving yourself for falling short and cleaning the ledger, starting fresh. 

  • Homework - stretch goal - the “week of memories” exercise

  • Homework - create a moment of elevation tonight - break the script in some way. 

  • Homework - find someone at work or in your personal life and give them some recognition, say thank you to them, tell them why its so important and meaningful and give them a little bit of praise - face to face. 

Thank you so much for listening!

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