Train Your Elephant

Habits are downloaded to the brain as attachments to the experiences of everyday life, they run as trigger-routine-reward, and they are the domain of your elephant. And an elephant can be trained like any other animal. Now the question is how your rider learns to do double duty as the elephant’s progressive trainer.

This is one more reason all change must begin with awareness. A big part of it is educating the rider, who is now also the trainer.

Earlier in this program you were told that most people do not suffer from a lack of knowledge. That is true, but it is not the whole truth. What was actually said is that most people already know enough to get started. Started. That was many sessions ago.

True top performers never stop learning. You want a well-trained elephant? Then you are going to have to be constantly learning. Learn more, and teach what you know. That is the holy grail of Betterness® and it is the holy grail of elephant training. All training starts with the trainer training himself.

All exceptional animal trainers learn everything they can about the species they are working with. So what do you actually know about the eating habits of Homo sapiens?

In Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think, Brian Wansink reports previously hidden secrets about the eating behaviors of the species. One example, with its training tip:

• Homo sapiens eat more out of larger containers. Training tips: switch to small bowls, plates and cups. Always portion food into a small bowl rather than eating snacks out of the bag. Order small portions, and avoid supersizing and all-you-can-eat buffets.

Notice the shape of that fix. It does not ask the elephant to resist anything. It changes the conditions so the elephant naturally does less of what you did not want. That is what progressive training looks like: arrange the environment, then let the automation work for you instead of against you.