The Triangle of Change (Or The Cone of Change)
Nov 2020There are three rules we must follow if we want to change our behavior about something.
Sir David Brailsford, source: Escape Collective
Sir David Brailsford, general manager of Team INEOS (formerly known as Team Sky) led the team to winning six yellow jerseys with Bradley Wiggins, Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas in Tour de France. He was also the lead performance director of British Cycling. Under his leadership, British team won multiple world championships in track, road, BMX and mountain bike racing.
While there are a lot of documentaries following journey of these exceptional cyclists like Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome that features David Brailsford; there is one small Q/A video that emphasizes human psychology. His explanation about behavior change applies in all areas of life.
In his answer, David Brailsford talks about 3 elements for changing behavior in any given area or trying to move something forward. He calls it the “Triangle of Change” and it can be summarized with the figure down below.
Triangle Of Change
Sometimes an idea won’t leave your mind without being processed thoroughly.
Although it only took him around 2 minutes to explain it, I needed about 4+ years to absorb the information & understand the concept.
1. Being Psychologically Minded
Which is about “thinking” that you can apply the change you want in your life; the “belief” of it.
David explains this as:
“If you don’t even think that you can change, even in the greatest adversity, the likelihood will be you won’t”
You can change your behavior. But you have to believe in it first.
2. The Suffering and The Reward
To engage with change, the current situation has to be resulting in enough suffering or the goal after change has to have a such great reward. That simple fact, makes the change irresistible. If either one of those are not in place, then you are more likely to carry on business as usual.
Whenever I truly want to acquire a skill set or learn a new language; my life without it should feel unfulfilled or my dream when i get it with it should feel like paradise.
How you act depends on your point of view. As the suffering & reward system.
3. Commitment
No ways around it. You have to be committed to be better. Without commitment, there is no motion and momentum to moving forward.
Even though I believe this is a complete picture for changing behavior, one element stands out from the other two. As it is a must have at every breathing moment we have in life.
So the Triangle of Change became the Cone of Change with a sharp edge on top.
Cone Of Change
Our commitment to something and the suffering & reward we have from it can depend on other circumstances as well. It can vary that how committed we are from time to time, depending on our priorities as well. “Commitment” and “Suffering & Reward” are also following each other in a loop as combined elements of change.
However, the “Belief” has to exist in our mind, in ourselves, at all times.
For the “Cone of Change”, even if we cannot follow the base circle strictly at all times; we can always believe that we can change.
It is in our biology.