The Elephant in the Room

I spent the weekend consumed with The Ant and the Elephant. What a brilliant allegory and necessary read for all of us! Here's the premise: Adir the Ant finds himself on the back of Elgo the Elephant. Adir is given the task of encouraging, inspiring, and convincing the elephant to lead them to a better place. Hmmm…. an ant communicating with an elephant is a stretch, right?

The wisdom behind this story? This is exactly what you are doing when you try to convince your subconscious to think in a new and/or improved way. There is some hard research out there that states our conscious mind uses 2,000 neurons a second. Our subconscious mind, however, uses 4,000,000 neurons in the same split second! No wonder change is usually hard for us, and why we struggle to stay focused on our goals and dreams. Our subconscious minds are wired to follow our learned instincts and life experiences. It is the pursuit of survival, if you will. Most of the time, we are actually living reactively instead of strategically. Yet, imagine how powerful we would be if we tapped into those 4 million neurons and synced them up with our conscious desires?

This book is only 115 pages, and yet it is filled with succinct and clear messaging on how we can change our lives through 5 steps: clarity, commitment, consistency, confidence, and control. Vince Poscente's writing surpasses what I can summarize in a blog, but trust me…when you have read it cover to cover, you will be ready to take on your own elephant!