Habit? Challenge. Repeat.

[Garth]

In Malcolm Gladwells' article How David Beats Goliath he shares an oft shared strategy basically declaring the most effective way for the underdog to win is by breaking the rules. He talks about the value of not knowing the rules, challenging rules you do know, creating new rules and repeating the process with the new rules you create.

Of particular interest to me is the underdog strategy of working harder and engaging in the "socially horrifying" action(s). Working harder, knowing the rules and following rules is socially valued and, therefore, supported vociferiously whereas not knowing, not following and breaking rules is socially unacceptable and, therefore, commonly rejected.

When succeeding via unconventional strategy others often get upset, begin complaining and fight vehemently in support of the conventional, known, strategy they've found success with. The unconventional is, to some extent, so socially horrifying as to engage our brains' basic fight/flight response.

The underdog strategy takes an enormous amount of energy to execute and maintaining the conventional strategy in the face of the underdog takes an enormous amount of energy.

How, then, might we reduce the energy it takes to push forward the new and maintain the old?

Is there a predictable "Tipping Point" at which the force of the socially horrifying and the resistance of the socially acceptable result in successful new rules?

Garth

[Bob Lieberman]

One way to reduce the energy it takes to push forward would be to remove "working harder" from the strategy. As the system mounts its resistance to change, there is increased dynamic energy that actually creates more opportunities for influence. But they are less obvious, come and go more quickly, and require more nuanced action to take advantage of. A better strategy might be "relaxing and remaining alert".