In The Power of Moments, Chip and Dan Heath argue that in our lives moments are mostly forgettable but can occasionally be remarkable. They explain that we need to be aware of and proactively battle the 'soul-sucking force of "reasonableness"'. We need to make a conscious effort to 'break the script' from time to time in order to make moments that are memorable and spiced with novelty.
Imagine going to an amusement park for a day. Most of your time there will be spent standing restlessly in queues, your feet will be aching from walking all day, you'll be feeling either too hot or cold and will resent having to spend so much money on overpriced food. Most of the moments will not be memorable and often they'll be forgettable. However, when you ride an exhilarating roller coaster you're filled with adrenaline, it's a moment of elevation. Plus you're riding right next to your best friend, so it's also a moment of connection. This peak moment is so remarkable and memorable that, for decades to come, when you think back to that day at the amusement park, that will be the moment that you associate with it. Not the queues and the painful feet, but that moment on the rollercoaster. That's what our mind will recollect. This book opened my eyes to how our human thought process works and why some things endure so much more vividly in our memories than others.
Remarkable moments can happen and do happen to us throughout our lives, shaping our paths. However, the Heath brothers take us a step further and encourage us to become 'designers of moments' and create extraordinary moments that will make our own lives and the lives of others so much more meaningful. This book inspires us to shift from being merely reactive, just responding to the moments in our lives, to becoming proactive. Many times what seems to be a moment of serendipity has actually been intentionally designed. We have the ability to orchestrate defining moments.
The Power of Moments taught me about the power of practicing more proactiveness and intentionality in various contexts of my life and going above and beyond to create memorable moments that will stick, not only in my own personal experience but in my wider community's experience too - for instance, going above and beyond for the customers that I design experiences for, in my interpersonal relationships and in my workplace, etc.
The Heath Brothers warn of the all-too-common trap of focusing too much on just fixing the things that are going wrong instead of wanting to craft moments that are magical, remarkable and memorable for humans. When we focus too much on the short-term we have a tendency to prioritise problems and pressures that feel urgent to us, so we convince ourselves that we should shelve our intentions to create special moments, settling for "reasonableness" and practicalities instead. As time goes on, this backfires.
"In life we can work so hard to get the kinks out that we forget to put the peaks in."
Building peaks is well worth the extra effort and gives us fulfilment and meaning, but, since they are sometimes challenging to create and aren't actually part of anyone's job description per se, they are always in danger of being pushed aside or delayed. According to the Heath brothers we can create defining and poignant moments in our own lives and the lives of people around us by adding elements of the following characteristics: elevation, insight, pride and connection.
Heath, C. and Heath, D. (2017) The power of moments: Why certain experiences have extraordinary impact. London, England: Bantam Press.
