On the back of our discussion from last week we considered the direction people move – TOWARDS what they want and AWAY from what they don’t want.
I contend that most ‘Helpers’ move towards what they want and assume that their clients do the same. This assumption leads to frustration as people drop out prematurely and fail to follow through with long term plans that will optimise their life.
Many people who you encounter in life are more motivated by the idea of losing something than of gaining that very same thing. They are motivated by getting rid of a disease than gaining health, getting away from the pain of being broke than becoming rich etc.
If a person moves AWAY they will be more apt to take action in a way that will protect them from loss than they would be to take action that would illicit some kind of gain.
There was a recent study that asked college students to think about the possibility of losing as opposed to gaining in their grade point average, they’re much more upset by the idea of losing ground than they are enthused about the idea of gaining ground.
Loss is more powerful and we should take it into account. People want to know what they stand to lose.
There was a study done, for example, in Santa Cruz, California. Researchers went door to door in certain neighborhoods with an official from the local power company who did an energy audit on each of the homes, telling homeowners where they should use weather stripping and insulate, and so on. And at the end of this audit, the official proposed that if they insulated their home fully, they would save 75 cents a day. The other half were told, if you fail to insulate your home fully, you will lose 75 cents a day.
Significantly more people insulated their homes under the loss instruction than under the gain instruction, even though it was the same thing.
