📘 Part 3: Change

This episode's vocabulary

Habit (noun) - something that you do often and regularly, sometimes without knowing that you are doing it.

To overhaul (verb) - to completely change something, especially by getting rid of some people or things and replacing them with others

To adapt (verb) - to change, or to change something, to suit different conditions or uses.

Neuroplasticity (noun) - the ability of neural networks in the brain to change through growth and reorganization.

Abundance (noun) - the situation in which there is more than enough of something.

To adjust (verb) - to change something slightly, especially to make it more correct, effective, or suitable.

To implement (verb) - to start using a plan or system.

Adolescence (noun) - the period of time in a person's life when they are developing into an adult.

Temptation (noun) - the wish to do or have something that you know you should not do or have.

Static (adj.) - staying in one place without moving, or not changing for a long time.

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Questions and Answers

M: Rory, let's talk about change. What are the disadvantages when people keep making changes?

R: Well, people are the sum of their habits. At least so I've read. And if you keep chopping and changing things in your life, then I suppose you'll likely lose your sense of self. In addition to losing track of all the changes. So it's better to make one or two small changes rather than overhaul your entire life in one go.

M: Is it easier for young people to change?

R: I imagine it will depend entirely on the thing they're adapting to, won't it? For example, they probably have the neuroplasticity and general abundance of physical energy to adapt to simple changes, which are easy to understand and build their effort into. And they also presumably have the benefit of adults helping them. However, it was a change that requires a lot of understanding and life experience like something like moving to another country, then perhaps an older person would be better at it.

M: Is it easy for older people to change?

R: Despite everything I've just said, it's probably not as hard as many people would claim to be. They talk a lot about disliking change, and old dogs not being able to learn new tricks. But assuming older people are reasonably calm and understanding and patient with themselves, they could probably adjust to most things with minimal issue.

M: How can people change their daily routine if they want to?

R: I think I read somewhere that there's this sort of magic period of 30 days when you struggle the most implemented change. And then after that, it becomes second nature to you. The other thing is the number of changes. If it's a small number over that period, then by week five, there should be a real difference. Of course, you need the knowledge and patience for that too. But I think it helps a lot. It certainly helped me.

M: Do you think change is good?

R: I think that depends on the change. We need to know more about the context, because some changes are horrendous. And other changes are, well, they're necessary, just in order for you to continue going. So it's difficult to make a blanket statement about that kind of thing.

M: And why do you think people might change their plans?

R: Well, actually no, it's because the plan isn't working. It's almost always because of that. So it doesn't matter, if it's because it's working due to like resources or willpower or it's just not very effective, it's because it's not an effective plan. You're not seeing what you want to see when the plan is implemented.

M: And what are some of the major changes that occur to people throughout their lives?

R: Moving from childhood through adolescence into adulthood is a big change. So those are age changes. You also move from workplaces and your relationships change, you go from being single to being in a relationship to getting married, or at least or some kind of progression there.

M: And do you think in the future people will change more?

R: The temptation is to say yes, because we've got all of this technology in our lives, but I think people will probably change much the same rate they have been for millions of years. No, I think it will remain pretty much static.

M: Thank you, Rory, for your answers, for your changeable no, not changeable, for your kind of stable answers. Rory gives us stability, dear listener. So Rory is pretty much stable. He's organized.

R: I like that. Pretty much.

M: Pretty much, yeah, pretty much. So if he has put something in his super book, it will happen, for sure.

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