Why It’s Worth It | How can we recognize the need to change before missing out on new opportunities? How can we figure out what is really holding us back? Our culture tends to revere people who stand fast and stay the course. But is that mindset causing us to be “stuck” and miss entire paths that lie before us?

In a virtual TED talk, Adam Grant delves into the concept of “Rethinking,” a term he uses to describe the inability to change course once we set specific goals, identities, and habits. Adam believes “your past can weigh you down, and rethinking can liberate you.”

Adam uses the analogy of the frog and the boiling pot of water to explain how humans tend to stay in their comfort zones, unable to recognize the need for change until it’s too late. He explains that the frog will jump out of a boiling pot of water, but it will slowly simmer to death in a warming pot because it doesn’t recognize the danger until it’s too late. Similarly, humans tend to stay in simmering pots, unable to gain the necessary perspective to change our goals, identities, jobs, and relationships.

Adam emphasizes the importance of assessing our current path and using rethinking as a tool to check in and determine if a course correction or overhaul is needed. He debunks the boiling frog myth at the end of his talk, but he makes it clear that we would benefit from broadening our concept of where we are in our lives and where we are going. Rethinking can help us gain the necessary perspective to recognize when we are in a simmering pot, make the necessary changes to achieve our goals, and live more fulfilling lives.

Background | In his talk, Adam shares his misadventures, over-commitments, and blunders to demonstrate the power of learning to rethink. Adam also delves into research that explains some of the impediments to rethinking. A few key points from his TED Talk include:

• Intelligence isn’t a reliable rethinking tool – Being good at thinking can make it harder to re-assess or rethink. More educated or “traditionally” intelligent people often get trapped in simmering pots longer. 
• Face the escalation of commitment to a losing action – When things don’t look good after an initial time or monetary investment, people double down rather than cut bait.
• Question tenacity – Adam shares experiments that show that gritty people who overplay their hands lose more often at casinos and mountaineers who persist despite warning signs are more likely to die on the mountain. Remember, “never give up” can also make us “lock into one narrow path.”  It is crucial to remember that goals can lead to failure to rethink.
• Watch for identity foreclosure – Research suggests we benefit from trying on a host of identities. Holding on to a single identity is a sure-fire way to simmer in the pot.
• Avoid cognitive retrenchment, check-in, and tune-up – Rethinking isn’t just needed when in a pickle or stuck in a warming pot; it’s an essential tool when a routine is stagnant. Even if nothing seems amiss, regular check-ins, rethinking, and tune-ups help us assess work, relationships, future goals, and self-care in real time, helping us better understand what’s improving our lives or holding us back.

Source | TED talk:  “What Frogs in Hot Water Can Teach Us About Thinking Again” – TED@BCG (April 2021)

About | Adam Grant is a well-known organizational psychologist and wildly popular Wharton professor. He is an accomplished writer, a profound thinker, and a thorough researcher, covering various subjects to help people discover purpose and motivation and lead more creative and generous lives. Adam’s content includes New York Times bestsellers, TED podcasts and talks, columns in various publications and GRANTED, a free email newsletter (sign up on his website!). Adam encourages us to constantly question our ideas and rethink our beliefs.