Who doesn’t like a moment? Those unforgettable experiences that stay with you weeks and weeks after an event. It’s what memories are mad of, and it’s what most of us use to judge the significance of an experience.
Unfortunately, most of us tend to go through life waiting for moments to occur organically.
We’re usually wired to believe that moments can’t be created. As the faulty logic can sometimes go, who would want a contrived experience? Perhaps the question might be yes if that experience was filled with meaning and significance.
Well, the Heath brothers have done it again by showing us that perhaps one of aspects to your business, community, school, and/or religious organization is a lack of moments. An inattention to the times and opportunities you have to create lasting, meaningful moments for those in your purview. Times of transition, milestones that represent achievement or proficiency, and even pits that can best be described as traumatic are opportunities to think in moments.
Four elements are described in the book as opportunities to create moments: Elevation, Insight, Pride, and Connection.
Elevation. These are times in life that rise above the quotidian. Whether it’s a birthday, wedding, or retirement party, these are moments that already have a peak built into them. What the Heath brothers suggest is to take that peak and make it ‘peakier’.
How might you do this? The first idea is to “boost sensory appeal. This means making things look, sound, and taste better. The second is to raise the stakes. To do this, the Heath brothers suggest adding an element of “productive pressure”. Turning a moment into an event, a performance, or a game, elevates it to another level and increases expectation and buy in. The third idea to to “break the script”, which means that you introduce an experience that goes against common perceptions for how that experience should occur.
Insight. A moment of insight offers a new realization or a transformation. Noticing an aspect of a company, or noticing a part of an experience that you’ve missed before, can help to create insight.
Pride. Moments are elevated when we recognize the contribution, skills, and gifts of others. Scaling accomplishments and setting milestones that are well-defined and increasingly difficult help us to create better moments in our lives. Moments are also created when we have the courage to speak up and share our convictions with others.
Connection. When a group reaches a conclusion of shared meaning, new insight is reached and deeper relationships are formed.
Complacency has killed many institutions. Pursuing vibrant, thoughtful, energetic, and dynamic participation in a community leads to a deeper pursuit of mission and a deeper awareness of the possibilities that exist to make an impact where you want to make an impact.
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