How to Change Absolutely Anything

Step 3

Recognise the power of emotions: avoiding the emotional triggers that may jeopardise change

‘Don’t address their brains. Address their hearts.’

Nelson Mandela

Mother Teresa once said, ‘If I look at the mass, I will never act. If I look at the one, I will.’ In a recent study, researchers decided to see whether most people think like Mother Teresa when they want to create change.

Researchers wanted to see how people would respond to an opportunity to make charitable donations to a cause as opposed to making a charitable donation to a single person. They used two different request letters. The first version featured statistics about the magnitude of problems facing children in Africa, such as the following:

• Food shortages in Malawi ...