FREE

eChapter

A hilarious argument for change from

international behaviour expert Jez Rose
Using real-world examples the former comedian examines why some
people struggle to achieve, despite trying, while others appear to
achieve extraordinary results. Jez will show you why we behave the
way we do and how to change for the better. By changing the way
we think, our behaviour and approach to life will also change. Aware
that our success is also a result of other people, Flip the Switch will
show you how to improve the behaviour and thought patterns of those
around you too.

Practical exercises to get you thinking differently

Learn how to change for the better using a variety of techniques
Get the confidence to go after what you want, when you want
extraordinary by adopting Jezs down to earth and
Become
charismatic approach

Flip the Switch: Achieve Extraordinary Things with Simple Changes to

How You Think will change how you approach success and leave you
ready to take on the world.

Buy today from your favourite bookshop and online at

Please feel free to use this

sampler on your blog or website, or email it to anyone

you know who needs to flip the switch! Thank you.
Extracted from Flip the Switch published in 2016 by Capstone Publishing, The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester,
West Sussex, PO19 8SQ. UK. Phone +44(0)1243 779777
Copyright 2016 Jez Rose
All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning
or otherwise, except under the terms of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of a licence issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London,
W1T 4LP, UK, without the permission in writing of the Publisher. Requests to the Publisher should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons Ltd, The Atrium, Southern Gate,
Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 8SQ, England, or emailed to [email protected].

Contents
Foreword ix
Introduction 1
1 Find the Gap 17
2 Choose to be Extraordinary
35
3 The Power of the Brain
61
4 Our Quest for Happiness
85
5 Why We Do What We Do
97
6 Make Simple Changes
113

7 Redefine Your Comfort Zone

8 A Final Reminder to Change

143
165

Afterword 181
Helping You To Get Extraordinary Results 185
Acknowledgements 187
About the Author 189

Chapter
1

Find
the Gap
Happiness is a state of mind; its just according to the way you look at things.
Walt Disney, animator, businessman, producer,
director and loved the world over as the father of Mickey Mouse

Achieving More by Changing Your Mind

What is it that makes someone an extraordinary
person? Is it their abilities?
Or their talent? Or simply their smile? Sure, there
may be differences in the way they do things: the
difference between a winning runner and the one
who comes second can sometimes be just a few
kilojoules of energy, for example, and those few
kilojoules may well be the result of a few hours
extra training over the course of many months.
However, the key difference is their attitude, their
mindset. Like everything in life, our perspective
on things determines our response, our action or
inaction, and ultimately the consequences of those
actions and responses.
On the windowsill of my office sits a glass ornament
with Walt Disneys quotation about happiness
engraved into it. For someone who spends his life

travelling the world speaking to and training large

groups of people, with lots of performance elements
to make learning engaging and fun (the fallout of
working as a comedy performer for several years),
Ive ironically always been one of those no drama
kinds of people. If someone knocks over a glass
and it breaks, or the dog chews a table leg, my
first reaction is normally practical: did anyone die?
(Thats probably the result of having a background
in medicine.)
My response is simply: does what happened affect
anything immediately? Can we clear it up now?
Much of life is not permanent, so if its replaceable
well, its replaceable. If no one died as a result
of something happening, then the result can only
be much better than the worst case scenario.
Thats the bench mark I use for nearly everything:
did anyone die? Every moment you are living,
somewhere in the world a family are gathered

around a loved one, watching their life slowly ebb

away; medical professionals are fighting to stem a
bleed or otherwise save the life of someone as a
result of injury; tears stream uncontrollably down
the pained faces of family and friends at a funeral. It
is sobering to put things into perspective because,
quite often, we dont. We live our lives just in the
moment. We become all consumed with ourselves
and what were doing right now. Our moods and
sometimes our entire days are affected by the
impact something has on us.
Of course, it doesnt make the things that do
happen any less serious: a client is unhappy with
what you produce, the cat is unwell or the car is
badly damaged in the car park these are far from
positive things. However, we have a choice over
how we respond to these. Crying, becoming irate
and allowing yourself to be engulfed by stress are

simply not going to make your client happy, cheer

up the cat or fix your car.
Feeling despondent or running late? Left something
at home? Shrunk your favourite jumper? Scratched
the wooden floor? Missed your turning? Some
people work themselves into a frenzy; their stress
levels rise; they are in a foul mood for the entire
day and spend the rest of it slamming things down
and sighing a lot. As a result, those around you
become irritated and in no time at all you have an
oppressive and negative environment. This is all
from one person who has allowed themselves to be
affected by something out of their control. However,
the one thing we can all control is our own
responses. The most significant barrier to making
the shift from ordinary to extraordinary, in whatever
endeavour we wish to do so, is ourselves because
no one else can do it for us.

Be Mindful of Who You Spend

Your Time With
One thing that has a significant impact on our
behaviour and on the decisions we make is who we
spend time with either by default or design.
Our behaviours, responses, characteristics and even
language are all heavily influenced by who we spend
time with, so it is especially important to populate our
life with those who will make a positive difference to
our lives as a result of being around them.
I am reminded by a fridge magnet with the old adage:
you can choose your friends but you cant choose
your family. While you may not be able to choose
your family, you can choose how much time you spend
around them and your friends and what to talk
about to protect yourself from how they might make
you feel.

Expanding the Gap between

Stimulus and Response
We can all identify those moments in life when we
have become so wrapped up in what is essentially
something of little to no consequence in the grand
scheme of things a non-problem.
It is all around us in road rage, offices, queues,
internet forums, customer service interactions,
educational settings, childcare and at home; in all
of these areas we experience people who appear
to lose the ability to maintain rational thought. The
smashed glass no longer matters it is beyond
repair; and so going forwards we should replace it
or move on.
My Grandma used to say: Theres no point crying
over spilt milk. Neither is there any point in crying

over the selfish person who was in a rush and cut

you up, or the arrogant shop salesperson. We do
seem to have a strange predisposition as a species
to not be especially realistic in our reasoning. Im
not surprised at the term armchair philosopher
when I watch a reality television show with people
making accusations and assumptions as the news
broadcasts on their television, or having a twitch
at the net curtains and revealing an opinion about
where a person has been, where they are going or
passing judgement on their life.
Many years ago when I was working in healthcare,
I remember holding the hand of a dying man called
Frank. He had terminal throat cancer and was
especially kind natured and selflessly thoughtful;
one of those people you meet and wish youd

known for longer. He was old by the time I met him;

I cant remember exactly how old but late 70s, I
imagine. Franks wife held tightly onto one of his
hands and I gently held the other. Frank looked at
me with his glassy, steel-blue eyes and said in his
slightly gruff voice, with a sombre hint that he knew
exactly what was coming: no one lives forever.
Frank died just a week or so following that.
For the rest of my life I shall remember that moment
and how it almost instantly put everything before,
then and forevermore into perspective: the time I
shouted and swore at a car that had cut me up; how
upset and irritable Id got when I smashed my own
favourite mug; when I was running really late for a
friends wedding and ruined the rest of the day for
myself because I was so stressed and angry.

For me, largely because of that moment with

Frank, I appreciated that all of the things that had
happened to me in life up until that moment had
passed me by. Theyd just happened to me. There
were many really wonderful times, memorable
achievements and the occasional sad time, too.
However, I had my head down and was getting on
with my life, seemingly like most of us. I see this
everywhere I go very little appreciation of the
fragile and finite properties of life. We are here but
once, yet the way people move around you would
be forgiven for thinking that this was merely a
rehearsal and that we will get to do it all over again,
playing out those parts we didnt quite get right
with a renewed vigour, flamboyance or tact that we
failed on the first time around.
It was about the time that I met Frank that it
occurred to me that not always doing what is
considered normal, making an effort to reach for

something more than what we expect ourselves

to be able to achieve, was the key to many things:
being successful in business, finding happiness,
creating memorable moments for others, being
better teachers, nurses, directors, parents or
indeed people. We can all perform at a greater
level and create a more significant impact when
we ask ourselves: Why?Fellow TED speaker,
Sir Ken Robinson, challenges why schools teach
in restrictive timetables, which force students to
choose topics of study they may not necessarily like
and dont make the most of their individual abilities.
Why do we invite armchair philosophers, with
no legal training, onto a jury to make unqualified
opinions and decide the fate of others? Why do
religions that support love cause so many wars?
Why are you, you? We should question ourselves
more: our thoughts, our behaviours, our beliefs.

I am certainly not suggesting that we question the

status quo in order to go against the grain or be
intentionally obstructive.
But if you do nothing, nothing will happen. It is the
safest and easiest place to be but it is possibly also
the least interesting, offering the least variety and
stimulation. There is nothing extraordinary about
ordinary.
So the first part of our journey towards flipping
the switch begins with you. We simply cannot
simultaneously keep one foot on where we are now
and make a step towards where we want to be or
what we want to do. Making that step is simply the
start of the process. If people can rebuild their lives
from the lowest point of homelessness, with not
a single penny to their name, then you can easily
correct something that goes wrong and choose

a response based on your understanding of the

consequences. In many ways it is simply a matter
of mindset: those things that we believe we can do,
we do and those things we dont believe we can
do, we dont.

Behaviour as a Legacy
The notion of how our behaviour can influence
our ability to be extraordinary is one very close
to my heart. As I write this I receive news that my
Grandma, Gwendoline Pearl Cunliffe, who has
dementia and was moved into a home about six
months ago (a decision I was never supportive of,
protesting my evidence that it was likely to make
her worse it did), probably doesnt have long left
to live. Shes not eating and is drinking very little;
simply sitting in a chair, her life ebbing away. It is
most likely that nearly every person reading this

10

book will have experienced the tragic loss of a

loved one and will be able to relate somewhat to my
pain. However, my Grandma really was someone
quite special. I know everyone says that, but she
really was.
On her 60th birthday, she thought nothing of
parachuting out of a plane; the enlarged photograph
of her standing in a ploughed field in front of a
crumpled parachute, beaming with that trademark
twinkle in her eyes and rosy cheeks, was hung with
pride on the wall by the stairs in her home. On a
few occasions she had to stay in hospital; for a new
hip and after a fall the usual when youre over 50.
However, something quite extraordinary happened
on more than one occasion when she was
hospitalized. She received thank you cards when
she left from the hospital staff. She literally lit up

a room with her smile, twinkling eyes and laughter.

She talked to anyone and everyone much to the
irritation of my Granddad. Beautiful in her youth
and right through into her elderly years, she was of
the generation who had really charming qualities
that we seem to have lost today: she dressed
impeccably whenever she went out and was
wonderfully polite to anyone that would stop to chat
with her. My Granddad used to have to sometimes
literally drag her away! As the second grandchild of
the family and within just a thirty-minute drive of my
Grandparents home, I was doted on, with baking,
camp-building in the dining room which involved
moving the furniture and draping bed sheets
and blankets over the chairs playing at being a
shopkeeper in the garden using the low wall as a
counter and having access to a huge box of Lego.

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Grandma had a heart and spirit that many would

say was saintly and an energy and youthfulness
that masked her true years. Grandma would not sit
still, literally she was always on the go, with the
exception of eating, playing the piano or the odd
forty winks. She had no favourite chair as so many
older people do.
As soon as she woke up she would be up and
doing something again: cleaning, baking, mending,
gardening, washing. In recent years she was given
a walking frame to help her with her balance.
Getting her to use it slowly and not push it around
so quickly was a constant battle, her mind was
always one step ahead of her body. She thought of
it as getting in her way and slowing her down but

watching her with it, and the speed she used to go,
reminded me of that time my friend and I were at
the dog race track and he got his shoelace stuck in
the electric hare. Some things just take off.
I remember clearly the first couple of years of her
dementia setting in not that back then we thought
it was anything more than a few transient moments
of old-age forgetfulness. But, oh, we laughed about
it! That wicked sense of humour, tear-inducing
laughter and ability to find the positive in everything:
whats your name again? would bring a good
five minutes of fun such that our sides would hurt
and wed have to try our hardest not to inflict any
more laughter pains! But the memory lapses and
confusion gradually got worse and the first time I

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knew it was serious and had gone past the point

of no return was when I went to visit her in their
bungalow in Dereham in Norfolk. I walked into the
front room to see her, sat in a chair (which is where
you now always see her).
It was like a train had hit me right in the chest. I
cant describe the instantaneous, hard realization
that hit me. The sparkle in her eyes had gone. They
were dull. She looked overweight, grey and spent
much of my visit being nasty, rude and obstructive.
I cried for most of the two and a half hour journey
home. That visit and subsequent time spent
thinking about her made me realize how important
our minds are.
That sensational organ tucked away deep within
our protective skull, which we give so little thought
to, will create the difference between ordinary and

extraordinary. After all, what do we have without

our mind and without our decisions and choices?
What is the point in having health and a body that
works if you cant enjoy it, understand it or even
comprehend it? Our character traits, the choices
we make, our beliefs, desires, passions, our
preferences, our foibles, our hopes and dreams, are
all rooted in our mind. Its a sad reality that those
things we cannot see, we tend to forget about,
which is the very issue social lobbyists have about
so-called invisible disabilities.
Dementia is a cruel and devastating illness that
slowly strips away sufferers, causing torment and
suffering to family, friends and those around them.
And although she isnt physically dead and I dont
think of her as such, my Grandma, the Grandma
I knew and loved so dearly, has been gone for

13

some time now. I havent visited for a while. Im

not keeping track of the days but I know it has
been longer than I would normally leave it: its
not enjoyable for me and she doesnt appear to
remember much of who I am, which probably hurts
more than anything else. The favourite grandchild,
with so many happy memories that now seem to
pale into insignificance because the person I shared
them with and who created them for me appears to
have turned their back on them and me. Now of
course I know that isnt for a second the real truth
and she isnt consciously aware of what shes doing
much of the time she doesnt fully comprehend
where she is or why she is there. The extraordinary
woman I once knew has gone. And you will have to
trust me when I tell you that the world is worse off
without her.

But what was it that made my Grandma

extraordinary? I have never heard of patients
receiving thank you cards from hospital staff
before. Her love of people and communicating
with others is certainly something you dont see
much of. Something which probably reads as a
rather ordinary conversation is propelled into the
extraordinary for the other person. It stands out
because its different its a moment in their life
that, albeit for a short time in this example, lingers
and has an impact, as it doesnt normally happen.

Do We Become What We Think?

Fear often plays a significant role in preventing
us from behaving differently: fear of unknown
consequences and fear of the responses we might
receive, for example. However, this is really only

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because of how habitual we are as a species: its

normal. We are creatures of habit, which is why we
generally read the same authors, take the same
routes to work and go to watch the same type of
films. When you understand that this resistance is
normal, it is much easier to flip the switch and make
conscious choices to change your behaviour.
How many days have you spent working away at
your desk until late at night, neglecting your spouse,
your pets or your children? How often have you
sat watching television leaving family or friends
uncalled? How many just this one moments have
you had with food and drink that left you overweight
and unhappy? Indeed we take for granted the very
fact that we are alive.

Some people appear to grasp life and the

opportunities it presents and indeed create their
own opportunities. These people arent abnormal,
however; they are, in a sense, extraordinary
because it isnt common, it isnt the norm for people
to readily make the most of every day or work to a
positive solution. It is common, however, for people
to focus on a problem, spend time talking about,
debating and concentrating on something that has
gone wrong, all the time not looking to the future for
a solution.
So what can we do about changing how we
approach the challenges and barriers that we face
to positively alter the consequences? There are

15

three questions I consider extremely important

to help flip the switch and instantly change our
behaviour:
1. Ask: Why Does it Have to be Done This Way?
This question is not designed to encourage
you to be obstructive or intentionally go against
the grain. Its to help push yourself to find new
ways of doing things; searching to improve and
challenge the status quo. Quite often you find
that the only reason things are done the way they
are is because theyve always been done that
way; theyve remained unquestioned because
of the overwhelming power of habit. This answer,
combined with a resistance to change, is crippling
for productivity and will prevent any movement
towards changing behaviour. How will anything

extraordinary come about if you keep doing things

the same way? By repeating the same actions the
same way youll only ever get the same result, so
looking at things from a different point of view is the
cornerstone of doing things differently.
2. Ask: How Can We Make This Better?
In this one question you follow up the previous
question, which challenges why you do things the
way you do, with the solution: How can we or I
make this better? Striving to always improve what
you are doing, to find a more efficacious way of doing
things is the best kick-start to actually doing it. Many
of us are gold-star procrastinators and put everything
off until the time is right. Only the time never is. In
my experience the right time never comes, but this
arguably over-cautious approach is that of pretty
much every ordinary person Ive ever met.

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3. Ask: What Would Grandma Do?

Now, obviously, you dont know my Grandma
and mores the pity. But you can ask the same
question about anyone else that you respect for
making sound judgements and good decisions,
to help guide you. My Grandma is not perfect.
But everything she does has humanity at its heart
and a genuine desire to do the very best. Thats
a fantastic role model to have and offers me a
different perspective on whatever Im doing.
Theres also a lot to be said for not accepting the
ordinary, which is what makes the why? question
so useful. By not accepting what has gone before,
you open up your mind to many alternatives that
were previously invisible to you. If, for whatever
reason, there is in fact no way to improve what
you have been doing or the way you have been

doing it, you can still ask yourself how you could
do it differently theres almost always something
that can be changed for the better . . . I find that
sometimes in life, all it takes is someone else to do
something that puts you in a position where you find
yourself asking: why didnt I do that? or could I do
that? Those moments that make you pause just for
a moment and force you to consider your chosen
actions happen all too infrequently in the rat race
most of us are caught up in.

The Behaviour You Get More of is the

One that You Feed
There is an ancient parable attributed to the
Cherokee Indians, which goes something like this,
from memory: a young Cherokee man is hauled
before the tribes elders, who are concerned about
his aggressive tendencies. One

17

of the elders takes the young man to one side and

tells him that his anger is in fact understandable,
for all humans have within them two wolves. One
wolf is generous, humble and has an open heart.
The other is aggressive, arrogant and selfish. The
wolves are in constant battle with one another
because neither is powerful enough to destroy the
other. So his aggressiveness is only natural. The
young man turns to the elder and asks: but which
wolf will win?, to which the elder replies, the one
that you feed.
Much in our own lives is up to us: our future and
life path is carved out as a result of the choices and
decisions we make on a moment by moment basis.
Do you want to get out of bed today? Do you want
to eat a large, fattening burger? Will you donate

some of your monthly pay to charity? Will you

stop and think of ways in which you can do things
differently? Will you continue to work late, narrowing
the time you spend with your friends and family?
Will you allow yourself to get angry and consumed
by negative emotions, or stop and do something
about the problems? Will you take the motorway
home, or the scenic route? The decisions we make
every day determine which wolf grows.
Changing our behaviour in order to get
extraordinary results is not necessarily always easy
but it is actually relatively simple. It just takes a
little conscious effort at the time to make the right
choices and widen the gap between stimulus and
our response.

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NOW, FLIP THE SWITCH!

The Two Common Behaviour Barriers

Use this question as a reminder to keep an eye on

your behaviour and the things which impact your
behaviour and to do something about it.

There are commonly two things that hold us back and

prevent us from changing how we behave:

2. A lack of understanding as to why we are doing

something, or why we are involved.

1. A lack of conscious exploration of the things that

are causing us unhappiness, or a reduced sense
of well-being.

Explain to yourself, or others, why the task needs to be

done. With a greater understanding of the reasoning
behind the task, you feel closer to it, can conceptualize
the task more easily and take ownership of it.

Ask yourself at least once every three months: What

happens in my job that makes me want to throw it
all in and leave? You can of course apply this same
question to your personal life: your relationship or
marriage, for example.

For maximum effect, take the time to consider what

the consequences will be: what will happen as a result
of you doing this? Furthermore, what will happen if you
dont do it?

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About the Author

Jez Rose is a thought leader in the field of
behaviour and speaks on effective, realworld training and strategies on the subjects
of behaviour change, customer service and
effective leadership.

Connect with Jez

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Like what youve seen here?

Then get yourself a copy of
Flip the Switch and find out
how to:

Think differently
Change for the better
Build your confidence
Become extraordinary

Buy today from your favourite bookshop and online at

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