Switch Craft: The Hidden Power of Mental Agility

There is much evidence that we need a range of approaches on hand to deal with life’s challenges.8 But range is not enough, we also need the agility to choose the right one for the right moment. This is the essence of switch craft.

Constant worry does not give us any more control over events; it simply saps us of energy and destroys our vitality.

an agile mind drastically improves your chances of success and happiness. But the flip side is also true: an inflexible mind fuels anxiety and stress and a “stickiness” that can torpedo your life.

An inflexible mind leads to anxiety and depression.

Respect the process: growth occurs at its own pace, and you should not try to force it. An internal shift in identity is essential: you can only adapt to new circumstances by changing inside. Accept yourself for who you are and what the process of change entails. Lower your expectations about what you can and can’t do during this period.

A surprising finding in the science of emotion is that each emotion does not have a specific feeling.3 Instead, what we feel is a general sense of pleasantness or unpleasantness—a feeling tone—and this informs us of what’s going on around us before our conscious brain has had a chance to catch up.

While we feel like we are reacting to what is happening around us, the way it actually works is that your brain constructs what is likely to happen next drawing on your rich experience of what’s happened before. The latest science tells us that our every waking moment is dominated by predicting which actions we need to take next.

Harnessing the benefits of an agile mind—what I call “switch craft”—can be transformative. It’s important to remember that we are active stewards of our own well-being, rather than passive victims of change and so we must actively manage our approach to life. Switch

The exercises Alexa and I worked on are examples of what psychologists call “behavioral experiments”—these are activities that test our beliefs and expectations. They work by exposing people to small “doses” of uncertainty and by exploring the usefulness of worry, among other things.8 By targeting beliefs through actions, you can test out your most