Your Experience of Having a Colonoscopy Depends On What Happens In The End (lol)
Your experience of having a colonoscopy depends on what happens in the end. I know that sounds kind of funny but research done by Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman shows that your story, or your memory of an event depends on how your experience ended.
I heard Kahneman talk at Ted.com. Having a colonoscopy is not a pleasant experience. But the memory, or story, about having a colonoscopy depends on what happens at the final moments of the colonoscopy. It turns out that if the last few minutes of the colonoscopy are not too bad, then the patient remembers the whole experience as “not too bad.” But if the last few moments of the colonoscopy were painful (even if the rest of the experience wasn’t that bad), then the entire experience was remember as painful.
What is remarkable is what happens at the end of the experience determines how the patient remembers it and talks about it. I have to add here that this experiment was done when colonoscopies were a painful procedure.
This principle of interpreting the whole experience based on what happens at the end turns out to be very important for just about every experience.
Take your sales experience. If you show several houses to a client and the last house is a real dog, say a property that smells like cat urine and is filthy dirty then your client’s interpretation of the whole experience will be colored by that one house, even if you showed some nice ones first. Not good.
Or if you are signing documents and your client is late for work and feels rushed and anxious, then as he or she is leaving she will not have a good story about you or the event. Not good.
Last night I watch a great young singer end her song on a pathetic note on Idol. Guess how the judges judged her. But when Crystal Bowersox sang and her song ended with applause her performance was judged and remembered well. Interesting!
If you ended your encounter with your loved one on a sour note, guess what? Humm..
What are the implications of Kahneman’s research? End well for a positive memory of the experience.
How will you feel about your day at the end? If you go to bed angry, sad, or worried…guess how you will feel. Kahneman gives credence to the idea of being grateful at the end of the day; intentionally recalling the good thing (even when the day was checkered with difficulty), being thankful, expressing gratitude. It makes a difference.
How will your client remember the experience of being with you? Make the last few moments of your meeting great; express appreciation, point out the benefits, express hope, say something good about your client and the experience. Show the best house last.
When you leave your loved one, leave with a smile and a kiss.
Today you will experience the vicissitude of life, something akin to having a colonoscopy I am sure. When it is all said and done and you place your head on the pillow think of this…you are not dwelling in some dark and dank refugee camp worrying about where your babies will get their next meal.
No! You are loved! You have freedom! God loves you! The world is anxiously awaiting your emergence. Victory is at hand! Life is full and rich. You help people who need your unique gift. Your personal story is a story of triumph love and success. If you go to bed with those thoughts do you think it would make a difference? I think so, too!
What if you ended every event with good thoughts and ideas? And those people you meet. Embrace them with hope and a smile. Show them that you care, even with the news isn’t great. Let them leave you encouraged in the end.
I know it sounds crazy, but it is the way human being experience life, that the last few moments of an event determine the memory of the event more than the entire event. Make each ending one to be remembered.
I love you, you are special to me, I really care about you, I believe the best and think the best of you, you make a difference in the world, I appreciate you and I am praying for you… I sincerely am.
I love you – Bryan Martin
