Adapt to Setbacks
The key here is to learn how intractability happens and how to navigate these conflicts by taking a long view of these challenges according to the best research on effective decision-making in complex, unpredictable environments.
Exercises
Choose Your Lift Level
What do you have capacity for today? Whether it's a light lift, or something a little heavier, taking a step is what counts.
Get Attracted
Check out this 5-minute interactive game on attractor landscapes.
The Science Behind It
Attractors are the primary concept from physics and complexity science that my colleagues and I have employed to understand how some complex social conflicts get stuck in long-term patterns that become highly resistant to change. They help us understand how many different aspects of conflicts can combine and align in ways that work together to keep us attracted and trapped in their lure.
This game, developed by the artist and computer scientist Nicky Case, is a fun way to become more familiar with the strange, unpredictable dynamics associated with attractors. So, keep the political issue you chose for this week in mind, play the game, and imagine that your attempts to move the needle on the issue are responding like an attractor would. What insights arise from this?
Set a daily reminder
Get daily exercise reminders on your phone or email throughout The Challenge to stay on track.
- Better navigate politically polarizing situations
- Repair strained relationships with family and friends
- Become a less reactive and more effective communicator
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