{"id":8582,"date":"2026-01-26T00:51:34","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T00:51:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/?p=8582"},"modified":"2026-01-26T00:51:34","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T00:51:34","slug":"conociendo-al-elefante","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/2026\/01\/26\/conociendo-al-elefante\/","title":{"rendered":"Getting to know the elephant"},"content":{"rendered":"

The other day, my work colleagues and I went out for lunch; we went to a really cool pub near the office (An Poitin Stil, in case you\u00b4re curious), and I saw this elephant at the entrance:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Photo of the statue of a grey elephant, at the entrance of a pub in Rathcoole, Ireland.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I immediately remembered a metaphor I\u00b4m very fond of, one that I\u00b4m starting to use quite often when speaking about coaching and personal\/professional growth (together with the one about the iceberg<\/strong><\/a>, which is still my favourite).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u00b4s the elephant and rider theory<\/strong>, formulated by psychologist Jonathan Haidt. He puts forward the idea that our conscious mind<\/strong>, that is, our logical and rational side<\/strong>, is like a rider on top of an elephant<\/strong>, and that elephant is our non-consscious mind<\/strong>, that is, our intuitive and emotional side<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rider believes he\u00b4s the one in charge<\/strong>, the one holding the reins, but at the end of the day, the elephant is much stronger<\/strong> and ultimately wins every time<\/strong>. All of this without us even noticing... The thing is, the vast majority of our decisions are not as logical and rational as we would like to believe: in reality, we decide based on emotions<\/a>, and then we justify those decisions rationally after the fact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A bit scary, isn\u00b4t it? Hard to admit. And we thought we were so clever...<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But there\u00b4s also a very positive side to this metaphor, and it\u00b4s the fact that it explains very well why we find it so hard to make changes<\/strong> and acquire new habits: even if the rider knows for sure where they want to go, if they\u00b4re not able to convince and motivate the elephant, they\u00b4re not going to be able to move in that direction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other words: as long as our goals are not in alignment with our deepest motivations (beliefs, values, identity, etc.), we\u00b4re not going to be able to make lasting changes; we\u00b4re going to be constantly sabotaging ourselves<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The solution? Befriending the elephant \ud83d\ude42 Getting to know him as well as possible, learning to understand him and finding ways to collaborate, so that you can join forces and make progress in a way that satisfies your needs as well as theirs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What about you? How well do you know your elephant? And how well do you get along with him?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

El otro d\u00eda fui con mis compa\u00f1eros de trabajo a comer a un pub muy chulo cerca de la oficina (An Poitin Stil, para quien tenga curiosidad), y a la puerta me encontr\u00e9 con este elefante: (Foto de la estatua de un elefante gris a la entrada de un pub en Rathcoole, Irlanda.) Inmediatamente me … Continue reading Getting to know the elephant<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":3116429,"featured_media":8581,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","advanced_seo_description":"BinaryWords - Conociendo al elefante \/ Getting to know the elephant","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"\u00bfCu\u00e1nto conoces a tu elefante? \/ How well do you know your elephant?","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5106,5107],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-coaching","category-emociones","fallback-thumbnail"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/IMG_20260119_121011.jpg?fit=4000%2C3000&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3DPtR-2eq","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":464,"url":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/2021\/10\/24\/version-5\/","url_meta":{"origin":8582,"position":0},"title":"Version 5","author":"binarybea","date":"24\/10\/2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Bueno, pues ha llegado el momento de a\u00f1adir un n\u00famero m\u00e1s a mi historial de versiones - la versi\u00f3n 5. 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