Why do changes fail? The crocodile in your head is to blame!

Why do changes fail so often?

I would never have thought that a children's book would give me the biggest eureka moment in terms of dealing with change. Sounds funny, but it actually is. As a little boy, I loved it when I was allowed to sit on my grandfather's lap and he would read to me from a wide variety of books with stoic calm. My absolute favorite was The giant crocodile by the British writer Roald Dahl.

The book tells the story of a hungry crocodile who has set himself the goal of eating a juicy little child from the village on the edge of the jungle for lunch. In order to achieve this, he comes up with lots of creative ideas and disguises himself as a palm tree, a seesaw, a bench or a figure from a merry-go-round. In every single chapter, the cunning crocodile almost achieves the goal of his dreams because his disguise makes him almost indistinguishable from the everyday objects. But of course, as befits a children's book, it is always discovered in time, until it is hurled into the sky by an elephant in the story's grand finale and burns up in the sun shortly afterwards.

Despite this quite violent ending, The Giant Crocodile was my absolute favorite book for many months and I just couldn't get enough of it. But everything in life has its time, and as I grew up, I took other books to my heart and eventually forgot the adventures of the cunning reptile completely. Until one day I became a father myself and started reading bedtime stories to my two daughters, which of course included the adventures of the giant crocodile, which soon became my children's absolute favorites. No matter how tired they were, whenever the crocodile disguised itself as a palm tree, seesaw, bench or merry-go-round figure, they would join in the excitement with the children in the story and whoop for joy when the elephant hurled it towards the sun at the end.

The crocodile in the head as the cause of unconscious self-sabotage

I still don't know whether it was the childlike joy of my daughters or simply coincidence, but when I closed the book one evening, I suddenly realized more clearly than ever what parallels there were between the story and my everyday working life as a Keynote Speaker and Change Coach do exist. The different camouflages of the crocodile from the children's story are the perfect metaphor for why the most diverse Changes are so difficult in life. Because we all have a crocodile in our heads that has set itself the goal of eating our idea of a happy, contented and successful life for lunch.

Whenever you want to let go of something old, try something new or change something that already exists, it seductively whispers to you in a familiar voice that this would be a miserable idea. And it does so with a cunning that is second to none. Sitting deep in the unconscious mind, the crocodile disguises itself as worries, doubts and fears and ensures that...

You sabotage yourself and constantly have to fight against an inner resistance.
You let your goals and dreams languish in the famous drawer and distract yourself with unimportant activities instead.
You don't make any important decisions, but prefer to play it safe and leave everything as it is.
You keep putting off your plans until someday.
You tell yourself that you are not good enough, brave enough or motivated enough.
As a consequence, you prefer to lead an unhappy, dissatisfied and frustrated life instead of dealing with things, activities and tasks that have real meaning.

And it gets even better, because the more important a goal, project or plan is to you, the more intensely and persistently the crocodile will try to prevent you from realizing it. Incidentally, the cause of this type of avoidance strategy is neither a lack of intelligence nor a lack of motivation or weak willpower. Rather, it is solely because your crocodile brain has taken control at the crucial moments and pushed your rational mind to one side.

Why do changes fail? The reptilian brain

On the one hand, this term is of course a metaphor, but on the other hand it is also an existing part of your brain. You may already be familiar with it under the name Reptile brain, While the human brain is roughly the size of two clenched fists, lizards, snakes and even crocodiles only have a tiny brain whose sole task is to ensure their own survival. For this reason, it only knows three states, namely fear, hunger and the instinct to reproduce. The resulting behaviors are far removed from any conscious awareness, are exclusively instinct-driven and, especially in extreme situations, they follow the reflex to either flee or switch to attack mode.

And now comes the crucial point. Because although we humans are the only species on this planet with a conscious mind and can make intelligent decisions based on rational consideration (at least in theory), we still have a reptilian brain today - despite all the evolutionary developments - which ensures that we regularly give in to our inherited instincts from prehistoric times and, as a result, tend to make highly emotional, irrational and sometimes even downright stupid decisions.

I therefore love the metaphor of the crocodile in the head as a simplistic explanation for the irrationality of human behavior. But please don't let this fool you, because the underlying processes are based on neuroscientific research and studies throughout. So let's take a closer look. Even though the brain is a highly complex organ, it can be simplified into the following areas which all have a specific task.

Why change fails. The crocodile in the head

The Triune Brain - The three areas of the brain

The oldest area in evolutionary history is the brain stem, which controls your breathing, heartbeat, digestion and all the other unconscious bodily functions you need to live.

The second oldest area is the limbic system, whose most important component is the crocodile brain, which is the focus of our observations and has been given the name amygdala by scientists. This walnut-sized part of the brain is also triggered in us humans by the three primal instincts of fear, hunger and sex drive and leads to the notorious reflex of flight or attack, which can never be controlled intellectually. Two million years ago, this was a real blessing, because our unconsciously controlled instinct gave our ancestors precious seconds that saved them from being eaten by a sabre-toothed tiger.

For modern city dwellers, however, this escape-attack mechanism is an extreme hindrance, because today we have to contend with completely different dangers. To protect you from these, the crocodile in your head tells you in a purring voice to avoid any risks, to settle for suboptimal results or not to try new things at all.

The third area is the cerebellum, which is responsible for coordination and motor control, followed by the fourth, the cerebrum (Neocortex). This is the youngest and most sophisticated part of the brain in evolutionary terms and is responsible for logical thinking, speech, conscious planning and the perception of various stimuli.

If we summarize these areas in a simplified way, you actually have two brains. On the one hand, there is the crocodile brain, which is controlled by emotions, drives and instincts. It exists solely to protect you from potential dangers by trying to prevent change with all its might so that the familiar and safe status quo can be maintained.

On the other side is the intellectual brain, which enables you to learn, analyze situations, evaluate rationally and communicate using language. And now comes the fascinating part. Because although this area makes up the majority of the brain mass, in everyday life it is regularly dominated by the crocodile brain, which is much more experienced in evolutionary terms, and gives it complete control. The consequences could not be more fatal, because in all situations in which the status quo is in potential danger, all rational aspects are ignored and you react exclusively emotionally, impulsively and are guided by instincts. This is completely independent of whether the resulting behaviors correspond to your consciously formulated goals.

The crocodile in the head prevents change

Because we humans are still shaped by our primal instincts in the year 2025, the crocodile brain is a true master at preventing potential changes in order to protect you from possible failure. And the more importance something has for you, the harder the crocodile in your head will try and do everything it can to prevent you from implementing it. Just so that nothing changes and everything stays as it is.

What may seem relatively harmless at first glance has serious long-term consequences. The crocodile in our heads is the reason why our careers stagnate, why we don't start the company we've been planning for a long time, why diets fail, why we have financial problems, why we remain in unhappy relationships, why we don't take that trip around the world, why we don't write the book that's been lying dormant inside us, why the gyms are empty again from mid-January, and why we don't achieve the success we dream of so much on a conscious level.

We can emphasize to the outside world how much we really want all these things in our lives, but when it comes to making the necessary changes, an evolutionary instinct takes over and ensures that we find a plausible-sounding excuse, distract ourselves with trivial activities, occupy ourselves with unimportant things or sabotage ourselves in some other creative way. You know what situations and avoidance mechanisms I'm talking about, don't you?

Examples of unconscious self-sabotage

These examples weren't specific enough for you so far? Then let's look at the behavioral level. Have you ever resolved to prepare an important presentation, develop a concept for a potential client, acquire new customers, write a job application or take on a project in your company? But instead of happily getting down to work, have you spent your time endlessly surfing the internet, watching cooking tutorials on YouTube or scrolling through your TikTok For You page? The instigator for this behavior is the crocodile in your head that wants to protect you from embarrassing yourself, from failing or from failing.

Or can you remember a conflict situation from your everyday life in which you reacted with anger, rage and an emotional outburst that you were a little ashamed of immediately afterwards? Have you ever faced a problem that you ran away from, even though it would have been easy to find a solution? In these cases too, the crocodile in your head has tried in its own special way to protect you from negative dangers.

All these examples have one thing in common. Your crocodile brain dominates your rational mind when you find yourself in situations that were potentially dangerous in primitive times. This is always the case when the labels of your identity are under attack, your safety is threatened, your social status is under attack, or it is generally about money, power, sex or food. From the seductive-sounding ideas of the crocodile in your head, you then take refuge in the following typical behavior patterns.

Procrastination: You find it difficult to tackle goals, tasks or projects because you prefer to distract yourself with unimportant things.
No stamina: You always start things, but rarely finish them.
Negative inner dialog: You are your biggest critic.
Procrastination: You are regularly caught in the „if-then trap“ (once I have, can or am X, then I can also have, do or achieve Y).
Emotional instability: Worries, doubts and fears are part of your everyday life
Frittering away: You have difficulty setting priorities
Perfection mania: You often put off tasks because you think you have to be perfect. As a result, no result is ever good enough for you.
Lack of courage: You find it difficult to make decisions.
Orientation towards the past: You prefer to cling to the good old days instead of actively shaping the future
Instant Gratification: Satisfying immediate needs is more important to you than your long-term goals and dreams
Excuses: You are a master at rationalizing the behaviors triggered by the crocodile in your head after the fact

Two ways to turn the crocodile in your head into your ally

Whether we like it or not, we all know situations in which we are dominated by these behavioral patterns, don't we? But that's not so bad, because what's more important is how you deal with it. You always have the choice of letting the crocodile in your head paralyse you or letting it become your greatest ally. And you can do this by accepting it as your best friend and putting it on a leash.

1) Accept the crocodile as a friend

The crocodile in your head can either be your worst enemy or your best friend. And the choice is entirely yours. Only you decide whether you allow yourself to be paralyzed by your primal instincts or whether you use the power of the amygdala to achieve your goals and dreams. An excellent idea is to give your crocodile a name. Yes, really, you have no idea what effect this will have. Mine has been called “Biggie” for many years, which is a nod to both the giant crocodile from my childhood and the rap icon Notorious BIG. And we have a really good relationship because I've internalized that Biggie always comes into action when I'm in the process of breaking new ground, developing myself as a person and implementing necessary changes.

Once you have chosen your crocodile as your best friend, you can embrace these moments in your everyday life and enjoy the feeling that you are in the process of breaking through inner resistance. Create as many opportunities as possible where your crocodile brain tries to distract you, convince you that you could embarrass yourself or persuade you to procrastinate. These moments are a wonderful indicator that you are alive. In the truest sense of the word.

2) Put the crocodile on a leash

The next step is to put your crocodile on a leash so that it is not tempted to determine the direction of your life in the first place. And since the leash is of course just a metaphor, here are some concrete ideas on how this can look in your everyday life:

The power of small steps: Divide large projects into many small milestones and enjoy the successes when you have reached an intermediate goal. The resulting momentum will reliably put your crocodile brain to sleep.
Fail forward: Don't be afraid to make mistakes or fail. These moments offer the best opportunities to grow and learn as a person. And at the end of the day, there is only one way to really fail: not even try. Isn't that right?
Become an idea machine: Develop as many ideas as possible. Both good and bad. Both rational and crazy. The more absurd an idea sounds, the better. The more you go off the beaten track, the greater the chance that you will create something that has meaning.
Consistency: Define routines, fixed processes and powerful habits. Your crocodile brain hates the resulting consistency.
Commitment: Banish excuses from your everyday life. The more committed you are, the more successful you will be. Keep your promises, especially those you have made to yourself.
Serenity: Don't let setbacks throw you off track. Accept that they will happen. You didn't work on that all-important project and preferred to watch Netflix instead? You ate a large portion of fries with mayo during your diet? Or you were intimidated by the blank sheet of paper while writing your book and distracted yourself with a trivial activity? No problem at all. As long as it was just an exception and you start again from scratch the next day.

I very much hope that this article has given you some answers to the question „Why do changes fail so often?“. If you would like to delve even deeper into the psychology of change, I recommend my book „Freedom begins in the mind“ recommend.