How to Get Rid of the Herd Instinct and Become a Leader

You've all heard of the herd instinct. He is an innate instinct, as is self-preservation and reproduction. But we have an advantage over animals - consciousness, which is higher than instincts. In other words, we can make the choice - to be sheep or not. What can't be said about real sheep? That is why it is a pity when people do not make the right choice.

Man is a social being and must belong to a group. The herd instinct, the desire to be like everyone else, helps us in this regard. Without him, it would be difficult to adjust to society. But any community, any group of people is led by someone.

Always. Even the flock of sheep always has a leader, blindly followed by all individuals. There have been numerous cases of the mass suicide of sheep, which have jumped into the abyss after their leader.

So 5% of people can drive the other 95%. Therefore, 95% copy the behavior of leaders. This phenomenon is widely used in politics, religion, art, sex, and of course in advertising.

Each of us has applauded at least once in our lives, even if we didn't like it. Or if you are not like the others, you are an outcast and not everyone is ready to take on this role.

But if man possesses a high level of intelligence over time he will prefer the path of the lone wolf. Few people will admit that they are part of the 95%, which is the gray mass. Paradoxically, someone has to make up the 95%.

So try to cultivate your resistance to the herd instinct.

Make decisions consciously

The subconscious is faster than consciousness. When it is necessary to make a quick decision, there is no time for analysis and search for the best solution. At such moments the subconscious and the imitation/copying mechanism are connected.

For example, you heard a noise, then everyone around you started running in a certain direction. Most likely, you will run after them, but you will not have to analyze the situation to understand what happened.

Keep your cool

To avoid situations like the one described above, try to stay calm and calm in any situation. Man is prone to outside influences at the time of overexcitation, when the psyche is stressed to the maximum, processing the flow of images and emotions, and the protective mechanisms are annihilated. Keeping calm is the most powerful weapon against crowds and manipulation.

Question everything

He rationally questions any dogmas, postulates, and exhortations. This would be the ability of man to analyze the information he receives and to form his own opinion, but not to blindly accept anything, even if it comes from an authoritative source.

Get your mind moving

The ability to question things develops from a certain level of intelligence. You have to get your brain moving. To train it like a muscle, to develop it, to work on the ability to think and analyze. To read a lot, to be in constant search of new information, to try, to get into the essence of things, to develop your sense of humor.

A highly developed personality rarely falls victim to dirty manipulations by the aggressor - this simply does not suit him. It is much simpler without much effort to choose the amorphous conscience of an infantile personality with a low intellectual level and low self-confidence as a victim.

Be confident

Most often, people are prone to herd instincts, they are not self-confident. They react very painfully to criticism, so they prefer not to stand out from the crowd, to be like everyone else to reduce the risk of disapproval from others. They prefer to follow opinion leaders. Awareness of individuality is a good way to prevent this type of behavior.

Set your priorities

If preserving life were the top priority at all times, then so many tragic episodes would not happen. When inner values ​​are steady and strong, it is virtually impossible to make man betray them. It is necessary to strengthen the pillar of values ​​and beliefs. By the way, sometimes it would be good to subject them to rational criticism.

Herd instincts are not necessarily evil. For example, it can be successfully applied for teamwork, ie it is strengthened during team building. But if you have noticed attempts at gross manipulation of conscience, restriction of liberty, or the imposition of opinion, which are to the advantage of another, such manifestations must be eradicated without hesitation.