Peak-end rule

As per Wikipedia "The peak-end rule is a psychological heuristic in which prople judge an experience based on how they felt at its peak (ie. its most intense point) and at its end rather than based on the total sum or average of every moment of the experience. The effect occurs regardless of whether the experience is pleasant or unpleasant." Basically it is because of a memory bias on emotional peaks and a memory bias on recency.

I was listening to a podcast on how businesses can make use of this phenomena to win loyal customers. An example was a raving review for a hotel from a set of parents. Their toddler had left his favourite soft toy in the hotel room after checking out. Back home the child was kicking a huge tantrum and refused to go to bed. The father requested the hotel to message him a photo of the teddy bear inside the hotel room so he could pacify the child with the tale that teddy wanted to stay a bit longer to enjoy himself. What blew them off was when teddy bear came in the delivery complete with a whole album of teddy enjoying himself at the pool, the gym, the playroom etc.

I can personally vouch for this too. I only vaguely remember the services offered by one investment bank assisting us on a M&A project but what stood out in my memory were 2 things. At the end of the project at a celebration dinner our project team was presented with a comic version of the process and comprised of all the team members drawn in the image of characters in the Matrix movie. Another retained memory of the bank was when having flown into New York for a roadshow past midnight with an empty stomach and immediately summoned for a in-house meeting by the chiefs who had arrived much earlier, a gentle knock at the door of the meeting room was heard and a little brown paper bag containing sandwiches was sneaked through the slightly opened door by a project member from that bank. The first memory was a happy ending to a prolonged event whilst the second memory was an emotional peak experience of the satisfaction of hunger. Perhaps my bosses remembered the bank by more significant attributes but ordinary folks like me succumb to this peak-end theory.

The podcast went on to suggest that we can apply this theory to our everyday life to spice it up a bit. The way to do is to depart from routine once a while. Maybe instead of the usual restaurant dinner on your birthday try observing fasting after 3 pm and distract yourself from the growling stomach with a visit to the night safari. This is just on top of my head. A Chinese New Year celebration packing the whole extended family to a grand picnic at the park may also become a year to remember. Departing from the usual 'must-see' or 'best-time' travel itinerary also makes it unforgettable. My family's experience in  a cold and deserted Santorini one winter was so exciting and impressionable. Though few cafes were opened and the island was deserted we had open uninterrupted view of every blue dome against the white washed settings in all their splendour whilst hiding from the chilly winter winds. We literally walked into the gardens and yards of shutted cottages and hotels to peep at the luxuries within and took long walks at night to reach the few good restaurants that were still opened. I doubt we could have a better experience during a hot and crowded Santorini summer.

To have a montage of beautiful life pictures in your mind, try for such peak memories.