Refusing to Give Up

Introduction: This Root Tree emerges from PH1-Action and contains all the PH-L2 elements. It comes into play when there are severe practical impediments in a project, often with disbelief or opposition by others. This leads to doubt about whether you can make your project succeed.

Emergence from PH1-Action

PH1-Action contains the principles governing effective decision-making and achievement—see posted frameworks. Achievement is difficult for a myriad of reasons, and all projects have set-backs and unexpected difficulties. Most require some revision and adaptation to get around obstacles. Many of your projects will succeed; but some fail, even important ones that become intensely involving and personally significant.

It is then often sensible to give up and try something else: especially when everyone around is critical and confirms your doubts about the chances of success.

However, there are times when you believe the project can and should succeed, even though others do not recognize its value and/or are sceptical about implementation. You are then alone and the odds are against you.

The only hope for making the project succeed against all the odds is to refuse to give up and operate in a way revealed by the framework comprised solely of PH-L2 elements which offer certainty (as explained below).

With this certainty, you can and must take on the role of project leader.

Examples: Leaders

Turn-around specialists need to apply this framework when entering a failed enterprise. A recent example was Steve Jobs return to Apple. It is also activated by those embarking on revolutionary enterprises and the development of disruptive technologies. It is, however, equally applicable to any personal project that has merit but is unconventional or misunderstood. Read the story of how Henry Ford produced his first successful car, the Model A, in Mastery by R. Greene (2012).

More on Life's Necessity: Producing Achievements.

Everyone has substantial endeavours that I call «projects». The overall taxonomic framework for pursuing any project is covered by the framework of endeavour.

If your most important project runs into trouble then you will be unwilling to abandon your project if you deeply believe that you have a good idea. It may be a revolutionary notion: like addressing a new market, or developing a radical scientific hypothesis—and then social opposition and misunderstanding by colleagues is only to be expected. If it is likely you are right, then it is perfectly reasonable to want to push on and ignore well-meaning advice to the contrary. However, you must also believe that you have the know-how to implement your project.

If you do refuse to give up against all the odds, then you need to supplement the usual frameworks for endeavour and achievement, with a framework comprised solely of PH-L2 elements. That alone can give your various efforts the necessary certainty, as explained below.

Why Use a Framework of all PH-L2s

It is hard to maintain confidence when a project is not making headway and everyone is critical, doubtful, and abandoning it. Without an inner certainty, you will hesitate, your enthusiasm will fluctuate, drive will be lacking, commitment will fail, others will not follow—and then you will certainly never succeed.

Investigations into the Root Projection to Primary Hierarchies suggest that PH-L2 elements (within their Primary Hierarchy) are constructed under a psychosocial pressure for certainty (probably with a distinct neurophysiological underpinning).

The Tree framework constituted solely out of PH-L2 elements can therefore be expected to be dedicated to the provision of certainty. Being a Root Tree, each level will also retain its usual psychosocial pressures.

Note: The process here assumes that you possess or can access or discover necessary relevant knowledge and can willingly apply genuine know-how i.e. there is a strong link to Inquiry-RL2.

Consider Alternatives

Consideration of the other psychosocial pressures reveals them to be unsatisfactory or insufficient as the principal general drive. Selflessness is not the solution to your failed project: it might have been the cause. Autonomy is not appropriate because projects involve others extensively. Understanding alone is too abstract. Well-being is almost irrelevant: making the project succeed might nearly kill you. Acceptability misses the point. Performance pressures are always important, but giving performance pre-eminence does not deal with social opposition, doubt or failure.

Renewal & Recovery

Summary Only: This is an abbreviated overview of the Tree with a focus on the Willingness element. A fuller account is provided in the next topic. Understanding the various Primary Hierarchy elements is assumed. For more details within the Architecture Room, review the relevant part of the Root Projection section.

The heart of the framework and the source of your project's eventual success lies in KL4: Feeling Good about Believing. But this requires exposing and exploring your beliefs, because others need to share in those beliefs to ensure success. It is almost a truism that you must believe in yourself, in your project, in your ideas, and in what should be done. But this comes to the fore if you want to succeed with a tough project that has gone wrong or lost support. However, unless you feel good about it, believing will not take you far. To ensure your beliefs are grounded and useful, they need feeds from other Centres.

Feeding into Belief-KL4 from above are the 5 Centres that enable renewal of the endeavour-proper.

Once you realize that there is a breakdown, you have to take things in hand: the project, yourself, and the situation. This involves paying much closer and totally dispassionate attention to signals-KL7, those unambiguous messages that may come from anywhere. These commonly serve as challenges to your beliefs.

Signals, favorable or undesired, should lead to your making changes-KL6 regardless of what others think. Signals should focus the alterations, usually uncomfortable, that you impose on yourself. These show and ensure that you become committed. Signals also release you to require modifications of the overall situation that will get you support.

What usually does not change are the concepts-KL5 of the project, but you must explain them well to all concerned. You must also investigate so that your beliefs are realistic. Given the past severe difficulties or failure, you must also appreciate outsiders' concepts to ensure your beliefs can get acceptance.

Feeding into Belief-KL4 from below are the 3 Centres that enable recovery of the project.

The outcomes-KL3 (i.e. strategic objectives) that you insist on for yourself provide the extra encouragment for you and others to feel good about believing; while the outcomes you support to benefit others help your views become credible.

Relying on images-KL2 of how things will go and the likely benefits gives the project an inner vitality. Leaders in turnarounds invariably develop a powerful vision. So you, too, must visualize many aspects of the project and the essential roles that you and others will play in it. These energize your beliefs and foster pursuit of the endeavour-proper.

Bypassing Belief to connect Renewal with Recovery are two levels essential for the success of any project: understanding its concept (KL5) and promoting valuable outcomes (KL3). The channels between these provide validation and justification for your efforts.

Final Common Path: Tangible progress is the ultimate source of certainty. Action must be simultaneously part of endeavours-proper in order to ground the whole process. If you activate procedures, you should be able to produce pre-determined results in a way that confirms the images being used, and indirectly your beliefs.

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• Examine all PH-L2 Centres and mutual influences systematically in more detail.

• See how the framework may be used and misused.

  OR

• Continue to Bypassing Others' Resistances: the Tree of PH-L3 elements from PH7-Willingness that helps you establish your ideas as sound.

Initially posted: 20-Sep-2014. Last amended: 22-Jan-2015.