Performance via a Tree of PH-L1 Centres

Framework

This Tree guides you in overcoming your inertia so as to stop avoidance and use time well in response to feeling it is impossible to get anything done.

This account is not a full exploration of psychosocial issues. It's purpose is to demonstrate that THEE is a model whose exploration generates findings that did not go into its construction. The specific aim is to scientifically validate conjectures developed in relation to the reversal of the oscillating duality and the identification of Root Level pressures of presumed biological origin. See more here.

Approach to Exposition:Closed  The Tree emerged fully developed and so the usual logical methods of exposition are not appropriate. See more here.

Note: The key Performance level in this emergent framework appears to be KL3: Tactical Objectives because tasks must have been previously too demanding and lengthy. Tasks therefore need adjusting to become acceptable. It may help to read this part first.

The Tree Spine

Seek Guidance at KL7 by Respecting Stimuli
Take Heart at KL4 by Feeling Good about Trying
Find Energy at KL2 by Relying on Sensations
Make It Happen is at KL1 by Activating Movement.

From top to bottom there is a concrete and practical approach. In the spine, the two extreme Centres seem externally oriented: at the top (KL7) you make yourself dependent, at the bottom (KL1) you make yourself self-reliant. The other two Centres seem internally oriented: the upper (KL4) provides a continuity, the lower (KL2) provides an adaptability.

In this central spine, the yourself v your situation duality is fused.

ClosedMore about the Balanced Centres & Vertical Channels in the Spine

In these balanced Centres, whatever works for you has to apply simultaneously for relevant others and/or the situation:

  • the stimuli-KL7 that you see and understand must be stimuli within the situation that others can also notice;
  • your willingness to try-KL4 must be evident in the situation and noticeable by others who appreciate your effort and want to support you;
  • the sensations-KL2 that come alive for you, pleasant or unpleasant, must be part of the situation;
  • the physical movement-KL1 that you activate must be what is required in the situation.

The three vertical Channels show a progression from doubt through to certainty:

KL7B ↔ KL4B: Respect for specified stimuli-KL7B challenges whether you are genuinely trying-KL4B; and your readiness to try challenges you to respect those stimuli.

KL4B ↔ KL2B: Your trying-KL4B energizes the sensations-KL2B that you experience when confronted with the relevant task; and the sensations before and after action energize trying.

KL2B ↔ KL1B:  The sensations-KL2B relevant to the issue confirm that the time for some physical action-KL1B has arrived, and your movements confirm an appeal to sensations has succeeded.

KL7: Seek Guidance → Performance via Selflessness

KL7B: Respect Stimuli (PH5-L1)

Stimuli are the biological foundation for the transmission of meaning. The stimuli specifically relevant to overcoming inertia are a matter for your choosing. So they can vary greatly. They may be something you create (e.g. setting an alarm) or they may exist in the environment and be used for this purpose (e.g. the sound of church bells). The main factor is their distinctiveness and capacity to remind you in a very specific way. Your could use a timer to prevent dithering—but only if you respect it and decide one way or another the moment the buzzer sounds. Pieces of coloured paper with instructions are stimuli that convey useful messages: but such notes get lost if they are not respected.

ClosedMore on Stimuli

ClosedPerformance and Selflessness

Respect for stimuli focuses variations-KL6Y to your daily routines and enables you to create minor adjustments-KL6S to externals that waste time or otherwise impinge on performance. Stimuli set up a challenge to your willingness to try-KL4B.

KL4: Take Heart → Performance via Well-being

KL4B: Feel Good about Trying (PH7-L1)

The likelihood of overcoming avoidance, especially if long-standing, is zero unless you seriously try. There is a limit to self-coercion. You must feel good about making a start. However, there is no action too small to show yourself and others that you intend to make progress. Trying is a heartfelt statement to yourself and relevant others that you are indeed taking the particular activity or goal seriously as a valued or necessary aspect of your life. So trying should enhance well-being: if it doesn't, then something is wrong with your perspective and you should seriously re-consider the goal, your methods or the larger context.

ClosedWhat about Failure?

ClosedMore on Trying and Well-being

Trying becomes committed through the new habits-KL6Y you impose on yourself, and gets support from adjustments to routines-KL6S. Keeping trying gets credibility from your support for short easy tasks-KL3S, and is incentivized by rewarding yourself-KL3Y for these mini-achievements. If you are genuinely trying, observations of process-KL5S get accepted even if disappointing or shocking. Trying also ensures that you become realistic in your observations of yourself-KL5Y. As noted above, trying challenges the respect for stimuli-KL2B and energizes your appeal to sensations-KL2B.

KL2: Find Energy →  Performance via Certainty

KL2B: Rely on Sensations (PH4-L1)

Sensations are the characteristic form of experience that you can rely on for guidance as to the moment in time that action is needed. As well as heralding avoidance, sensations also provide certainty by indicating successful action. The prior sensation is usually unpleasant (disgust, tiredness, pain, irritation, fullness, confusion) while the subsequent sensation is usually pleasant (relief, tingling, exhilaration, comfort, clear-headedness).

ClosedMore on Sensation with Examples

The relevant sensations confirm the physical actions-KL1B taken. They should also be used to reaffirm that you deserve those rewards-KL3Y, and to align with those easier shorter tasks-KL3S. Sensations energize you to keep on trying-KL4B.

KL1: Make It Happen → Performance via Performance

KL1B: Activate Movement (PH1-L1)

Physical actions take place in time and space, and being concrete you can rely on their completion in the time allocated. The performance pressure is handled because the time to fulfil primarily manual tasks (e.g. file a pile of correspondence) or physical demands (e.g. remove old boxes from the attic and take them to the dump) or pursue a goal (e.g practice the guitar) is either pre-determined or can be specified without any problem. Because simple movements produce a completion, they can be channeled into easier shorter tasks-KL3S and used to constrain the required rewards-KL3Y.

The key mechanism here is momentum, a feature of performing and, in this context, the opposite of inertia (although identical in physics!). Once momentum develops, habits tend to be reinforced. and the routine activity comes under control, or that optional goal gets pursued naturally. Without movement, there can be no momentum.
Note that this is the performance element (PH-L1) at the performance level (KL1) in the Tree.

The Bi-Polar Levels

The other three levels—KL6, KL5, KL3—have two Centres each: these must take heed of each other and connect to the Centres on the spine.

KL6: Establish Your Position →  Performance via Autonomy

KL6: Enable Variations (PH3-L1)

Time is critical and the problematic activities are not the central issues in your life. So the degree of change to be introduced into your life needs to be minimal and practical. However limited, the adjustments are significant and their introduction depends on your autonomy. Changes that you impose on yourself-KL6Y relate to performing efficiently and these need to become habits. Changes that you create in your situation-KL6S should support trying by addressing schedules and routines. The two sorts of changes should mesh and reinforce: i.e. show reciprocity.

KL6Y: Impose New Habits on Yourself

There is something amiss with your usual habits if there is continuous failed performance. So you must impose some variations i.e. trivial alterations that are just means and do not affect your lifestyle, personality, or beliefs.

Changes that make your life easier might include: •get in the habit of saying "no" to demands; •develop a "do it now" policy for ultra-short tasks; •use pre-specified schedules; •turn off background TV; •cut social media use; •optimize all processes to suit your nature e.g. if you are an early bird start at 5am, if you are a night owl start at 11pm; •quit activities that have become obsolete; •give tasks a chance to disappear; •share the load with others more often; •create goals for the day and/or week; •get training in basic skills like typing or use of a spreadsheet; •prepare well in advance to avoid rush and hassle. Any rules and scripts must not be too rigid: allowing some flexibility enables the habits to soon feel easy and natural.

Imposing new habits helps you become committed to trying-KL4B, strengthens your self-observation-KL5Y, and focuses respect for stimuli-KL7B.

KL6S: Create Adjustments to Schedules

To stop avoidance, you must fit everything in to the time available. Minor changes to your routines and use of scheduling can make an immense difference. The requirement here is to improve timing of rather superficial aspects of daily life e.g. what you do before breakfast, when you organise your tidying, what tasks you make absolutely regular.

You should allocate tasks in relation to the quality of your time: pursue the core goal when you are freshest and leave mindless activities for low quality time. Also distinguish times when you must never be interrupted from periods when you are available. Batch and temporarily postpone miscellaneous tasks to be done in a chunk of time, rather than letting them disrupt you on an hourly or daily basis.

The biblical in,junction to take off one day each week (Saturday or Sunday) from all effort seems wise to ensure you can recuperate and enter the new week re-invigorated.

Creative adjustment to schedules provides support for trying-KL4B, encourages your observation of processes-KL5Y, and demands respect for stimuli-KL7B

KL5: Clarify Your Thinking → Performance via Understanding

KL5: Clarify Observations-(PH2-L1)

Something strange has been going on: you have not been doing what you say you want to do or you have been avoiding things that you know are absolutely necessary. So it is vital that you understand what is going on as you resolve the impasse and failure. You must observe carefully both yourself and the relevant process and externals in real time, making a point of noting down observations relating both to success and failure. There should be a natural complementarity between what you discover about yourself and about the situation.

KL5Y: Explain Observations of Yourself

As noted above, you need new habits-KL6Y in the problematic area, but others cannot tell you what they are. If you observe yourself carefully, you can choose to do what is natural and easiest for you. No one but you knows when it is least trouble to shave and shower; or how to force yourself to buy new clothes. You will fail at times, but if you are observant, you can explain why you failed. The cause may be external or you may notice fear, shame or guilt behind a reluctance to try. That can then lead to development of new tactics (KL3) or routines (KL6).

Explaining observations of yourself validatesuseful tactics-KL3S, helps you become realistic in keeping trying-KL4B, and strengthensnew habits-KL6Y.

KL5S: Appreciate Observations of Process

There are many minor and seemingly trivial aspects of everyday life that can contribute to your inertia or help you move toward your goal. Does music in the background help? Is a particular room especially congenial for work? Do you like clutter or are you better off without it? Does a warm-up help? Is your partner's presence distracting or supportive? To notice such issues, by keeping a daily goal journal or a diary that records your struggles.

Learning from failure is important and this demands that you observe closely exactly what happened or what interfered. Simply organizing the issues and tasks properly can help you see clearly what is going on. There is software to help you track and record progress. Involving a friend or partner not only provides company, but also ensures independent observations and an accountability check.

Appreciating the process and the effects of environmental factors justifies using tactics that give you rewards-KL3S. It also provides acceptance that you are keeping on trying-KL4B, and encouragesadjustments to schedules-KL6Y.

KL3: Why You Persevere →  Performance via Acceptability

KL3: Promote Tactical Objectives (PH6-L1)

Tactical objectives (or tactics) are pure means i.e. steps towards an outcome that counts. These purposes define necessary small tasks that should always carry an explicit deadline for completion to ensure performance. The aim here is to help you stop avoiding tasks. You must have avoided them because they lacked acceptability in some way. So overcoming inertia depends largely on ensuring their acceptability now. You can make relevant useful tasks acceptable by making them easier. The shorter the task duration, the simpler the work, the easier its completion, and the quicker the feedback on your effectiveness. Creating micro-goals enables mini-victories which produce an intrinsic pleasure (probably dopamine or endorphin release). But you need bigger rewards than that, so you must further increase acceptability by arranging for self-gratification. Linkage is essential: employing any useful tactic must take into consideration the need for organizing gratification, and vice versa.

KL3S: Support Easier Shorter Tasks

To make the tasks as easy to perform as possible and get quick feedback, it is always advantageous to break them down into smaller and smaller elements i.e. set mini-milestones. There is no limit to how small and simple a tactic can be until you reach a specific physical movement. 'Baby steps' may involve subdividing tasks down to a duration as short as 3 minutes and rarely more than 30 minutes. In cases of repetitive tasks (like practice), a strict time limit avoids exhaustion or boredom.

Easier tasks provide credibility for trying-KL4B and validate your self-observation-KL5Y. They should align with sensations-KL2B and channel relevant physical actions-KL1B.

KL3Y: Insist on Rewards for Yourself

You also need tactics that serve no other purpose than to make you feel good e.g. keeping a "done" list or adding a completed task to your "to do" list and immediately striking it out. Sometimes you should just take a break, go for a walk, have a beer and share your latest victory with a friend. Given a visceral dislike of wasting time on activities with no intrinsic personal payoff (e.g. tax returns), rewards are important. You may create yourself a star chart, much as children enjoy at school; or organise the receipt of compliments from a buddy. Pleasures can come in other ways: e.g. if you keep a diary of observations, it may be a good idea to buy and use a special pen and an attractive notebook. For a bigger hit following a slightly bigger achievement, you may promise yourself to watch a movie, have a dinner out or even take a vacation.

There are more complex reward schemes e.g. use multiple categories of reward dependiing on the extent of task completion. Some advocate masochistic methods: e.g. making a consequence of failure unbearable, setting aside a usual pleasure till it is earned, setting up a shame scenario in case of failure.

The insistence on tactical rewards incentivizes trying-KL4B and justifies observations of process-KL5S to check you deserve them. This gratification also constrains what physical actions-KL1Bare chosen as acceptable, and reaffirmssensations-KL2B relevant to the issue.

Initially posted: 21-Aug-2013. Last amended: 18-Jan-2015