THE WHITE TIGER: REPLACING THE MOTHERBOARD - Implementation!
The Owner's Manual - Practicum Four
Getting on the Plane!
How excited are you when the day comes to leave on a long anticipated trip?! You are all packed, the suitcase is filled to the brim. All your reservations are in place. You can’t wait to get there and start this awesome vacation!
The reality sets in as you board the plane. I am really going to Hawaii! All this time thinking about going on this trip one day, and I am going!!
Every step it took to get to this point, seated on the plane - actually leaving, could not have been skipped. You had to have a Desire to visit Hawaii. You had to make the decision (set the Intention) to go. You had to Plan (Planning Implementation) the trip. Today you are Implementing all of the planning. Today it happens. Today you are going!
Choosing to change something that has been problematic in your life, follows the exact same course, or process, used in planning and leaving on a trip. We are so very good at making all psychological work sooo complicated. What we need to do to actively, and successfully, change the things in our lives needed to improve our mental health; follows the same process for Choices we make EVERY DAY in our lives! What we do not do is look at it through this lens!
The Stages of Change - Renamed
There are Five Stages of Change. These have been well researched, documented and published. (Prochaska, DiClemente, 1984, ISBN 9780870944383)
The Stages of Change are as follows: Pre-Contemplation, Contemplation, Planning, Action, Maintenance. Depending on the resource that you may use, you may find slightly different word choices for each stage.
For the purposes of this Practical Manual - the Stages will be renamed. Our Stages of Change will be called: Pre-Intention, Intention, Planning Implementation, Implementation, Celebration.
Pre-Intention - Desire. Covered in Lesson One.
Intention - the first Act of Doing - true change begins here. This is a CRITCAL STEP. This is not a “skippable” step. Making a firm Choice. Covered in Lesson Two.
Planning Implementation - Putting the Plan in Place to make the Change - this is how I am going to do it! Covered in Lesson Three.
Implementation - Taking the 90 percent to School! Today Change Happens!
Celebration - Celebrating the successful change! Size DOES NOT matter - we celebrate pee pee steps!
The Owner’s Manual - Practicum Four - Step Four
Today Change Happens!
In the first Practicum Post about replacing the Motherboard, we talked about New Year’s Resolutions. We talked about the reason that they are so unsuccessful is because they are Cortically based Desires, with no Intention. Desire has never moved a grain of sand.
For Practicum One we named the “New Year’s Resolution.” I desire to change this thing or that thing.
For Practicum Two we made a choice/firm decision that I do want to change the thing, because of its positive impact on my mental or physical health.
For Practicum Three we put the plan in place to make the Change. This is how I am going to do it!
In terms of writing this manual, and to be equally participatory, I have identified my “grain of sand” as lifting weights. I walk by the weights every day. I have a very easy routine that I do with them, the very rare times that I do it. It takes 10 minutes of my day. I would like to actually pick them up and use them on a consistent, or somewhat consistent, basis. As we move through this Owner’s Manual for life, I have decided that I do, in fact, want this to be a routine that is incorporated into my life, for both my physical and my mental health.
I know that I feel great in both areas when I exercise, and it matters to me enough that I have decided to put in the work to make this change in my life.
This is now my firm Intention.
I have outlined a clear plan to make this happen, that will offer me the greatest opportunity for success.
This last point must never be minimized. Do not choose something randomly. I will try this. I will try that. This is an entry point for the incorrect type of learning.
When you plan a trip and choose activities that you will engage in, you choose them specifically because they resonate with you. It is something you know you will like to do. If you hate hiking, you will not book a reservation for an exhausting trek to the top of a mountain. Do not choose something that you already know has a low probability of success.
In my case, in order to be successful, choosing an “in my face” approach is the approach that has the greatest opportunity of success for me. Anything less or different is not going to work. I know that already.
Going back to the quitting smoking example of last week, of all the options on the menu, it is imperative to choose the one, or two, that resonate best. The one that is in line with your known habits and problem solving skills.
This is the week we Take the 90 Percent to School! To tell you the truth I am a little excited. This is something that I have wanted for myself for a long time. I want to be in shape. I want to feel fit and good. I am excited to get the process underway. I know that once I start, and get into the habit, it will become self perpetuating, just because it feels good.
Now we have come full circle. Here we return the fundamental process outlined in the Introduction to Replacing the Motherboard, Repetition - Repetition - Repetition.
Rewiring!
The goal is to begin the process of teaching your 90 percent a new way of problem solving. A way that is successful.
Choosing something small, perhaps even seemingly insignificant, and being successful in it, is called - Practice (aka Repetition - Repetition - Repetition). It is absolutely no different than teaching a kid, new to music, the notes on the scale. You must begin at the beginning, and you must Practice the basic steps. You do not hand a kid a musical instrument and expect them to play a symphony.
Practice applies to all new skills in life, including psychological skills. This creates New Templates, aka Rewiring! You are proving to your Self, and the 90 percent, that Rewiring is possible. Once your Self, and the 90 percent, grasp this reality - it will be time to move on to the psychological and behavioral issues that you would like to (also have a Desire to) change.
If you don't want your life to be the same moving forward - if you want your life, or some aspect of it, to be different, or go differently - there is only a single variable in the equation —It is not your boss, your work, your kid, your partner, your spouse, your annoying co-worker, your wishy washy friend - It Is YOU!