Mind-Manual

The Wisdom of Steve Pavlina

Pavlina‘s writings have been scarce lately as he’s been busy with his upcoming book which I’m highly anticipating. He’s just posted an Anatomy of Personal Change. Some key points I feel have to be highlighted:

The key to making this change was something I wrote about in the very first article I posted on this site, The Courage to Live Consciously. I had to remain aware of the change I wanted to make while accepting that I wasn’t yet strong enough to make it. By keeping myself out of denial, I was able to progressively train myself to reach my goal, even though it would take many years to finally reach it.

30-day trials are a terrific vehicle for achieving readiness. Even if your first trial doesn’t result in permanent change, you’ll learn and grow from the experience. This will put you in a position to kick off additional trials in preparation for an eventual permanent change. My previous raw trials were essential stepping stones for me.

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Five years ago if you asked me if I’d eventually become a raw foodist, I’d probably have said, “Yes, I expect I will at some point.” I didn’t know how long it would take, but I thought I’d eventually discover how to make it work.

Why do I think the above is so important? Because it gives you an immense sense of security when you know you’re going to continue growing. You can look at something that scares the hell out of you square in the face and say, yea, I’ll be able to handle this someday. Even if you can’t see the path to how you’re going to do it.

As an example, I know I’ll be a millionaire someday. It’s not even a question anymore, because by saving as little as 4 dollars a day from the age of 20-65 at 10% will give you over 1 million dollars and I’ve started to do that. The question is when and how I’ll become a millionaire. I may become a millionaire or enjoy a financially independent life style way before then. In fact, its starting to look like I will even though I have plenty of obstacles to fight through, including those that I cannot see. But I know I can handle them because I will keep growing and become stronger. I expect to have 1000 dollars a month from passive income in 5 years although I want it sooner. I know that the current path of growth I’m on will lead me there in all likelihood.

That is not all, though. I also feel that in terms of spiritual beliefs, I will probably end up with the ones that work the best for me.

Basically, as long as you keep trying, you’ll get there.

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Mental Structure: Levels of Analysis

This is another mental knowledge-structure. It may seem obvious to you or it may not. In either case, I feel making knowledge-structures conscious is important.

Essentially, a level of analysis is what it says, depending on what level you are looking at the same thing can mean different things. In Getting Things Done, one of the most powerful models Allen describes is the “altitude” model. It is this:

• 50,000 + feet: Life (Purpose)
• 40,000 feet: Three- to five-year visions
• 30,000 feet: One-to two-year goals
• 20,000 feet: Areas of responsibility (3-6 months)
• 10,000 feet: Current projects (weekly)
• Runway: Current actions (daily, max)

Here’s an example: Say I’m calling a prospect and that works right at the runway, current projects and areas of responsibility levels, but when I hit the 30,000 foot level I get snagged. Maybe the snag is that I don’t want to be doing whatever I’m doing; maybe I want to be a lumberjack! Alignment on all these levels of analysis is one of the things that Steve Pavlina stresses.

Another example of levels of analysis is this blog entry. For example, you can go to the level of syntax and make sure all the sentences make sense. You could go to the level of words and make sure all the words are spelled correctly. You could jump to the paragraph level and check the argument put forward and its proof. You could even jump to the level of the blog and check out how this entry fits into the whole thing.

Another very important place where this model is helpful is in resolving conflict in relationships. Usually, if everybody involved in the conflict is getting emotional, they are probably looking at the wrong level of analysis in the relationship. Odds are that the conflict is not at the level of what actually happened, but at the level of expectations and/or values.

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