Most people understand that our current thinking and behaviour is caused by our experiences in the past. If an experience worked for us, then our brain stores the thinking and behaviour for later use and creates a neural shortcut. If it didn’t work, then the thought is more likely to degrade. There is a little more complexity to this, but this is essentially how we make meaning.
The more frequently a particular thinking and behaviour style works for us, the stronger the neural shortcut becomes. Ultimately this forms the foundation of our internal system of beliefs and values.
Traditional methods of personal change involve going back to critical experiences, understanding the meaning, identifying your beliefs and values, designing more effective thinking and then trying to live based on your newly considered approach. Most methods involve a level of experimentation and trial and error. It is hard to find the cause.
The problem is that our memories are not a particularly reliable source of information. It is difficult to pinpoint when a neural shortcut was created. What is more, the most significant changes in our lives (and therefore, the strongest neural pathways) occur as a result of events that were challenging. We know from neuroscience that trying to recall challenging or adverse events shuts the brain down. In these circumstances finding the right thing to focus on becomes a guess at best.
You might get incremental and steady results and, if you are lucky, you may even have a breakthrough using this approach.
But, what if you could find your personal leverage point without having to delve into the past?
Consider this:
- Behind your thinking and behaviour is a system of beliefs, values, rules and policies.
- Your current thinking and behavioural styles are observable and measurable.
- Some of your thinking and behaviour styles will be the cause of undesirable effects – that is why you want to change them.
- Undesirable effects are also observable.
- Systemic thinking is an effective way to understand the relationships between a system and the environment it exists in. It is also useful for finding a single leverage point in a complex system.
If you do a systemic analysis on your observable thinking and behaviour styles, you will reveal the beliefs and values in your personal system. You will discover the conflict between those values and beliefs that causes undesirable effects, and you can find a single leverage point to address those conflicts.
The benefits:
- It is focused on your current reality not your memory of history,
- It provides focus and reduces the need for trial and error,
- It keeps the brain in active problem solving instead of shutting it down,
- It leverages our requirements for both security and satisfaction.
- You are more likely to have a breakthrough.
This is a path to increased growth and satisfaction. This is a path to a breakthrough.