Creating a Model for an Organizational System Adoption

Creating a Model for Productivity and Organizational System Adoption

Introduction

This is the second in a series of articles dealing with how mental blocks affect initial adoption of a new productivity and organizational system. This article will cover how to prepare your mind for a new system. The intention is to give you a method to help you more effectively adopt a new planning and organization system.

Create a Model

In my previous article, I identified that metal blocks are impediments to adopting a productivity and organizational system. I needed a way to deal with these mental blocks. I decided to take a step back and change my whole approach towards the process.

Mental Blocks occur when you challenge old behavior patterns. These patterns developed in past environments. However, they are not optimal for your current environment. Creating a model engages your neurology. It prepares the brain for change. The model sets the conditions for modifying mental blocks.

I decided to model my environment. This would help me test my behavior patterns. I wanted to understand why certain behaviors inhibited productivity and organizational system adaptation.

It is important to understand that mental blocks are not the only reason that productivity and organizational systems fail. There may be structural issues in your environment that make it more difficult. The system you’re trying to use may not be adequate to your needs. These are important issues to identify. However, the mental blocks need to be addressed if you want a successful implementation.

I created a three part view of the process. These parts are:

· Environment

· My interactions with the environment

· Results of the Interactions

Environment

“No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man.”
― Heraclitus

We live in a never ending cycle of change. Our actions affect our world and the world affects our action. It can be as simple as warm weather affecting your dress . It is understanding these interactions and their outcome that determines our direction through this blur of events.

Technological advancement causes continual disruptive change in our environment. Everyone expects instant response to their request for information, decisions, and actions. This creates constant changes in plans and unintended consequences that make it difficult to see where we are going.

Then there are the constant events that affect our environment that we have no control over or even any idea that they are about to occur. For example, a political change in a foreign nation can affect supply chains or a global pandemic can suddenly occur. Navigating this environment is like driving through a blinding rainstorm with worn out windshield wipers.

In summary, Our environment consists of the known and unknown world we live in. It consists of people , places and things. It is family , friends, neighbors , work and or community. It is the reality we perceive through our senses and the chaotic unpredictability that is beyond our awareness

Living in the Environment

This is how I process environmental inputs and create outputs into the environment. The process is a result of my genetics interacting with my environment The environment sends a stimulus, I respond to the stimulus and the environment responds back. My neurology develops as a result of this stimulus response loop. It is in this process mental blocks develop. It is also the process that created positive behaviors.

Results

The results are manifested in the fruits of your life. Are you content in your environment or do you even want to be content? Is your environment becoming more or less favorable to your emotional state? Your process determines your results and your emotional state reflects their impact.

The Model

The ancients believed that creation arose from chaos. Chaos is defined as “the confused unorganized state of primordial matter before the creation of distinct forms” or “the inherent unpredictability in the behavior of a complex natural system (such as the atmosphere, boiling water, or the beating heart)’. Creation involved adding form and order to chaos and transforming it into an ordered world.

They believed that through a process chaos could be converted into order. This process was frequently represented as a tree. The roots of the tree would go deep into the waters of chaos. Tree with draw the waters and produce a canopy of branches, leaves, and fruit. The tree would return these to chaos, and the cycle would continue.

The tree required the waters of chaos to grow. Without the waters of chaos the tree would petrify and die. Too much chaos and the tree would drown. The idea was to maintain the proper balance between chaos and order. If you wanted enough chaos for the tree to grow, but not enough to kill it.

I decided to use this model as my approach to productivity, and organizational management. I considered my environment waters of chaos. My life and how I absorb the waters of chaos into my life, is symbolized by the tree. The results of my life are represented by the tree canopy, and the fruits that it creates.

Productivity and the Model

One of the reasons I created this model was so that I could get over myself. I always viewed productivity and organizational systems as a necessary evil. I saw the value in them, but I did not like their constant demands for system management. I felt like I had more important things to do and this was distracting me from them. This contributed to a situation in which I started off with the best intentions, but over time, I let the system fray at the edges. This led to the eventual abandonment of the system, or at least not getting anywhere near the full benefit of it.

How does a productivity and planning system fit into this model? I visualize it as a map through chaos and a tool to visualize how to bring order into my little chaos corner. It helps me see things that I can control, identify issues that I may not be able to control, and provide space for unforeseen issues. It also helps me to identify mental blocks that are dragging down progress.

I needed an attitude change to make this work. I had to flip the necessary evil attitude to this is a fundamental tool for achieving progress. I had to rearrange its priority.

For example, if you needed to travel to a new place by auto, you would use one of the many map tools. Even though the destination is the ultimate priority , you will play hell getting there without a map tool. The map tool is an infrastructure component that is critical for you to reach your ultimate destination.

There are destinations that are not geographic. These destinations are where your life would like to go. However, it helps to know where you would like to go in the first place. The tool is designed to help you understand the totality of your life. Therefore, I had to view the implementation of a new productivity and organization system is a map through chaos to help reach my destinations. The system is no longer no longer a necessary evil. It is an aspirational tool.

I could not make this work without understanding what triggers my mental blocks. This requires metacognition. Metacognition is the awareness of your own thinking processes. It is basically thinking about why you think the way you think. Every time I feel a mental block coming on I have to ask myself what is causing this mental block. This process identifies sub optimal thought processes.

It is important not to use metacognition as a way to beat yourself. This will completely undermine the process. You may discover thought processes that may indicate the need for change. However, this must be looked at as an opportunity for improvement and not as a way to drown in guilt.

How to Implement the Model

Admission

The first thing I had to do was admit that I was not getting the results I desired out of my current way of operating. This included recognizing that my mental blocks were operating at a subconscious level and that I was often unaware of their operation. I also had to admit the impact of this upon the amount of chaos that was in twined with my existence.

In addition, I had to admit that continuing the current methodology was going to continue generating suboptimal results. Therefore, I needed to adopt a new methodology and admit that I may need some help implementing this new methodology.

Inventory

To make this work I had to understand the consequences of my current methodology. This involved inventorying these consequences.I needed to examine situations that were caused by improper planning and organization. Basically I would mentally time travel back to when certain decisions were made and asking myself what I was thinking. For example, what was I thinking when I blew off entering expenses . My general reason was that it takes so little time , it’s a pain , I have more pressing matteres and that I would do it all at one time. Then time traveling to the time when the consequences hit. This would include paying credit card bills with your own money while frantically preparing late expense reports in the vain hope accounting would give you a break and pay them.

The inventory is writing down the decisions , consequences and what mental block caused the bad decision. The mental block is discovered by asking yourself what was I thinking when I made this decision.

Analyze

I analyze the consequences by determining how they affected the level of chaos. The question is did my decision to blow off organizational and productivity maintenance transform it into a chaos agent. A chaos agent increases chaos . The question to answer is did the chaos stirred up by the agent water my tree to make it grow or did it come to fast and drown it.

For example, waiting to do my expenses to the last minute may have saved a little time at the moment, However, waiting until the last minute, made the process longer because of trying to remember the details about the expenses. In addition, the reports had to be done under pressure or they would not be paid. This created stress and distracted me from more important tasks. Upon review, not completing expense report in a timely fashion, cost money, caused stress, made the process more complicated, place burdens on other staff members and generally caused confusion. This created chaos that I was not prepared to deal with at the time.

The process may reveal the opposite as well.Such as times I concentrated so much on details and planning that I lost track of the big picture. The same idea of thinking about how you were thinking applies here as well.

It is important to try to remember what you were thinking when you made the decision. This is the key to understanding the mental blocks. It helps you understand how you rationalize a way making the correct decision.

The list is the beginning. It alerts me to mental block challenges that will occur. Engaging with a new system will generate mental blocks. The lost identifies them and prepares you to face them. It maps out the obstacles that are to come.

Summary

We are developing the model as a tool for rewiring our neurology. It helps us identify mental blocks and suboptimal behavior patterns. It sets the stage for wiring new behavior patterns and minimizing mental blocks.

I do not believe there is any one model to use. The process of creating the model stimulates the brain. If you like my model, feel free to use it and modify it as you need. If you create one, please feel free to share it.

The model is a necessary preparation for integrating an organizational and productivity system into my life. It establishes the system as a tool to achieve success and identifies future obstacles to successful integration. My neurology is made flexible and ready to except changes.

The end result is that I have more clarity. I am better able to map out challenges , opportunities and pathways to goals. I will be able to balance my need for chaos and order. This will enrich the my life’s canopy and increase the positive I return to the world.

References

If you are interested in learning about how the ancients viewed chaos and order I recommend

Deep Ancestors by Ciesiwr Serith.

If you are interested in how the human mind develops, the following book is very good

The Developing Mind by Dr Dan Siegel