Here is the link.

Some interesting parts:

The way to build self-discipline is analogous to using progressive weight training to build muscle. This means lifting weights that are close to your limit. Note that when you weight train, you lift weights that are within your ability to lift. You push your muscles until they fail, and then you rest.

Comment:  This seems to be true for some things, but not others.  Example:  I can be disciplined for meditation and exercise, but not, say, IT study.

It’s a mistake to try to push yourself too hard when trying to build self-discipline. If you try to transform your entire life overnight by setting dozens of new goals for yourself and expecting yourself to follow through consistency starting the very next day, you’re almost certain to fail. This is like a person going to the gym for the first time ever and packing 300 pounds on the bench press. You will only look silly.

Again, I'm not sure how true this is.  If I set a goal of 30 minutes meditation, and 30 minutes exercise, I will do those goals, but if I set a goal of 10 minutes guitar playing (which I love) or 10 minutes IT study (which is okay, interesting), that I don't do.

So something else is going on, besides building the "self-discipline" muscle.

Similarly, if you’re very undisciplined right now, you can still use what little discipline you have to build more. The more disciplined you become, the easier life gets. Challenges that were once impossible for you will eventually seem like child’s play. As you get stronger, the same weights will seem lighter and lighter.

Perhaps you try to work a solid 8-hour day without succumbing to distractions, and you can only do it once. The next day you fail utterly. That’s OK. You did one rep of 8 hours. Two is too much for you. So cut back a bit. What duration would allow you to successfully do 5 reps (i.e. a whole week)? Could you work with concentration for one hour a day, five days in a row? If you can’t do that, cut back to 30 minutes or whatever you can do. If you succeed (or if you feel that would be too easy), then increase the challenge (i.e. the resistance).

That example simply isn't my reality.  My own experience is, you truly need at least 30 days, maybe 90, for a new practice to become habitual.  (This is also something that Pavlina says, which is true, in my experience.)

But what will happen with a "new" practice, practiced independently, is that I'll keep it up for a few days, then fall off the wagon, then sporadically continue, until I give up again. (Or come back to that practice a couple of weeks later.)

So, in my case at least (and I'm being honest here about my lack of self-discipline) it seems to me that there are two options, for those who obviously never learned true self-discipline, but simply learned enough to "get by". 

a.  Immersion:  Especially for any new trait, the "AA" route is useful.  Full immersion, and daily support, for the new trait you are attempting to instill - until it becomes a habit.
b. Immersion again - in a program to learn "self-discipline" as a trait, in and of itself, separate from any actual practice.
c.  Bill mentioned this once - work with one's psychology, or inner voices, to understand what inside of one's psychology is indulging in self-sabatoge of growth. 

I would criticize Stve Pavlina, actually, from presenting a "system", or a guide of how-to's, that in a lot of ways, "assumes the close".  Meaning, assumes the self-discipline already exists, with which to "improve".
The A to B straight line of self-improvement that Pavlina endorses, while sounding wonderful, glosses over the challenges to the "normal" person.  As such, is of very limited use, to effectively creating change.

From Zen Habits:

Thanks to Integral Options for the link.  Good advice for integral practice.

For myself, sporadically keep various goals.  Sometimes it is better, sometimes worse. 

That's something you don't see the Steve Pavlina's of the world talk about. 

For me, there are three versions of what to do - "what I must do", and "what I want to do that's rewarding", and "what I do that fun, but an empty time waster". 

1."Must do", includes things like going to work, cleaning up, paying bills, etc. 

2. "What I want to do" are the various integral practices that make for a fulfilling, balanced life.  Exercise, meditation, volunteering, playing my guitar, learning a language, tech study, etc.  Even better, expanding my career, finding the next opportunity, integraly study, etc.

3. "What I have fun doing that's an empty time waster" is things like browsing the internet for hours on end, playing a video game, reading a pedestrian sci-fi novel, etc.  Watch movies, comedy shows with my sweetie.

I'm not too bad at the first category on the list.  And some of the activities that would be in category 2,  I do well - I meditate regularly, and I exercise regularly.  But some of the other goals there, I do much less.

Now category 3?  3, I'm pretty good at.  If I spent as much time on category 2, as I do on category 3, wow, I'd be an accomplished guy!!    (Internet, and the tv, as wonderful as it is, is a great tool for mental masturbation).

My longterm goal is to substitute more category 2 activities, for category 3 activities.  In terms of time.

And I've done a lot on this ground -

a.  Visualized my motivations - daily
b.  Setup umpteen schedules for activities.
c.  Started a regular practice of activities - that then falls away.
d.  Attempted various, and different, structures, to do more  activities. 

Still, 3 always ends up being what i do more of. I fall of the wagon.  I get distracted (except for meditation and exercise).  I go for three days, then go three days off, or a week off.

I've probably gone on a self-improvement kick - attempting to do more of category two activities more than category three activies - more than one hundred times in my life.

It's REALLY annoying to read these self-improvement guys, such as Pavlina, who basically don't acknowledge the move towards the baseline, of human nature.

Funny enough, I'm old enough now, that I don't "beat myself up" about doing less of category 2 than category 3.  First off, lots of time I spend "doing nothing" is spent in a pretty incredible place, where the "I" slips away, and only Being is happening.

But it is also pretty clear that the inherited habits (my own childhood background, was lacking both in any form of wealth, or much actual examples of spending a lot of time in category 2), tend to dominate actual living, the activity of this body.

Which is a shame, really - as the information on "how best to live", is pretty much all over the internet.  Working with resistance, changing those habits, moving out of baseline - as Wilber has said, what ACTUALLY causes change, in a person, what ends up actually motivating a person, despite the tens of thousands of hours of research, is still a mystery.

Tricks and tips to learn faster and longer, at Online Education Database.

I always need to remember the breakfast one, myself...

I clearly haven't been posting a lot here - mainly because I've been pretty busy.

But also, this particular blog has focused on the "basics", of integralism (when not veering to tech stuff and philosophy!)

For various dimensions, it is now pretty clear what the basic practices are.

Physical - I've blogged before - but 2 to 3 times a week, cardio, stretching, and weighlifting for exercise.

For diet - barring special circumstances - less carbs, and balanced eating.

Meditation - while there is a lot around the map here, the basic practices involved for integral involve:

Basic Zen/Vipassana sitting
BigMind/Advaita training
Compassion/Heart work


Now, of course, I'm missing a lot of the I-Thou meditations.  Perhaps I could blog them.

In terms of professional, career - one of the best books out there for this is Pathfinder, and What Color Is Your Parachute?

Both are passionate and practical, and give a very good sense of what are the gifts one has to GIVE, in terms of skills, abilities, and desires.

Psychological/interpersonal- while there are a lot of books out there, self-assessment is fairly easy to use, and I have also used this site to point to inexpensive therapeutic options.  And then there is the Shadow Work of the 1-2-3, as well as Byron Katie's work.  I could write more about relationship as well, but it is so easy for this to become narcissistic, in my opinion.

Now - community - this is probably one of the biggest lacks that I personally have, or have not written a lot about, and I've been attempting to address this through the Ken Wilber MeetUp, and organizing the San Francisco ILP Group. 

And then, when you do all the above, do you have time for rest, play, and creativity? Where is the balance?

I still believe there are things that are important for an "integral practitioner" to deal with - deeper delving into the interpersonal, dealing with MOTIVATION and destructive subpersonalities (just because all the practices are out there, doesn't mean you are doing them!), and also re-introducing some concepts into the integral community with ethics - such as "duty", "community commitment" etc.  A community is defined by the individuals that "take on" the duties of that community, and it is duty and volunteerism that is the glue of community.  Which conflicts a bit with "my/your integral growth".  And you want to keep away from any cultism, as such.

At any rate, opening up for questions - what integrally, needs to be worked on?  My integral growth, rather than "our" integral growth? 

Great little tool.

This is actually a tool whereby people can start creating more focused assessments, based on certain diets, exercises, career assessments, etc.

Architecting the skills, competencies, and assessments available for the integral practice.

Integral Practice starts with a five emanation star, emanating outward, thickening with the depth of the levels developed.

Creating these assessments using online tools, then gathering together practice groups for activies that suggest themselves out of the assessments.

The main five areas -

Body

a. Diet assessment
b. Flexibility assessment
c, Strength assessment
d. Supplements assessment

Spiritual practice

a. Meditation practice - brainwave assessment
b. Nondual understanding - assessment based on probing questions, assessment given online - answers rated by peers in the practice.
c. Merging assessment - seeing others, all,  as yourself
d. Dis-identification assessment - seeing others, all, own self, as NOT the Self.
e. Energetic practice

Career as self-expression, service

a. Personality assessment, broad trends and interests.
b. Career assessment - online, based on Pathfinder.
c. Initial and near term goals - evaluated by peers.
d. 5 year goals - evaluated by peers, based on a-c above

Interpersonal

a. Partnership needs/health assessment
b. Friends and family assessment
c. Community service assessment

Psychological health - personal and shadow work

a. Personal psychological assessment
b. Empowerment index - personal and 360 assessment
c. Blame/ownership pendulum.  Family and friend 360 assessment
d. Emotional reactivity/nonreactivity assessment

ACTION REQUEST: 

Since these assessments can begin to be created, I'm assuming the knowledge for the assessments is already out there as well.  For any of the above life dimensions, if you are aware of associated assessments, I would appreciate you pointing them out to me!

Getting to Integral Work.

I may comment more later, but life is busy busy busy right now...

I saw this worksheet on preparing for an exercise program from Ryan. What is excellent about this, is a modified version of this program can be utilized in any integral practice module that one is beginning as a new practice. My own interest is in continuing to explore the 5 Essential Practices of an Integral Practitioner   more »

A couple of interesting articles on the relationship of Integral Theory to current career and knowledge management theory.

First off is Integral Career Development - this article takes some of the current career development theory, and adds an integral take - complete with diagrams.

The second article (warning PDF) takes presents some of the current work in Knowledge Management - a really dynamic field in the corporate world, and one that I deal with personally, in regards to Peoplesoft, Customer Relationship Management software, and Learning Management. 

It's a fascinating article, detailing how to "talk" to people, from which quadrant they are coming from.  (I've personally used variations of this in talking with customers, but really only as an extension of mirroring the "style" and "tone" of a customer's speech and mannerisms, languaging, in order to better communicate with that person.)

This also gets into one of my pet projects, interfacing the integral fraemwork with profile and skill-building software.  (I'm promsing my readers - at some point - some actual thesis worthy papers on this...)

NOTE:  Both of these pieces are analytical, rather than practical.

Well do you?

I wonder who uses a variation of SMART goal setting. for their accomplishments? 

Of course, this is a bit difficult when it comes to spiritual goals.  The apple falls off the tree when the apple falls off the tree - but you can still make sure the apple has -

the best environment - soil, sun, temperature
the best nutrients - water, food, vitamins, etc
the best attention - daily watering (practice( keeps those apples blooming!

This is a bit technical, but the "standard" specfications for e-portfolios has been released.

Once this specification is combined with what coolmel calls algorhythmic match-making services (and remember, the matchmaking doesn't have to apply only to romance - can apply to friends, jobs, skills)), and then you combine THAT with a deep and comprehensive mode of assessing skills and GAPS in those skills, and then this is combined with open source repositories of knowledge, and then you combine this with sophisticated recommendation engines, and then combine this with Google Maps+GPS,

well,  guess what?  It's a whole new ballgame! 

Imagine your personal e-portfolio being "recommended" for and against.  Imagine querying your interests, passions and skillsets - embedded in your eportfolio - matched up with others who possess similar eportfolios - 60% match?  80% match?  Then you run your Google-GPS against that portfolio, and discover that there is this guy down the street who matches your portfolio interests to 98%?

Should you IM him - through your cell, with your "eportfolio match" being your calling card?

Imagine running that portfolio against a job opening, and coming back with a match on both sides of 75%? 

It's both exhilarating, and quite scary, depending on how this is used.  Definitely Big Brother esque, if we're not careful.

Imagine running your own portfolio against the ideal job - assessing the training you require on the spot, with recomendations FOR that training (numbers, locations, etc) coming up immediately.

It's a a brave new world, again and again,isn't it?




 

I've seen at least three posts this week regarding the  "I'm dancing as fast as I can" challenge of life.

First, this post over at Auspicious Coincidence, relating frustration at lack of discipline.  I think she's being too hard on herself, personally.

Second, this post of (successful) Getting Things Done, meeting the challenge of productivity and balance in life.

Thirdly, this post by Vince on the Sham of Practice, which really is a different note on the same thing, looking on both sides.

The Getting Things Done post above, is very good.  I especially like the "Life Balance" computer program that gets pointed to.  I've downloaded the demo version, and I hope to try it out and report on it. 

All three of the above perspectives are true, and have validity.  Finding the balance between being productive, managing life, and yet simply being here now, in THIS moment, without escaping into the future, or worrying about the past - that's a challenge in and of itself.

This is going to be a bit of a naive post - more of a set of questions, than an answer. I have a feeling that readers will be able to help me out by pointing me to information. I've spoken before about how feedback works, and how for some areas (such as science) feedback works really well, and how for other areas, feedback is quite a challenge.   more »

I have been reflecting on the development of this site, and some of the development of my own views. I've started to come to the realization that the concept of Integral Practice is probably more richly reflected in the concept of Skillful Means.   more »

Some good advice, if you are anything like me, and like to be somewhat versed in a few different areas.  Especially as an integral practice is about balance (which I agree with), it's still important in the area of work, to stay disciplined in the areas of your competencies.

As has been discussed here before, as well as by many other integral voices, the integral life is...busy.

I've been researching the best ways to cut down on the "busy-ness" aspect of activity, while still maintaining a decent level of productivity, and a way to combat my inherent ability to procrastinate.

There have been a series of post over at How to Save the World, by Dave Pollard, regarding a book by David Allen called "Getting Things Done". 

It's an interesting series of posts - so much so, I'm going to be getting the book myself soon.  Like Dave, I'll be giving it a try - unlike him, I doubt I'll be as successful, but I'll blog about it here - "the troubles with integrals", or some such..

Dave's saga is below:

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