One of the components of the improvement cycle is understanding the current situation. There’s a balance between being sufficiently informed and getting stuck in research and interpretation. For the current example I’ll suggest it’s important to explore a few areas:
- importance of area of improvement (sleep better) — this would have been considered earlier in the process of setting purpose but it’s worth revisiting at this stage
- personal and interaction history
- understanding the system
Importance of Area of Improvement
If it hasn’t already been done, it’s worth being clear about the importance of the area of improvement. Structured improvement takes effort so the potential benefits need to be aligned with the time required.
I would suggest that sleep is one of the most powerful levers we have to make positive changes in our lives. A search of the titles of academic papers shows that sleep quality and duration may be associated with learning, memory, inflammation, decision-making, emotion management, mood disorders, attention, obesity, physical appearance, mortality, etc.
Personal and Interaction History
Taking a look at the history of the issue, and the interactions the people have had with their surroundings, whether they be people, or places, or organizations such as schools and workplaces, will provide important information about what might have caused the situation to arise, and what keeps it going.
It can also point to what’s been tried to make change and how and why those efforts have succeeded or failed.
If I’ve always slept poorly in a broad range of circumstances, and I’ve tried various adjustments to my everyday habits, it’s probably less likely that an easy fix is going to make a big difference, and starting with a more serious professional consultation might be in order. If I’ve had some great sleeps and some bad sleeps and I haven’t really tried experimenting, then it may still be very difficult to find out why, but some experimentation with simple habits may be fruitful.
By revisiting my past experience I might spot some patterns worth looking into. For example I might realize my sleep could be affected by caffeine, or conflict, or specific anxieties, or the temperature.
Understanding the System
It’s tempting when choosing actions to try what’s easy or familiar. But those actions may not be the most powerful. We need to understand what could make the most difference, and assuming we have the resources to do it, try that first.
If an area is important and difficult enough that we’ve decided to take a formal approach to improving, then it probably has some complexity.
Complexity means that there are various elements that interact in ways that result in behaviour that is difficult to predict. There may be delays between the changes and effects. Small changes may increase or decrease or fluctuate unexpectedly. Elements that seem to be distant from the change may be affected. Changes may seem to have an effect and then that effect, or even the change itself, may fade away.
In the sleep example, just as there are many possible consequences to changing sleep quality and duration, there are many physiological systems in the body that are adjusting to internal and external factors such as hormones or blood sugar; activity levels; noise; light; food; emotional stress; alcohol, drugs, medication; circadian rhythms; oxygen. Many of these can interact with each other and depend on timing, and actions taken on one can have unexpected consequences.
Sleep can be a virtuous cycle — good sleep can lead to good decisions that can lead to more more good sleep — or the reverse may be true.
There are a lot of choices about what changes to make. To make adjustments without a good understanding that there are many factors can result in frustration or depending on the improvement area, harm. At the same time, there may be some quick fixes that can be tried with low effort and risk.
I won’t get into the details of sleep, or into systems at this point, but the point to take away is that deep understanding or consultation with experts may be required to choose the right actions.
Exercise
For your own improvement area, explore the three steps mentioned above. This make take quite a bit of time and effort, and might include other people, depending on the topic.
- importance of area of improvement — why is this area of improvement? what are the desired benefits and goals? what is the cost or benefit of doing nothing? what is your level of commitment to taking action and achieving results?
- personal and interaction history — how has this situation come to be? what actions have been taken informally or informally and what was the result? how have other people, groups, physical locations, and other external circumstances affected this situation?
- understanding the system — what are the reactions to actions? is there anything that encourages or discourages changes or the desired results? if action is taken, would it make sense that there would be delays before the final effects are seen? how simple or complex is the situation? are there many different parts? are the parts and their interactions well-known by anyone? by you?
About Learning
There could be advantages to a learning journey that is self-designed or choose-your-own-adventure style, vs this method which is quite linear and presented to you. We all connect things a little differently and the sequence and modes of learning may not be ideal for you — this isn’t due to ignorance on my part, just a desire to produce a lot of content quickly and at minimal cost and then continually improve it. By presenting material in small chunks and providing a lot of exercises and application I hope this enables digestion and integration.
References
Here are a few articles whose abstracts I scanned. Google Scholar is a simple tool to use as a starting point for research.
Diversion
“I think one of the troubles of the world has been the habit of dogmatically believing something or other, and I think all these matters are full of doubt and the rational man will not be too sure that he’s right. I think we ought always to entertain our opinions with some measure of doubt.” Bertrand Russell, philosopher