Analysis Paralysis

ANALYSIS PARALYSIS

MOTIVATION:

While living your life day to day, moment to moment you will have encounter stress. One of the ways to stop some of the stressful times in our day is to recognize when your thinking is spinning out of control with negative thoughts about things that are about to happen, things that you think might happen in the future, and things that you think other people are doing or thinking.

Would you like to stop this kind of thinking?

Do you whish you could avoid creating this kind of stress in your lives?

You can do so using the second M.A.G.I.C.A.L. tool, to stop analysis paralysis. This tool will help you::

associate feeling stressful with the stressful thoughts that you are thinking,

learn how to gently stop yourself from thinking this way,

and reduce the stress you are feeling by bringing your thinking back to the present moment.

So, in this lesson you will apply the third tool stopping analysis paralysis to write plans about how to help yourself reduce the stress in your life.

OBJECTIVE:

Given a new written case describing someone in “analysis paralysis; and a need to give the employees some tools to use to reduce in the lives, such as

The Michigan Department of State wants to give the employees some tools to use to reduce stress in their lives.

You will

write a procedure for reducing stress by stopping the analysis paralysis
write why you proceed as you do.

According to the M.A.G.I.C.A.L life tool: If you can recognize when you are in analysis paralysis and gently stop yourself you can reduce the stress in your life.

One case with no errors.

REVIEW-PREREQUISITIES

From past lessons in our study of stress and living the M.A.G.I.C.A.L. life we have learned that the first tool we can use is to recognize our moods and how they affect the stress that we feel. We learned to recognize our moods and the moods of others. We learned what to do to reduce the stress we are feeling even when we are in a low mood.

We have also learned to recognize analysis paralysis.

In our study of reducing stress today we will consider stressful behavior.

Recall that stressful behavior differs from peaceful behaviors based on how one is thinking at the time.

Recall that

Analysis paralysis thinking is a learned and instinctual thought process in most people.

Thinking present moment thoughts is a learned behavior.

Gently bringing yourself back to the present moment produces a less stressful life.

How does that happen? That’s what we will find out about in today’s lesson.

We will consider a special association. What does that idea mean to you?

We will learn how to recognize and gently stop analysis paralysis and to immediately reduce stressful feelings.

If you can recognize when you are in “analysis paralysis” and gently stop yourself, then you can immediately stop the stressful feelings that you are having.

Evidence which illustrates how the variables relate:

Carlson explanation:

INDEPENDENT VARIABLE / DEPENDENT VARIABLE
A person is caught up in their thinking / The person has stressful feelings
A person gently stops himself from thinking this way / The stressful feelings immediately go away

POSTTEST

For the brief case below:

write a procedure for reducing stress by stopping the analysis paralysis.
Write why you plan to proceed as you do.

Janet woke up in the middle of the night and remembered a phone call that she needs to make the following day. Then, rather than feeling relieved that she remembered such an important call, she started thinking about everything else she has to do tomorrow. She starts rehearsing a probably conversation with her boss, getting herself even more upset. Pretty soon she thinks to herself, “I can’t believe how bust I am. I must make fifty calls a day. Whose life is this anyway?” and on and on until she is feeling sorry for herself.

When you recognize that you are in analysis paralysis and gently stop yourself, you will reduce the stress in your life by bringing yourself back to present moment thinking.

ADVANCE ORGANIZER (OVERVIEW):

In our course of living the M.A.G.I.C.A.L. life, in our unit on analysis paralysis, we will study look at how analysis paralysis causes stress and what to do about it.

The M.A.G.I.C.A.L. life involves seven principles;

Mood
Analysis paralysis
Gratitude
Innocence
Center
Attitude
Learn

Let’s start with analysis paralysis

provide situation in which the person is caught up in their thinking.

Associate the stressful feelings they have with the stressful thoughts they are having.

Show how stopping the stressful thinking, will immediately stop the stressful feelings thus reducing the stress in a person’s life.

AGENDA:

Lesson’s schedule

Explain the principle and give some experimental cases

Demonstrate how to write a procedure to have a subject stop the analysis paralysis and reduce their level of stress.

Give you practice in writing a procedure to have the subject stop the analysis and reduce their level of

EXPLANATION:

Definition

Principle – When a person catches himself caught up in their thinking and gently stops themselves, the stressful feelings they are having immediately go away.

Example: Evidence showing how the variables are related

Independent variable / Relationship / Dependent variable
Person caught up in their thinking / Is associated with / Feelings of stress
Marie is caught in her thinking / stress / Marie has feelings of stress
Marie gently stops herself from analysis paralysis / Stress / Marie’s stressful feelings immediately go away.
Marie is feeling very stressful about her job. She hates to come to work in the morning and thinks of all of the things that will go wrong today. / Marie dreads going to work today / Marie recognizes that she is caught up in her thinking and gently reminds herself that she is predicting a negative day and that she is not prophetic and starts to think of some of the good things she likes about her job and her stressful feelings go away.

When a person catches himself caught up in their thinking and gently stops themselves, the stressful feelings they are having immediately go away.

Point: Explanation of how the evidence shows the principle.

Here is a brief review of the evidence, comparing studies

When a person is caught up in their thinking, the immediately have stressful feelings.

When a person catches himself caught up in their thinking and gently stops themselves, the stressful feelings they are having immediately go away.

Considering this evidence we can conclude:

When you catch yourself caught up in your thinking and gently stop yourself, the stressful feelings you are having go away.

DEMONSTRATION:

For the brief case below

write a procedure for catching yourself caught up in your thinking and gently stopping yourself

write why you plan to proceed as you do

Item:

Richard has to calculate the number of chairs he will need when his family comes to the forth of July picnic at his house. The rental company called to inform him that they needed the exact number of chairs within the next few hours. Richard immediately began thinking thoughts like, “What if no one comes? What if I tell the rental company I need lots of chairs and not many people show up? It would be so embarrassing. I wish I were more organized. Why do I allow myself to get into these messes?” On and on he goes having a full-blown thought attack for the next hour.

Step by Step demonstration:

Step 1 of Demo:

After the demonstration you will

write a procedure for catching yourself caught up in your thinking and gently stopping yourself
write why you proceed as you do according to the analysis paralysis principle.

Step 2 of Demo:

As I show you, watch and listen for these steps:

Read the case
Recall the principle
Note the desired results and resources needed
Make an analogy to the principle
Make a plan and explain it.

Step 3 of Demo:

Now I’ll say and do each step

Read the case

2. Recall the principle:

If you can recognize when you are in “analysis paralysis” and gently stop yourself, then you can immediately stop the stressful feelings that you are having.

Note the desired results and resources needed.

Desired results: Richard stops feeling stressed.

Resources needed: Stopping the thought attack.

Make an analogy to the principle

Principle: If you gently stop yourself from being caught up in your thinking, then you can immediately stop the stressful feelings that you are having.

Analogy: If Richard gently stops himself from being having a full-blown thought attack, then he can immediately stop feeling stressed.

4.Make a plan and explain it.

Associate stressful feelings with stressful thoughts.

Richard can ask himself why he is feeling so stressed. He will notice that he is thinking negative stressful thoughts about a future event and how it will go wrong and how embarrassed he will be. Richard then says to himself, that he is thinking negative thoughts about the number of chairs he needs. He reminds himself how wonderful the fourth of July picnic is every year. And how he can make a good guess about how many people will be there so calculating the number of chairs is easy to do.

Why: If Richard can now use his common sense and wisdom to determine the number of chairs, he will feel less stressed about the task and the upcoming event.

Associate with: Now Richard immediately feels better and the stressful feelings are gone.

Now ask the group:

What are the step to planning to recognize and stop analysis paralysis to immediately stop stressful feelings.?

What is the principle used?

PRACTICE:

Now you do one:

For the brief case below

write a procedure for catching yourself caught up in your thinking and gently stopping yourself

write why you plan to proceed as you do

Linda’s seven-year old daughter has recently gotten into the habit of procrastinating while getting ready for school. A few days ago Linda received a phone call fifteen minutes before it was time to take her to school. Before taking the call, she gently and respectfully asked her daughter if she would be sure she was ready to go by the time she finished this call. She assured her in no uncertain terms that she would. It was particularly important on this day that she cooperate because Linda was scheduled to attend training this morning that stated a few minutes after she dropped her daughter off. Linda had to end her conversation early, telling the person she was speaking to, “I must go not. I’ve got to take my daughter to school.” She called her daughter, only to discover that she hadn’t even started to get ready. She immediately experienced feelings of stress. She was angry, disappointed, and worried about being late to her training class. It all happened in an instant. We want to show Linda how to use the M.A.G.I.A.L. tool to get rid of the stressful feelings.

SUMMARY

In this lesson we have learned how the second tool in living the M.A.G.I.CA.L. life, analysis paralysis works. Specifically, you have learned how the principle works to immediately stop feelings of stress in your life.

You have learned to write a procedure to stop the thought attack and immediately remove the stressful feelings and why you would do this.

INTEGRATION:

Now that you know what to do to stop the stessful feelings when you are in analysis, next you will learn how to do it. You will be asked to demonstrate the process so that you can start to reap the rewards of living the M.A.G.I.CA.L. life.

OBJECTIVE:

In this lesson you

write a procedure to recognize and gently stop analysis paralysis
write why you proceeded as you did.

MOTIVATION:

Would you like to stop this kind of thinking?

Do you whish you could avoid creating this kind of stress in your lives?

You can do so using the second M.A.G.I.C.A.L. tool, to stop analysis paralysis. This tool will help you::

associate feeling stressful with the stressful thoughts that you are thinking,

learn how to gently stop yourself from thinking this way,

and reduce the stress you are feeling by bringing your thinking back to the present moment.

So, in this lesson you will apply the third tool stopping analysis paralysis to write plans about how to help yourself reduce the stress in your life.

TEST:

For the brief case below

write a procedure for catching yourself caught up in your thinking and gently stopping yourself

write why you plan to proceed as you do

Item:

“Ken’s boss gave him an assignment to complete. Ken stills have three other assignments to complete from last week. He thinks that Joan only has one assignment and he now has four assignments. Therefore, he starts thinking, “my boss doesn’t like me. He gives me too much work to do. Joan is sitting over there doing nothing. She doesn’t have as much work to do because the boss likes her better. My boss has favorites and if you are one of his favorites, then you get fewer assignments. If you are not one of his favorites you are expected to do the most work. I hate this job. My boss does not like me. My life is a mess. I hate my life. Nothing goes right for me.”