Post Game Analysis - an essential tool for improving life
/By Duncan Anderson. To see all blogs click here.
Summary: Without reviewing how you acted (Post Game Analysis) you cannot accurately know or improve your ability respond not react. High quality Post-Game analysis must include an attempt to understand your internal signals (body sensations, your emotions, your mindstate and your thoughts).
Overview
1. External Stimulus * 2. Internal Signals * 3. Picture of what is going on * 4. Processing => 5. Outcomes
You need “2. Internal Signals” to have a quality “3. Picture of what is going on”
Without a quality “3. Picture of what is going on” it doesn’t matter how good your “4. Processing” you are stuffed! IE therefore “5. Outcomes” will be poor.
A MECE for “2. Internal Signals”:
Emotions - what emotions you have going on
Thoughts - what thoughts you have, not just being your thoughts, observing them!
Body Sensations - your emotions often show up in your body as physical feelings
Mindstate
Example of mindstate: tired, frustrated, worried, calm, excited. IMO mind state is analogous to ‘attention type’ (see Attention Control blog). As with Attention Control I find there is an optimal mindstate for each circumstance, I try to figure out what this is and embody it.
How is mindstate different to emotions? An emotional is a moment-to-moment reaction, while a mindstate is more sustained and pervasive
Emotion versus mindstate
Joy versus contentment.
Anger versus resentment.
Sadness versus depression.
Your mindstate is often affected by the emotions that come in. Let’s say you are in a ‘calm mindstate’ and then a ‘frustrating event occurs’, it could well be that at the end of this your mindstate becomes frustrated… but it doesn’t have to be this way :)
Your mindstate also affects how you process things, eg the wrong mindstate will process thoughts and emotions in a counter productive way. Attention Control = 1. Developing many different types of attention (mindstates) * 2. Being able to have the type of attention (mindstate) that you want at any given time.
How I’m trying to change:
10 years ago Duncan: external stimulus => subconscious thoughts => go with first idea that came to mind (react not respond)
Goal: external stimulus => real time awareness of internal signals (the external stimulus for thought, emotion, body sensation and possible change in mindstate) => considered processing of external stimulus and internal signals => conscious chosen response.
Levels:
L1: go with first thought that comes to mind.
L2: consider multiple thoughts and pick the best one
L3: external stimulus => low res internal signals => process => considered response.
L4: L3 + high res signals (eg not just frustrated but pensive etc)
L5: can see others signals
L6: L5 + can see their processing.
Comment:
The key way I try to level up is by cultivating my ability to sense and process with Post Game Analysis.
What is Post Game Analysis?
This is where after a meeting you chronologically go through with someone else what happened in the meeting for yourself and others
What was my mindstate and how did it change over the meeting
What was I not aware of real time (hint: most things)
Did I respond and not react
Can instead focus on thoughts, body sensations, emotions
Then do this for others.
Visualisation time:
What I try to do in a meeting:
What 10 years ago Duncan used to do in a meeting:
Jingle: if you don’t do Post Game Analysis… do you even know what game you are playing?
“You don’t learn from your experiences, you learn from reflecting on your experiences.”
Hopefully your life is long and you will play many games (have interactions with others). If you improve at the ‘game’ this should make your life much better.
I try to do Post Game Analysis at least once a day.
Post Game Analysis once a day keeps poor meeting outcomes at bay!
Ok, the ultimate goal:
Pre Game Plan (ideal mindstate, expected logic path) discussed with others
Play Game (planning is essential, but plans are useless. This means that no plan survives first contact so you need to be adapt effectively immediately)
Post Game Analysis with others
+++++++++++++++++++++++
Details
Your Mindstate (attention type) affects everything:
Stimulus input emotion * Current Mindstate => Output Emotion * Output Thought * Output Body Sensation * Output Mindstate
Input thought * Current Mindstate => Output Emotion * Output Thought * Output Body Sensation * Output Mindstate
Comment:
Point 1:
When you are in a meeting with someone else speaking it’ll be sparking off ‘input emotions’ and ‘input thoughts’.
When you are thinking it’ll be sparking off ‘input emotions’ and ‘input thoughts’.
When you are writing it’ll be sparking off ‘input emotions’ and ‘input thoughts’.
Point 2:
IMO you always have a mindstate. If you don’t know what it is then you are at “L0: are unaware of what the signal is saying (subconscious)”
Your mindstate (one rearticulation of ‘attention type’) is always affecting what you do.
The more aware you are of yourself and your environment IMO the higher your ability to shape yourself and your environment. IMO you can’t expect to be given a good life, but you can try to build one.
IMO when people say you can ‘observe your consciousness’ this is one articulation I give.
Mini-Jingle: Being mindful of your mindstate allows marvellous moments!
Point 3:
But more than this, cultivating your ability to access (experience) your body sensations, to understand and experience your emotions, to understand and experience your thoughts improves your life!
Blind people aren’t born with better ears. They cultivate their ability to hear more.
Sommeliers aren’t born with better paletes. They cultivate their ability to taste and smell more.
Empaths (highly sensitive individuals, who have a keen ability to sense what people around them are thinking and feeling AND / OR be strongly in touch with their emotions, both from depth and breadths perspectives) aren’t born able to sense how others are feeling. Empathy is built through practicing trying to understand others (see blog).
Higher quality input signals = more ability to experience life!
My goal is to be aware in real time of all of my ‘input signals’ AND to be aware of others ‘input signals’ as well:
Sweet Signal Segmentation:
L0: are unaware of what the signal is saying (subconscious)
L1: are aware of the signal but only at low resolution (eg mindstate = tired, frustrated, worried, calm, excited)
L2: are aware of the signal at high resolution (eg mindstate = small frustration called disappointed. Eg mindstate = large frustration called disaster)
L3: can do L2 ‘real time’ vs ‘after the fact’ (you can observe your consciousness, ie see the 4x signals real time)
L4: can see the signals that are going on in others (you can observe others consciousness, ie see the 4x signals real time)
What is the hopeful outcome of this?
‘High resolution internal signals’ * ‘Real time’ * ‘Highly Accurate’ => High definition surround sound life
What was DA like 10 years ago: ‘Low resolution internal signals’ * ‘After the fact’ * ‘Low Accuracy’ => Low definition mono sound sometimes good sometimes bad life
‘Shaping how you respond not react’ * ‘High resolution internal signals’ * ‘Real time’ * ‘Highly Accurate’ => High definition surround sound energising (vs draining) life!
“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.” Viktor Frankl
“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” Viktor Frankl
“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” Viktor Frankl
I want to be able to respond not react; to be able to figure out the optimal mindstate for a circumstance and then to be able to cultivate this mindstate.
I don’t believe you can be expected to be given a good life… but I do think you can try and build one.
For thoughts on optimal mindstates for different events see ‘Attention Control’ blog.
What 10 years ago Duncan used to do in a meeting:
What did this lead to:
I might not have answered the question asked.
I might have had word choice and tone (messaging) that didn’t reflect my intended message (honestly, I find accurately articulating oneself almost impossible, it’s just a question of how far out you are from what you wanted. I hope to have messaging <10% different to intended message).
I wasn’t considering multiple options for how I could respond in the discussion and then deciding what which option I wanted to go with.
I wasn’t aware of my mindstate and how it was affecting things.
I wasn’t trying to figure out the most helpful mindstate (eg if you are speaking to someone who is having a bad day be very different to if you are giving them critical feedback. eg you should have a different energy / mindstate for taking part in a group discussion vs presenting to a group, etc)
I was not trying to construct logic trees in my head or on a whiteboard to understand what was going on in the discussion. I wasn’t trying to systematically direct my thoughts to make progress. It was just a random pinball machine. I was just hoping to have ‘high quality thoughts’.
Basically I wasn’t trying to observe my consciousness, I was my thoughts.
I wasn’t listening to what others were saying, I was listening to what I was hearing aka Duncan’s warped version of whatever he feels like ‘seeing’ at that moment. IMO your mindstate is warping everything that comes in, if you aren’t aware of your mindstate then you can’t try and counter for the distortions it creates!
I wasn’t trying to build a picture of others consciousness (their signals, their logic tree).
The vision of what I try to do:
“You can observe your consciousness.” See all 4 signals in high definition real time (mindstate, thoughts, emotions and body sensation)
You can observe others consciousnesses.
You can construct logic trees for yourself real time, a logic tree for the discussion real time and logic trees for others and then compare and contrast them to see what is going on!
Observing consciousness categories AKA IMO you want to be able to do more than ‘just keep up with discussion’.
L0: not keeping up
L1: keeping up
L2: keeping up + can start to think about the discussion
L3: L2 + can see a map of the logic tree of the discussion and weigh different options in your mind real time
L4: L3 + can see your mindstate, thoughts and emotions and respond not react
L5: L4 + can see others dashboards above their heads and see why they are thinking and doing things
L6: will stop discussions to talk about ‘why the discussion is going the way it is’ not just ‘the discussion’.
Comment
I’ve slowly cranked up the speed I listen to podcasts / audiobooks. In 2012 it was 1.25x, now I’m at ~5x. Apparently top 1% readers do 6.5x speed (I’m hoping to get to be at top 1% speed in 2020)
What this has done is meant that I just think faster now. Your mind acclimates to what is around it. Basically if you’ve only ever been on a treadmill at walking speed you can’t go faster. But if you run every day and slowly increase the speed you’ll be able to handle WAY more.
In a group discussion I’m spending the 4x extra speed I’ve been able to cultivate on 1. Trying to observe my consciousness, 2. Observe others consciousness and 3. Constructing logic trees for myself and others!
Then when I get to review if I was doing a good job in ‘post game analysis’ it’s the BEST fun ever!
Slowly I get better at understanding myself and others!
If you have never spend time trying to understand yourself with post game analysis what makes you think you’ll be any good at understanding yourself?
If you have never spend time trying to understand others with post game analysis what makes you think you’ll be any good at understanding others?
A wonderful visualisation from Sheldon that I was struggling to find where to include!
If you cultivate your ability to have quality internal input signals you’ll be able to live a ‘high definition surround sound life’.
You don’t need to spend more time on something, spend more money, find a new fun activity. You’ll be able to get way more ‘experience’ out of EVERYTHING!
Imagine you have needed reading glasses to see your entire life but didn’t know it. Then you go to the optometrist, they give you glasses and all of a sudden you can see!
Imagine you’ve only ever listen to music through a wall. Then you get to listen to it at the source.
Are you saying I can get 10x the ‘experience’ out of the same stuff? Yeah! And increasing ‘experience’ for the same activities ALSO allows you to adapt the activities and how you ‘respond not react’ to upgrade even further!
How to cultivate “‘internal input signals”
Post game analysis of specific events by myself
Deconstruct the game from ‘1. Inputs’ (body sensations that came up, emotions that came up, mindstate going in and how your mindstate changed over the course of an event and thoughts).
1. Do a blow by blow chronological deconstruction of the event
2. Then play ‘if I had my time again I’d do things differently’ and reconstruct how you might be able to go from disgusting to delightful!
Mini-Jingle: You can make a dogs breakfast of an event, the outcome might have been disgusting… but you can turn this around. Disgusting + deconstruction + reconstruction => delicious degustation!
Post game analysis of specific events with others
“We are all players, we are all coaches.”
Most of my 1:1s are ‘post game analysis’. Such an epic way to upgrade yourself, upgrade others, enjoy yourself and build deeper relationships!
Systematic reviewing of how I am (taking my temperature) by actively trying to explain my ‘internal input signals’ a few times a day.
I have a wonderful spreadsheet named ‘modus operandi’.
In it I note 2-3x times a day what my ‘internal input signals ‘have been.
Let’s say it’s midday and I’m in the modus operandi spreadsheet doing a review of the morning. I note:
What body sensations have I had this morning and how am I feeling right now? Are there any second order learnings from these body sensations (ie what could have driven the body sensations, ie the root cause that the body sensations could be a proximate outcome of).
What emotions have I had this morning and how am I emotions am I feeling right now? Are there any second order learnings from these emotions (ie what could have driven the body sensations, ie the root cause that the body sensations could be a proximate outcome of).
How has my mindstate been and evolved this morning and what is my mindset right now? Are there any second order learnings from this (ie what could have driven the body sensations, ie the root cause that the body sensations could be a proximate outcome of).
If you only take away one thing from this:
I was ‘fused with my mindstate / thoughts / emotions’ until about 5 years ago.
I had no idea I could observe my thoughts, emotions and mindstate. There was no observing, I was my thoughts, I was my emotions etc.
I was just trying to ‘think faster and smarter’.
I started reviewing how meetings went after… at the beginning it was just things like ‘word choice’ and ‘tone’. Slowly it’s turn into all of this fun :)
Slowly I’m more able to observe my internal signals!