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In a previous posting, I suggested that there is a neurological pathway or loop that keeps the reward center and the planning center of your brain in ongoing and immediate contact. I referred to this information loop as the reward-and-planning system and proposed five elements - each with a distinct cognitive demand - of the system:
- Anticipate the end-goal
- Identify the tasks and subtasks
- Sequence and problem-solve around likely obstacles
- Block out distractions
- Get the reward
So if the nervous system has this handy reward-and-planning loop, then why aren't I getting exactly what I want all the time? I asked readers to contact me with their biggest challenges in reaching their most important goals and got some generous and helpful responses. What follows is a mix of what they told me, and what I've noticed in my own life and clinical work. I got a lot of reader responses to this and want to share the best of that with you, so I'm going to break this up into three posts here at Psychology Today.
Ways the Reward and Planning System Can Go Wrong
Predictably, frequently, remarkably wrong. In order to realize a goal, dozens of things must happen just right. But in order to miss our target, only one piece is required to go awry. Success depends upon a specific "recipe," or combination of well-timed and completed subtasks. Likewise, my way of not getting things done on time, all the time, requires a specific formula. And it is different from your way of not getting exactly what you want.
In order to "coach" yourself, or to guide the clients and students you support, you might start with a review of the reward-and-planning system and see where things went off beam. And there are some foreseeable points in the system where many of us misstep.
#1 - Anticipate the end-goal
We can think of the back of the brain - the tissue we share in common with many other animals - as representing "what is." The here and now facts of our environment and situation. The frontal lobes, though, do the cognition of "what could be" - creating mental representations of what could be different. Imagining a different world for ourselves.
And that's the first step of the reward-and-planning system: imagining what exactly we want. How we want to feel and how that's different from what I'm feeling right now. It's one of the basic first steps in counseling. After you've identified your biggest here-and-now challenges and problems, well, how would you like things to be?
This first piece of work requires imagination and creativity. It's not hard to identify and name problems. But inventing a new way of feeling - that requires guts and optimism and hope. Some measure of insight and self-knowledge is needed, too.
Many individuals find their fondest wishes thwarted by those around them. Important people in their social environment are unsupportive, or even prohibitive. Social convention may frown upon, or punish, our aspirations. So even if we've caught a clear vision of what we want for ourselves, we may not get the cooperation and support we need. And some of us are sensitive to even subtle disapproval from family and peer group. We may even seek out external approval as though that were as important as our own actual needs and preferences!
Or we may have financial and physical restrictions. Or we might be too busy with current commitments and obligations to give real thought to the what-comes-next. Midlife crisis and "empty nest" disappointment are more likely when we've allowed current responsibilities to distract us from our inner life. From asking "how am I doing? What else do I need here?"
Finally, we are not all equally able to introspect, and not all of us are comfortable with self-knowledge. Some of us are not even aware that we're a bit disappointed or stressed or unhappy.
Alicia R. Ruelaz, M.D. is a psychiatrist and author of Is It ADHD or My iPhone? She tells me that in her experience:
"The biggest issue for me, and others I've seen, has been maintaining motivation between the excitement of setting a goal and not losing interest before it is completed."
Jacy, a freelance artist from Connecticut, says:
I get so excited about a new idea, that I forget the zeal that I had once felt for an old one. Thus creating my inevitable "idea graveyard." I am getting better, but it takes discipline and hard work.
Dr. Ruelaz's and Jacy's comment reminds me that there's a world of difference between recognizing a good idea and persevering with a good idea through to the end. Many people with inattention and distractibility tell me they have difficulty getting past the infatuation stage of a new project.
In fact, many adults with ADHD have a spare bedroom they call the "craft room." It's a sad room full of abandoned projects and incomplete ventures. The Tony Robbins CDs. The needlepoint materials. The Herbalife introductory kit. The unopened DVD titled "How to Make Money in Real Estate in 2005."
So there are several impediments right here at this very first step of the reward-and-planning system. And any of these hurdles can thwart the whole project. If I'm not getting exactly what I want, all the time, could it be one of these problems with this very first step?
#2 - Identify the tasks and subtasks
Okay, so if you've made it through the landmine of challenges to step 1, let's consider the ways in which moving on towards goals can still be foiled at step 2. You know what you want for yourself, now what are some strategies for "getting there"?
Alice, a professional organizer and coach from Long Island, offers this:
"The difference between a dream and a goal is a plan. Planning is the real problem. It is the myriad of steps BETWEEN point A and point B that fail to happen. That is why a coach can be so important to folks with ADHD. A coach can help the person develop a step-by-step plan and help the person decide which steps they can & will complete (the exciting ones) and which steps they are best off hiring or asking someone else to do (the boring ones)."
This endeavor takes, frankly, a certain measure of basic intellectual horsepower. Genius is not requisite, but frank limitations in problem-solving may constrain us here. Some working memory, too, is required for juggling images and what-if's around in our heads. We'll need to have good command of the "dry erase board" in our imagination to try ideas out in fantasy before attempting any of these in our actual physical environment.
Trent, a hostage negotiator with his local police department, responded to my last posting with this:
"I've been studying human behavior and decision making for several years and I've (observed that)...a person's ability to make a decision is directly related to two very critical factors. First his ability to predict future results of the decision: his Time Horizon. Second his Ability to Analyze all of the decision options presented. These two factors are often working against one another. As a person's time horizon shrinks, a stress is applied to him. The more stressful the circumstance, the more his Time Horizon shrinks. As a person's decision grows in importance, his stress level is increased and his ability to analyze is impaired."
And the role of insight and emotional intelligence is worth mentioning at this stage, too. As I kick the tires of potential strategies, I'm asking about goodness-of-fit. Can I really do this? Would this really get me to my end-goal? Given my history of experiences, what would be the likely outcome of this or that potential course of action?
Overly conventional thinking is another chief impediments to getting this stage of the reward and planning system off the ground. Google "square watermelons" and click images. Presented with the challenge of transporting watermelons I'm not sure I'd have come up with the idea of growing square melons.
To Be Continued
Any complex task takes enormous and remarkable effort over time. If I meet you at a party and you introduce me to your fiancee, or tell me you've just finished a phlebotomy program, or show me your new car, I'll know that you were able to demonstrate the executive capacities to get through all of the obstacles my readers and I have identified above. Romantic partners and phlebotomy degrees and cars don't just fall down the chimney. And if I meet you at a party and you tell me you don't yet have the fiancee or the certificate or the vehicle, maybe we can identify why not. Yet.
But there are more hurdles and complications ahead. Stay tuned.
photo: PR puzzle pieces
