The conflict defined
“When you decide to do something, remind yourself that it is committment, not motivation that matters.” Prof. Steve Peters
When I was first putting this blog together I called it ‘The Resolution of Illogical Conflict’ because it sounded cool. It is a really mangled quote from a film I quite like, but imagine my surpirse when I learned that there is actually a conflict raging in all of us. All the time.
Professor Steve Peters book ‘The Chimp Paradox’ lays out that we have three cognitive centres in our brain, the human, the computer and the chimp. I remember reading something similar before in ‘The Sacred Journey of the Peaceful Warrior’, which take a slightly less clinical approach to the same conflict, and identifies the three parts as the machine, the child and the spirit.
The key takeaway for me was that these three can sometimes be in conflict with each other. Specifically the chimp / child and the human / spirit. This is the core of illogical conflict. How can we lie in bed and negotiate with ourselves that we can afford 10 more minutes of snoozing, when we know we have to get up to do something. Especially if it is something we’re not looking forward to?
I have written before about how I trained myself to get out of bed as soon as the alarm goes off, often times finding myself walking towards the shower at 5:30 in the morning whilst still half asleep. Now I know from where that illogical conflict stems. It is the chimp and the human fighting over which experience is likely to be the more pleasurable. If I am getting up at 5:30 to go to a tough meeting half way across the country, which I am not looking forward to, 10 more minutes in bed seems blissful. But if I am getting up early to catch a flight to go on holiday, well, just try and stop me.
The critical thing for me on this journey to get more fit and healthy, both physically and mentally, is recognising when I succumb to a strong chimp-based argument. This week, trying to kick start phase 2 of my health journey I attended a two day course off site. On the evening of the first day, with several colleagues, I drank several pints of beer and started the second day with a huge fried breakfast. I felt terrible all day and berated myself for my weakness even as I shovelled more fried potato onto my plate. Now at least I understand where these impulses originate. And I am pretty confident that ‘The Chimp Paradox’ will help me to create some working strategies to manage and work my way back to a sustainable journey to better health and wellbeing.
“The secret to happiness in life: Prepare for opportunity when it comes.” Benjamin Disreali
