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After reading a couple of "understanding-the-problem" chapters (3
to 10) that address your problem, and after reading the general idea
and purposes sections of "possible methods" in chapters 11 to 15, you
are ready to start working out a treatment plan for yourself.
In step 3, you have already seen how to describe your problem,
part by part. Now, you start developing a self-help treatment plan,
part by part. By first considering the pros and cons of using several
self-help methods within three or four of the most promising parts of
your problem, you can crudely draft tentative plans for achieving your
sub-goals within those parts of your problem. Jot down your self-help
ideas and add other methods as you read and think about solving the
problem. Talking to others will help you develop a better plan (see
brainstorming in method #11 in chapter 13). At this point, several
self-help methods should be considered.
Examples of the self-improvement planning process: Finding
self-help methods
Keep in mind that to become an expert self-helper, you need a lot
of practice analyzing problems into the five parts. And you need to
become familiar with a large number of self-help methods, before you
can quickly devise comprehensive self-help treatment plans. After
doing several self-improvements and reading much of this book, you
should be able to think of many possible solutions to almost any
problem within a few minutes, even though a good plan uses only a
few methods.
For now, even without that practice and knowledge, let's look at
two illustrations of how to develop a well thought out treatment plan.
In the first case, Case A, a young man has a problem of being lonely,
fearful, and pessimistic, especially concerning the opposite sex. In
Case B, the problem is John/Jane again, i.e. procrastination and a
negative attitude towards school.
Case A: A lonely shy man
Part of the Problem
Possible Self-help Methods
1. Behavior: Avoids girls, has little to
say.
Write a contract rewarding talking to
girls with TV time; buy a new record
album as soon as one girl is asked for
a date (chapters 4 &11).
2. Feelings: feels shy, anxious when
talking to attractive girls, afraid of
rejection.
Use relaxation and desensitization to
reduce fear of approaching a girl to
talk to or for a date (chapters 5 &
12).
3. Skills: doesn't know how to start or
end a conversation; unsure how to
ask a girl out.
Practice different approaches by role-
playing with a friend, observe others,
prepare for conversations in advance
