Solve Any Problem with the Logical Levels 🧠
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Solve Any Problem with the Logical Levels 🧠
Ever feel stuck? This framework will help you escape! (9min read)
TL;DR Summary:
What are the Logical Levels?
How can you use them in your everyday life?
Questions are the Answer
Levels Alignment Process
Finding Purpose
Suggested Reading for Today’s Topic
What Are the Logical Levels?
The Logical Levels Pyramid is one of the most powerful problem-solving tools ever created.
Whenever I get stuck in my life, career, or any other area, this is how I get unstuck.
Once you understand how to use it, it will become second nature!
There are 6 levels, Environment, Behavior, Skill & Capabilities, Values & Beliefs, Identity, and finally Purpose.
Each of these levels is at a different state of our awareness, some we are consciously aware of, however, most are under our conscious awareness.
This is why we get stuck inside them if we don’t understand they’re there!
Let’s break them down, and learn how to use them! As we do, it will be helpful to put a problem you’re having into your mind.
What’s an area of your life where you feel stuck?
Here are some examples:
I can’t find the right relationship
I’m stuck at the financial level I’ve always been at
I don’t have time for fun
I’m stuck at this weight no matter what I do
I’m stuck in a career that isn’t going anywhere
Environment (Conscious)
This is the first area and it is the widest. It deals with our surroundings, who we are around, the groups we’re in, etc.
The key questions for this level are where, when & with whom?
For example, if you’re a smoker, but only when you’re in Vagas with your friends, that problem is related to the environment.
At this level, we are conscious of what’s going on and we can examine on our own how the environment we’re in may be causing the problem we are having.
This is the first place to look when you’re trying to find the root cause of a problem for yourself or someone else!
Is this where the problem you’re working on today falls?
If so, what actions could you take to change your environment?
Behavior (Conscious)
This level is about actions & outcomes.
The key question here is, what?
What actions are you taking or not taking, and what are their outcomes?
This is the last level we are fully conscious of as we move up this pyramid.
We are aware of the behaviors we want to change, and the actions we are taking or not taking to get us closer or further from that goal.
It is also through behavior that we can change our environment, which is an outcome.
For example, if the guy above left Vagas (behavior), he would be changing his environment, which in his case would solve his problem!
This level often gets confused with the next level which is skills.
Skills & Capabilities (Semi-Conscious)
This level is more about the strategy that’s used, or it could be thought of as a cluster of behaviors used to accomplish a task.
Imagine playing catch, this is a behavior made up of many behaviors, so it’d be called a skill.
Another example of a skill is reading, you have to turn pages, move your eyes left to right, put words together, and so many more sub-behaviors.
This level is thought to be semi-conscious because some of the behaviors we are aware of, but others we aren’t.
For example, when was the last time you consciously thought about turning or scrolling the page of a book as a part of reading?
Skills can be broken down into behaviors, or “what’s” and the key question for this level is how do those “whats” accomplish the outcome?
Values & Beliefs (Unconscious)
We’ve talked about beliefs in this blog before, if you haven’t already, be sure to check out, “Where Do Beliefs Come From?”
This will help you understand where the beliefs we talk about on this level come from.
Concerning this model, let’s think about them as the story we tell ourselves about what’s possible & what’s not.
This is the level where a lot of deep work is done.
These beliefs can be stored in us when we’re young and in as little as 1 key experience.
This single experience can affect our behavior from then on, even into adulthood.
Yes, this does mean that today, some of the beliefs you’re running on may have been formed when you were as little as 2, 3, or maybe 4 years old… Crazy right?!
For example, imagine being young and you are trying to learn to play the guitar.
It’s not going well at first and amid your struggles, a parent or teacher says to you, “To play an instrument, you have to have an ear for music, you must not have one.”
Boom. Belief formed. It can happen that fast.
1 sentence can change your whole life, and it may be a program you’re still running today!
Unconscious Beliefs
I see this a lot with clients who want to lose weight.
They have the skills & capabilities to get healthy, they know the behaviors of healthy people, and they’re in a healthy environment, but they still can’t seem to lose weight.
Why is that? Because they may have been told their weight problems are genetic or something similar in the past, and they believe it to be true.
Because beliefs are above these other levels, it overpowers them and undermines their efforts to lose weight.
This level is unconscious to us, and it typically takes help from a coach, colleague, or friend for us to be able to see how our beliefs are affecting our outcomes.
I like to say it’s hard to read the label from inside the bottle!
To change these beliefs, we need to increase the amount of doubt in the belief in question.
Until we do this, we have faith in these beliefs, we are certain they are true!
We have to erode this certainty over time to escape their grip.
The key question for this level is why?
Identity (Unconscious)
Your Identity can be thought of as a cluster of beliefs & values.
An easy example of how instantly shifting your identity can shift your beliefs and everything underneath it is the military or religion.
When you identify as Catholic, there are specific beliefs & values that are a part of that identity.
There are also specific behaviors & environments like going to confession or going to a church on Sundays that are a part of that Identity.
The key questions for this level are for whom? And what does it mean to be this kind of person?
This is who you believe you are, your “I am.”
This is what makes the Hero Creation Process we teach our clients so powerful, you aren’t just changing your name, you’re adopting the Heroes belief system too!
Purpose/Spiritual (Unconscious)
The last level is the highest of all and changes here can change your entire life.
This level is beyond just yourself.
This level is bigger than just you, some people call it spiritual, some purpose, others the quantum field.
Whatever you call it, it’s your life's mission, what you were put here to do, who you are here to help and how you connect with the collective.
The key questions for this level are for whom else? For what else?
This level is getting at the very reason you exist. It’s not included in all Logical Levels Pyramids, but at Rewrite & Rise, we believe it is the most important!
So, these are the levels, but how do we use them?!
Using the Logical Levels
As I mentioned above, this is a great tool for problem-solving. Starting to ask what level is the problem on? Is a great way to start using this model.
Some of the things you find in this will be easier to fix than others.
You can’t solve the problem in the level that it’s in.
For example, the Las Vegas example above was an easy one to solve through a behavior, leave Vegas (the environment).
The most common thing I see when taking people through these levels is that they identify with the problem or issue they’re having.
Getting yourself or the person you’re talking to out of identity ASAP is very important because of its effect on the rest of the pyramid.
Reframing what they’re saying about the problem into a behavior is a quick way to shift them away from this level.
For example, if someone is saying that they’re a smoker, and everyone in their family has always been a smoker, they’re identifying with it.
By saying, “Wow, what an interesting story to tell yourself about yourself.”
You can move what they’re doing into the behavior level where they have conscious awareness of what’s happening.
Questions are the Answer
Telling someone they’re stuck in “x” level is probably not going to help them, you must empower them to see it for themselves.
This is where questions become your best friend.
For example if someone is struggling at the identity level like we talked about above, ask, “You breathe right?”
“Yes.”
“Do you walk around calling yourself a breather?”
Most people would answer no!
This demonstrates how much more control they have over their behaviors than they thought they did before you help them see this with your questions.
Questions are the answer here. Get curious with yourself and really dig into which level you're struggling with.
Now that you’ve been through the levels, you have the tools to help yourself no matter where you land in the pyramid.
Whenever you find the level that your problem is in, you need to get out of that level to solve it.
For example, if you hold the belief that you’re not smart enough, you could look at the Skills level, and develop the skills you need to be “smart enough.
Bonus Tool: Levels Alignment
Another powerful way to use this tool is to do a Levels Alignment.
In this process, you define your vision or goal as clearly as you can.
Once you have the vision, you go through each level, starting with the environment, and ask yourself:
What parts of my current environment are getting in the way of me accomplishing my vision?
What environment would I need to accomplish this goal or vision?
Then visualize yourself creating that environment.
Next move to behaviors.
Which of my current behaviors is getting in the way of me accomplishing my vision?
What behaviors do I need to accomplish my vision?
Then visualize yourself doing them.
You’ll repeat this for every level! You can do this with a coach, or alone, either way, by the end you will understand what you need to do to accomplish your vision.
If you feel stuck at one of the levels, or nothing is coming up, go with your gut, your subconscious knows what you need, just listen.
If you’re still struggling, I’d be happy to personally walk you through this.
You can book a Levels Alignment Session with me here: Levels Alignment Session
Be sure to use the code “HEROESDIGEST” for 80% off!
Next Week
Today we talked about purpose, but we’ve found that a lot of people don’t know what that means, much less how to define their own.
So, next week, we will focus on the Neuroscience of Purpose.
In it, we will take you through Rewrite & Rise’s Conceive process, which is a scientific formula for purpose creation.
Until then… Live Heroically!