Assessing the impact The Monkey Challenge

We have spent a while researching how we can get a before and after assessment of the effectiveness of the ideas and techniques in the book

This is to support a 12 week challenge where participants need to see before and after results.

Completing this exercise has helped us focus on what the change actually does and how it appears to us / how we experience it when it has happened. This will help you understand what you will experience if you start to think and act this way.

Obviously there’s some stuff about distraction:

• less distraction
• better timed distraction
• distraction that actually adds value or contributes

The other big changes are a direct consequence of this in terms of how that makes us feel and these feelings seem to relate to:

and some more specific or direct feelings about the internal management of  the relationship with our Monkey.

Practically this results in less procrastination more assertiveness and a general feeling that ‘all of you’ is focussed and working together.

Finally theres the feelings we have about our ability to sit more easily in silence for meditation or mindfulness purposes.

To assess the impact we have created a questionnaire that gives a total score for how our relationship with our monkey is working

This is loosely based on the methodology and format the UK  NHS use for diagnosing anxiety or depression which are all based on how you feel about –  or your subjective assessment of the element in question.

There seems to be a consensus that how you feel about the situation is actually the only reality that matters.

Other mental health practitioners use variations of this to test for confidence or mood. They include questions like

‘how likely are you to enter a room full of people’

We have distilled  42 statements that relate to the expected changes we will experience (outlined above) as the relationship with our Monkey improves.

These statements are then scored o – 10

where 0 means ‘no’ or ‘not at all’ and 10 means  ‘yes’ or ‘completely’.

With all scores for these types of surveys based on the individuals subjective analysis there is no possibility of comparison between candidates. The value in the results comes from your own appreciation of the score you achieve and the way this changes over time.

We have tested this with number of people and have some overall comments that may help you :

No one has scored any where near the 420 maximum score.

Focusing on the ideas here change your score significantly

Those scoring up to about 150 can expect a doubling of their score in a few months (6)

Those taking the challenge can see increases of over 100 points in 12 weeks.

Subject to technology, data protection and your willingness to share we will provide updated results as part of our ongoing service.

You can see some typical scores here 

For now, this questionnaire provides a quick and simple way  to give us before and after assessment of the impact of the new practices and thinking.

It is based on a strong pedigree methodically and as the numbers of participants mount we can evaluate it further.

There’s another discussion about when it should be completed

For those starting the challenge the suggestion is to complete it on day one and repeat this every week as you complete the challenge.

If you have been practising with these ideas for some time and have missed doing the survey we suggest you complete two assessments now  One with how you feel today and the other how you remember you felt before you started. Its not ideal but it seems to work.