Previous posts in this series:
Understanding Executive Function: What It Is and Why It Matters
The Zoom Out, Zoom In Dance: A Foundation for Better Productivity
The Daily Aiming Ritual: Putting Prioritization into Practice
Time Management for Planning: Aligning Your Schedule with Natural Rhythms
The Neuroscience of Motivation and Emotion: Why We Want One Thing But Do Another
In my last post, I explored the scientific foundation for why internal conflicts feel so inevitable: you have multiple brain systems making different predictions about the same situations, each optimized for different priorities and timelines. Your cortical GPS excels at navigation but lacks real motivational power. Your motivational engines provide drive but only operate on immediate concerns. Your integration systems try to coordinate between them, but sometimes these very different prediction networks simply disagree.
I ended the last post with a crucial insight: the solution isn't to eliminate ambivalence but rather to coordinate it. Internal conflict is inevitable because it emerges from the very architectural structure of the brain. Because this is the case, willpower is at best a temporary solution to the problem. Instead of fighting your different systems through willpower, you're better off helping them work in alliance.
Think of it this way: your cortical self is like a glider pilot with sophisticated navigation tools—excellent at charting courses and understanding wind patterns. But a glider has no engine. It needs the thermal updrafts generated by the landscape below to actually fly. Your emotional parts are those thermals—they provide the energy and drive that makes action possible. The question isn't how to eliminate the thermals (you can't) or how to force flight without them (you'll crash). The question is: how do you become a skilled pilot who reads the landscape and works with the energy available?
But how do you actually do this? How do you move from understanding the neuroscience to building practical coordination among your brain's systems in your daily life?
The answer lies in a therapeutic framework that has developed alongside these neuroscientific discoveries; one that has proven remarkably effective for assisting with exactly this kind of internal coordination work. It's called parts work, and while it was created by clinicians who were treating trauma and dissociation, it turns out to be precisely what's needed to assist with your sustainable productivity.
The Clinical Discovery: Multiple Selves in Action
While neuroscientists were mapping brain networks and motivational circuits, mental health clinicians were making parallel discoveries in their therapy offices. They were working with people who seemed to have genuinely different aspects of themselves; different "parts" that could want contradictory things, hold conflicting beliefs, and even seem to take over behavior in ways that felt outside conscious control.
Initially, parts-work practitioners were focused on treating people with severe dissociation and trauma. But gradually, they began to notice that under stress, most people behave as though they have distinct parts, each with their own perspective, needs, and ways of responding to the world. What started as specialized trauma therapy has evolved into a more general therapeutic framework for understanding human psychology and motivation.
It's worthwhile to trace how the parts-work clinical understanding has developed. Not only does the development of parts-work directly parallel the neuroscientific insights I covered in the last post, but this clinical evolution also gives us the practical tools needed to actually work with these brain systems. These clinicians discovered not just what was happening, but also how to coordinate it.
Let's trace this evolution through four major streams of discovery. I use the stream metaphor deliberately: these weren't sequential waves that came one after another, but rather parallel currents of innovation flowing simultaneously, sometimes crossing paths, and ultimately converging into a unified river of understanding.
First Stream: Ego State Therapy (John and Helen Watkins)
In the 1970s and 80s, John and Helen Watkins were working with patients, including Veterans, who seemed to have distinct "ego states"—coherent clusters of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that could become activated in different situations. For instance, a Veteran might have a "civilian self" that was calm and reasonable, a "soldier self" that was hypervigilant and aggressive, and a "wounded self" that felt helpless and afraid.
The Watkins noticed something crucial: these weren't just different moods or thoughts but instead were internally consistent states that seemed to have their own logic, memories, and motivations. More importantly, they noticed that these ego states could be communicated with directly. A therapist could actually have a conversation with the "soldier self," learning about its concerns and negotiating how it might better work together with the "civilian self."
This observation was revolutionary. Instead of trying to eliminate problematic states or override them with healthier ones, the Watkins developed techniques for facilitating internal dialogue and cooperation. They discovered that when different ego states felt heard and respected, they were much more willing to work together rather than fighting for control.
From a predictive processing perspective, you can now understand what the Watkins were observing: different control regimes or attractor basins that had become stable enough to maintain their own prediction patterns. The "soldier self" had learned to predict threat in civilian environments, while the "civilian self" had learned to predict safety. Rather than trying to eliminate these prediction patterns, ego state therapy helped them communicate and coordinate their different forecasts.
The Watkins' work established that internal dialogue was possible, but it raised an important question: if these ego states could communicate, was there some organizing principle that could help them work together more systematically? Enter Dick Schwartz, who would discover that the internal system operates remarkably like a family.
Second Stream: Internal Family Systems (Dick Schwartz)
In the 1980s, family therapist Dick Schwartz made an observation that would transform how we think about internal coordination. While working with people struggling with eating disorders, he noticed that his clients would describe different "parts" of themselves—for instance, a part that wanted to be healthy, a part that used food for comfort, and a part that was terrified of being out of control.
Rather than treating these as metaphors, Schwartz began working with them as if they were real family members, each with their own personality, history, and legitimate needs. He developed Internal Family Systems (IFS), a comprehensive framework for understanding and coordinating these different aspects of self.
Among Schwartz's breakthrough insights was his recognition that all parts are inherently valuable; even the ones that create problems. Parts take on extreme roles not because they're bad or wrong, but because they're trying to protect the system or meet important needs in the only ways they know how. A procrastinating part isn't being lazy—it might be protecting against overwhelm, criticism, or failure. A perfectionist part isn't being unreasonable—it might be ensuring safety through flawless performance.
The IFS framework introduced several key concepts that directly apply to productivity challenges:
Self-Leadership: The idea that within everyone is a core Self with qualities like curiosity, compassion, calm, and clarity—perfectly equipped to coordinate between different parts. You don't need to eliminate problematic parts; you need to access Self-leadership to help them work together.
The Structure of Parts: IFS identifies three main categories of parts:
Exiles: Vulnerable parts that carry difficult emotions like fear, hurt, shame, or overwhelm. In productivity contexts, these might hold memories of past failures, criticism, or rejection.
Managers: Protective parts that try to prevent problems through control, planning, and organization. They work proactively to keep Exiles from getting activated.
Firefighters: Protective parts that react to overwhelm or pain with immediate relief-seeking behaviors like procrastination, distraction, or numbing activities.
Unburdening: Parts often carry "burdens"—beliefs, emotions, or roles—that they took on to help the system survive. A part might carry the burden of "I have to be perfect or I'm worthless." Once these burdens are recognized and released, parts can return to their natural, helpful functions.
From a predictive processing lens, IFS provides a framework for working with different prediction systems that have become isolated or extreme. When a perfectionist Manager part predicts catastrophe if anything is less than perfect, IFS techniques can be used to help update the part's priors while honoring its underlying protective intention.
Schwartz's IFS model provided a comprehensive framework for understanding parts and their relationships, but questions remained about the underlying neurobiology. Why do parts form in the first place? What brain mechanisms create these distinct aspects of self? A team of trauma researchers working in Europe would provide crucial answers by connecting parts work to neuroscience.
Third Stream: Structural Dissociation (van der Hart, Nijenhuis, Steele)
Working within the same tradition of understanding trauma-related dissociation, clinical researchers Onno van der Hart, Ellert Nijenhuis, and Kathy Steele developed a more systematic understanding of how these different ego states or parts-of-self form and persist. Their structural dissociation model described how traumatic experiences can create distinct neural networks, each specialized for different survival functions.
Crucially, they proposed that this fracturing occurs along natural brain architectural lines—the same divisions I explored in the neuroscience post. They identified Apparently Normal Parts (ANPs) that rely primarily on cortical functioning to handle daily life tasks like planning, reasoning, and maintaining social roles. Meanwhile, Emotional Parts (EPs) operate from subcortical regions—the midbrain and brainstem circuits—holding survival responses and traumatic material.
This maps directly onto the tripartite brain architecture: ANPs engage the sophisticated cortical navigation systems, while EPs activate the ancient emotional-motivational circuits that Panksepp identified—FEAR responses, PANIC/GRIEF states, defensive RAGE, or frozen withdrawal.
Van der Hart and colleagues described three levels of structural dissociation:
Primary dissociation (simple PTSD): One ANP manages daily life while one EP holds the trauma response. This is the most common pattern and closest to what most people experience under stress.
Secondary dissociation (complex PTSD): One ANP with multiple EPs—different emotional-motivational circuits (Panksepp's systems) become isolated from each other and from cortical control. One EP might hold terror, another rage, another shame. This explains why people with complex trauma can feel like completely different versions of themselves emerge in different situations.
Tertiary dissociation (DID): Multiple ANPs and multiple EPs. The cortical system itself fragments, creating distinct "selves" with their own planning, reasoning, and identity—each potentially with its own constellation of emotional parts.
What made this work particularly relevant to productivity challenges was their recognition that everyone operates somewhere on this spectrum. Severe trauma just makes the divisions more pronounced and rigid. Even in people without trauma histories, different neural networks activate in response to different contexts. The difference is how isolated these networks are from each other and how flexibly they can communicate.
For productivity purposes, most people function at the primary or mild secondary level: a cortical Self that can plan and navigate, working with (or sometimes against) various emotional-motivational systems that can activate independently. This is why you can simultaneously want to work on your presentation (cortical goal) while feeling pulled toward avoidance (FEAR system activation) or distraction (SEEKING system taking over).
The structural dissociation model explained why parts exist and how they map onto brain architecture, but something was still missing from the clinical picture. Therapists working with traumatized clients noticed that parts weren't just psychological constructs—they had distinct physical signatures. This observation would lead to the fourth major stream of innovation.
Fourth Stream: Somatic Integration (Pat Ogden's Foundation, Janina Fisher's Parts Integration)
As parts work evolved, practitioners began noticing something crucial: parts live in the body. Different parts don't just have different thoughts and emotions—they have different postures, breathing patterns, energy levels, and physical sensations. A confident part might have an upright posture and steady breathing, while an anxious part might have tight shoulders and shallow breath.
This recognition emerged from a broader movement in trauma therapy emphasizing the body's role in holding psychological experience. Bessel van der Kolk's influential work, particularly The Body Keeps the Score, popularized the understanding that trauma is stored not just in narrative memory but in the body itself—in chronic tension patterns, dysregulated nervous system states, and automatic defensive responses.
Multiple therapeutic approaches developed to work with this somatic dimension of trauma. Peter Levine created Somatic Experiencing, focusing on completing interrupted survival responses and releasing held physiological activation. Hakomi principles emphasized mindful body awareness and the organism's inherent wisdom. Pat Ogden developed Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, a body-oriented approach that focused on how psychological experiences are held in the body through posture, movement, and nervous system states.
While not explicitly a parts therapy, Ogden's work provided crucial insights into how different emotional and psychological states express themselves somatically and how working directly with the body—rather than just talking about experiences—can facilitate profound psychological change.
Janina Fisher, who worked extensively with Ogden and with van der Kolk, made a crucial integration: she explicitly framed the relationship between Self and parts through the lens of attachment theory.
While IFS emphasized building "trusting relationships" between Self and parts, and ego state therapy focused on internal dialogue, Fisher recognized that this was fundamentally an attachment relationship—complete with the same dynamics of trust, safety, attunement, and rupture-and-repair that characterize external attachment relationships. She understood that disintegration within the internal system, where parts operate in isolation or conflict, could be turned around toward integration through inner communication that specifically builds secure attachment between individual parts and the Self.
Drawing from her background in IFS (Schwartz), somatic trauma therapy (Ogden), and attachment/trauma research (van der Kolk), Fisher recognized that parts often resist cooperation not because they're stubborn, but because they don't trust the Self to function as a secure attachment figure; to remain attuned, to keep them safe, to honor their needs. This reframing of parts work as internal attachment repair became central to what she formalized as Trauma-Informed Stabilization Treatment (TIST).
Rather than trying to eliminate or control problematic parts, TIST focuses on the Self or "adult self" developing secure, trustworthy relationships with each part through embodied dialogue that prioritizes safety and attunement over immediate behavioral change. By approaching parts work as attachment repair rather than symptom management, TIST creates lasting internal integration rather than temporary compliance.
This somatic integration aligns perfectly with our understanding of interoceptive awareness from the previous post. Those body signals Sarah was experiencing—the tight chest, the stomach knot—weren't just stress responses. They were different parts communicating their concerns through the only language they have: sensation and movement.
Fisher's recognition of parts work as attachment repair represented a major theoretical advance, but it also raised practical questions about implementation. How do you actually build secure attachment between Self and parts? What conditions make this repair possible? Her formalization of these insights into TIST would provide the systematic approach needed to answer these questions.
Current Integration: Trauma-Informed Stabilization Treatment (TIST)
Building on Fisher's development of embodied internal dialogue, Trauma-Informed Stabilization Treatment (TIST) represents a comprehensive approach that recognizes parts coordination isn't just about psychology—it requires nervous system regulation and relational attunement.
TIST emphasizes that sustainable parts alliance requires:
Nervous system regulation so parts feel safe enough to communicate rather than remaining in hyper- or hypoarousal states that shut down the prefrontal cortex
Internal attachment repair through the Self developing trustworthy, attuned relationships with each part
Relational attunement with a therapist or guide who can help co-regulate and witness the internal dialogue
Mindfulness-based differentiation that helps clients recognize parts as separate from their core Self, reducing shame and creating space for curiosity
The Convergent Insight: Predictive Processing Explains Why Parts Work Works
With this background in place, you can hopefully see the remarkable convergence that has occurred between clinical innovation and neuroscientific discovery.
Parts work succeeds because it works directly with the brain's fundamental architecture. Instead of trying to override different prediction systems through willpower, the parts work approach facilitates communication and coordination between them. Instead of pathologizing internal conflicts, parts work recognizes them as an inevitable product of a brain comprised of multiple sophisticated systems running in parallel making different forecasts about the same situations.
Here's how the neuroscience maps onto the clinical insights:
Different parts represent different prediction systems that have learned different lessons about how the world works. A perfectionistic part has learned that "mistakes lead to criticism," while a creative part has learned that "exploration leads to discovery." These aren't just beliefs—they're distinct control regimes or prediction systems, each operating with its own set of priors that comprise a unique perspective through which situations are automatically interpreted.
Parts conflicts occur when prediction systems disagree about what a situation means or requires. Your planning part predicts that starting the presentation will lead to progress and relief, while your protective part predicts that starting will lead to overwhelm and criticism. Both predictions feel completely valid from within their respective systems.
Parts alliance happens through updated prediction patterns enabled by secure attachment. When parts feel heard and their concerns are addressed, they can begin updating their priors—but this flexibility only becomes possible when parts experience the Self as a trustworthy attachment figure. A protective part that learns "this person understands my concerns and creates conditions where I feel safe" becomes willing to allow more flexible responses than one that feels dismissed or overridden. The safety created through internal attachment repair is what allows rigid prediction patterns to soften and adapt.
Self-leadership begins with cortical capacity for mindfulness and metacognition (the ability to objectively observe one's own experience) and is enhanced through improved coordination between different brain networks. When the anterior cingulate cortex and insula successfully integrate signals from various systems, you experience the clarity, curiosity, and calm that IFS calls "Self-energy." The Self isn't so much a separate part as it is what emerges when cortical observation combines with effective network coordination.
Sarah's Story Continues: From Conflict to Coordination
Let's return to Sarah's presentation struggle, but now approach it through a parts lens informed by this integrated understanding.
When Sarah sits down to work on her presentation, instead of fighting her resistance or trying to push through with willpower, she takes a different approach. She closes her laptop and takes a moment to check in with what's actually happening inside her.
She notices the familiar tightness in her chest and the knot in her stomach. But instead of treating these uncomfortable sensations as obstacles to overcome, she recognizes them as communications from her parts. She takes a few deep breaths and asks internally: "What parts of me are here right now?"
Almost immediately, she becomes aware of different voices or perspectives inside:
Her Achiever is excited about the presentation and frustrated by the delay: "This is important for our career! We need to just buckle down and get this done. We've planned everything perfectly, so why aren't we moving forward?"
Her Perfectionist is worried about doing it wrong: "What if the presentation isn't good enough? What if we miss something important? What if people ask questions we can't answer? Maybe we should research more before we start writing."
Her Avoider is concerned about the emotional cost: "Remember the last time we gave a presentation and got that harsh feedback? This feels like that all over again. Maybe we should find a way to postpone this or delegate it to someone else."
Her Overwhelmed One feels the scope of the task as impossible: "There's too much to cover and not enough time. Where do we even start? This is hopeless!"
Sarah notices something interesting: each of her parts offers a legitimate concern and a valuable perspective. Her Achiever's drive is important for getting things done. Her Perfectionist's attention to quality helps ensure she produces high quality work. Her Avoider's caution helps her avoid genuine risks. Her Overwhelmed One's assessment of scope, even if a bit doom-and-gloom in phrasing, helps her recognize the need for realistic planning and structure.
The problem isn't that Sarah has parts but rather that her parts are uncoordinated, operating in isolation from one another, each making predictions based on limited information and past experiences that may not apply to her current situation.
The Internal Family Meeting: A Practical Coordination Tool
Instead of trying to silence or override her resistant parts, Sarah decides to facilitate an internal family meeting; a structured way of helping her different parts communicate and coordinate their concerns.
She starts by acknowledging each part from a place of curiosity rather than judgment:
To the Achiever: "I hear that you're excited about this opportunity and frustrated by the delay. You see the professional benefits clearly and want to make progress. Thank you for caring about our success!"
To the Perfectionist: "I understand you want this to be excellent and you're concerned about quality. You're right that preparation matters, and your attention to detail has helped us do good work in the past."
To the Avoider: "I appreciate that you're trying to keep us safe from criticism and emotional pain. You remember difficult experiences and you're looking out for our wellbeing. That matters!"
To the Overwhelmed One: "I know this feels like a lot right now! Thank you for giving us important information about the scope and complexity of this project. Clearly we need to break it down so that it feels less overwhelming."
Already, Sarah notices something shifting. The tight feeling in her chest has softened slightly. Her breathing has deepened. As her parts feel acknowledged and validated rather than dismissed, they no longer have to shout so loudly to be heard.
Now she can begin addressing each part's concerns individually, rather than letting them trigger each other:
Sarah (from Self) speaking with the Avoider: "I understand you're worried about past experiences with criticism. What would help you feel safer as we move forward on this?"
Avoider: "Is it going to be okay? I'm really worried it won't be okay! What if we get criticized again like last time? I don't feel safe!"
Sarah: "I hear how scared you are about criticism. As the leader of our group, I will do everything in my power to protect you from that harm. Let me tell you specifically how: First, we'll start with just a small piece, maybe one section, and share it with our trusted colleague before anyone else sees it. That way, if there are problems, we can fix them in private, not in front of the critical people. Second, we'll build in extra review time so the Perfectionist can help us catch issues before we present. And third, if someone does criticize us, I promise I'll remind you that their feedback is about the work, not about our worth as a person. I won't let you carry that shame alone like you did last time."
Avoider: "So... we're not going to just throw the whole thing out there and hope for the best?"
Sarah: "No. We're going to be strategic and careful. I'll be protecting you by guiding how and when we expose ourselves to potential criticism."
Avoider: "Thank you! I feel safer knowing you are on the job and have an actual plan for keeping us safe!"
[Then, separately, to the Perfectionist]:
Sarah: "Perfectionist, I hear you're concerned about quality and doing this right. What would help you feel confident in our approach?"
Perfectionist: "I need to know we're not going to miss something important or put out substandard work. What if there's research we should have done? What if the arguments aren't solid enough?"
Sarah: "I understand. Here's how we'll handle quality: First, I'll create a research checklist before we write anything, so you'll know we've covered all the necessary sources. Second, we'll write a rough draft first where perfection isn't the goal, just so we get all the ideas down. Then we'll ensure you have dedicated time to review and refine it, which is where your talents really shine. And third, we'll build in time for at least two revision passes before we consider it done. Does that structure give you confidence that quality won't be compromised?"
Perfectionist: "Yes! If I know there's dedicated time for refinement and we're not just rushing it out, I can relax during the drafting phase."
Sarah: "Good. I'm giving you the structure you need to do your best work."
[Then to the Overwhelmed One]:
Sarah: "Overwhelmed One, you're telling me this feels like too much. What would make this more manageable?"
Overwhelmed One: "It's just so big! A whole presentation with research and slides and talking points... I can't even see where to start. It's crushing me."
Sarah: "I hear you. Here's how we'll break this down: Today, we're only going to outline the three main sections; nothing more. Tomorrow, we'll pick just one section and gather sources for that section only. The next day, we'll write a rough draft of just that first section. We'll do one small piece at a time, and between each piece, we'll rest. You won't have to hold the whole thing in mind at once. Does that feel more doable?"
Overwhelmed One: "Yes... if it's really just the outline today, I think I can handle that."
Sarah: "That's all we're doing today. I promise. I'm protecting you from overwhelm by making each step small enough to manage."
[Finally, back to the Achiever]:
Sarah: "Achiever, I've heard from the other parts about their needs. I can create a plan that addresses their concerns. Are you willing to move forward if we start small, with clear structure, and break things into manageable pieces?"
Achiever: "Yes! That works, so long as we're actually making progress and not just planning forever."
Notice what's happening here: instead of a free-for-all with each part speaking and no parts coordinating, Sarah's Self—the wisest, most rational and most adult part of herself—is functioning as a hub, listening to each part individually, understanding their concerns, and then coordinating a response that honors each part's needs.
The Somatic Dimension: How Parts Live in the Body
As Sarah continues this internal dialogue, she's also paying attention to how different parts express themselves in her body. This somatic awareness is crucial because while parts do communicate through thoughts and words, they also communicate powerfully through sensation and movement.
When the Achiever speaks, Sarah notices energy rising in her chest and arms, a forward-moving impulse that wants to get started. When the Avoider is active, she feels her shoulders rising and her breathing becoming shallow, a pulling-back response that wants to create safety through distance. Her Perfectionist creates a feeling of mental spinning and tight focus around her eyes, while her Overwhelmed One feels heavy and slumped.
Understanding these somatic signatures helps Sarah work more effectively with each part:
Sarah can channel her Achiever's forward energy into specific next steps rather than letting it become frustrated impatience.
In response to her Avoider's pulling-back response, she can provide actual safety measures: setting clear boundaries around work time, creating plans for handling criticism, designing backup options if things don't go well.
In response to her Perfectionist's tight focus, she can create structured and dedicated times for detailed review while also setting limits to prevent endless perfectionism.
In response to her Overwhelmed One's heaviness, she can provide rest and supportive structure, breaking the large task into truly manageable pieces rather than expecting her part to handle overwhelming complexity.
This embodied approach to parts work aligns perfectly with the importance of developing interoceptive awareness I described in my previous post. In essence, your body's signals aren't obstacles to overcome, but instead provide you with important information about how your different parts are responding to your situation, providing the crucial raw data you need to respond to in order to facilitate effective coordination.
The Alliance Model in Action: Cortical Navigation, Emotional Motivation
Sarah's internal family meeting demonstrates what I call the alliance model in action. Instead of her cortical planning systems trying to force her motivational systems to comply, she's instead facilitating genuine cooperation among and between all of her systems.
Her cortical systems provide sophisticated navigation capabilities: analyzing the presentation requirements, considering career implications, weighing different approaches, and planning implementation steps. These systems excel at the kind of complex, future-results-oriented thinking that productivity requires.
Her motivational systems provide the actual energy and drive for action, but will only do so when they feel safe, valued, and aligned with the overall direction being proposed. The Achiever's enthusiasm, the Perfectionist's standards, the Protector's caution, and the Overwhelmed One's capacity awareness all contribute essential motivational energy and intelligence to move Sarah's project forward.
The alliance model recognizes that both navigation and motivation are essential, and that sustainable productivity requires their coordination rather than one dominating the other.
The key phrase here is sustainable productivity. When motivational systems operate without cortical guidance, they pursue immediate comfort at the expense of longer-term goals and important work goes undone. Cortical systems can temporarily override motivational concerns through sheer willpower, but this strategy inevitably fails as motivational systems rebel against being dismissed. Worse still, this approach teaches motivational systems that cortical leadership cannot be trusted, making future coordination even harder. But when these systems work in alliance—when cortical navigation incorporates motivational intelligence and motivational systems trust cortical guidance—productivity becomes sustainable and satisfying rather than effortful and conflicted.
A Note on Practical Application: The Path Ahead
You might notice that Sarah's story leaves us at an interesting place. I've established the foundation for understanding internal coordination and shown you what parts dialogue looks like in action, but you might well be wondering: "How do I actually develop this skill? How do I learn to recognize my parts and communicate with them effectively?"
This is intentional. The practical "how-to" is coming in the next post, but I'm building this framework step by step because you understanding WHY parts work functions will make the practical techniques far more effective and adaptable to your unique situation. Without giving you this theoretical foundation, parts work techniques can feel like arbitrary scripts to memorize. With it, you'll be able to improvise and adapt the approach to whatever your parts need in the moment.
In my next post, you'll learn:
The five experiential channels through which parts communicate (thoughts, behaviors, sensations, emotions, environmental cues)
A step-by-step parts mapping exercise to identify your common parts patterns
The specific dialogue techniques for speaking with protective versus vulnerable parts
How to integrate parts awareness into your Daily Aiming Ritual and other EEFS tools
Realistic expectations about what parts work can and can't accomplish
Sarah's specific procrastination challenge will be addressed in detail in Post 21: "The Procrastination Recovery Ritual," where I'll introduce a complete 5-step process that shows exactly how to apply parts work when you're stuck in avoidance. This ritual integrates everything I'm building: parts dialogue, somatic awareness, nervous system regulation, and practical action steps.
For readers who prefer practical techniques over theory: The next post will provide step-by-step guidance for recognizing and communicating with your parts, and Post 21 will cover the complete Procrastination Recovery Ritual. You're welcome to jump ahead, though I encourage working through the theory first as the techniques will become far more useful and flexible when you understand the principles behind them.
The foundation you're building now with the parts framework will enhance everything that follows: how you manage emotional regulation, how you handle transitions between tasks, how you work with attention and focus, how you address difficult emotions during execution, and how you recover from setbacks. Everything changes when you understand that your productivity challenges are coordination challenges rather than character flaws.
Why Parts Language Creates Leverage
You might wonder why you need this "parts" framework at all. Why not just work with emotions or motivations directly? After all, aren't parts just a fancy way of talking about emotions?
The key advantage to framing emotions as parts is that parts work promotes de-identification from emotions while opening up the possibility of dialogue and relationship between you (your adult Self) and your individual parts.
When you think of anxiety as just an emotion you're experiencing, it can feel like something happening to you that you need to eliminate or push through. When you think of anxiety as a fearful part that's trying to protect you from harm, it becomes something you can be in a more compassionate relationship with; something you can communicate with and potentially negotiate with.
Instead of "I am anxious," you recognize "a part of me is feeling anxious." This subtle shift creates crucial psychological distance. Parts work framing creates the mental space needed for mindful awareness of your parts, opening up the possibility of you being in compassionate caring relationship with your parts. When you become able to befriend your parts, they become more cooperative.
This connects directly to Fisher's insight about attachment relationships between parts and Self. When parts experience the Self as a trustworthy, attuned leader who takes their concerns seriously, they become willing to act more flexibly and collaboratively. When parts feel dismissed, overridden, or shamed, they become more rigid and inflexible in their functioning.
From a predictive processing perspective, parts language helps different prediction systems better update their priors about safety and collaboration. A fear part that predicts "showing vulnerability always leads to criticism" can begin updating that prediction when it experiences the Self consistently responding with curiosity and care rather than judgment.
Common Parts Patterns in Productivity Challenges
As you begin looking at your own experience through the parts lens, certain familiar patterns will likely come into focus. These dynamics have always been there, but now you have language to help you recognize and work with them:
The Perfectionist vs. Progress Dynamic
Your perfectionist part (often an IFS Manager driven by fear of criticism) wants everything to be exactly right before you begin or share anything. Your progress-oriented parts (which may include your Self navigating toward goals, energized by curiosity or determination) want to move forward and make things happen. When these parts are in conflict, you might find yourself endlessly researching, revising, or preparing without ever completing anything.
The Achievement vs. Rest Battle
Your achievement part (usually SEEKING-driven, sometimes with FEAR components mixed in concerned with dangers that may occur if you don't manage to achieve) drives you to accomplish, succeed, and prove your worth through productivity. Your rest-oriented awareness (your Self recognizing the need for sustainable pacing) knows you need downtime and recovery. When these parts are out of balance, you might find yourself burned out from overwork or guilty and anxious when you try to rest.
The Self-Critical vs. Self-Compassionate Response
When things don't go as planned, your self-critical part (often anger directed inward, or a harsh Manager trying to control through punishment) attacks with harsh judgments, while other parts might respond with shame or attempts at care for your struggling self. Understanding these as different parts with different perspectives and therefore recommending different strategies rather than "the truth about you" creates space for choice about which voice you'll listen to.
The Manager-Firefighter Conflict
Some parts (Managers) try to control and organize everything to prevent problems, while others (IFS Firefighters) react to overwhelm or restriction by seeking immediate relief or escape. Productivity struggles often involve these two types of protective parts locked in conflict. The more the Manager tries to control, the more the Firefighter rebels. Procrastination is often a Firefighter response to overwhelming Manager demands.
Each of these conflicts creates internal friction that drains your energy and makes smooth coordinated action much more difficult to achieve. Traditional productivity advice typically takes one side or the other, recommending "just start imperfectly" (anti-perfectionist) or "proper planning prevents poor performance" (pro-planning) without recognizing that both parts usually have valid concerns that would be best addressed through alliance rather than suppression.
Integration with the EEFS Framework
Parts work is not a replacement for the planning tools I covered in previous posts. Instead, parts work enhances those planning tools by addressing the motivational dimension of productivity that are not well addressed by a planning-only approach.
Your Daily Aiming Ritual becomes more effective when you understand it as creating alliance between your navigating Self and your various motivational parts. In addition to helping you choose which tasks you'll work on today, the ritual now also helps you check which parts have energy available and which parts might create resistance so that the tasks you choose are better chosen.
Task Analysis improves when you consider how different parts respond to different types of work. Some parts thrive on detail-oriented tasks while others prefer creative exploration. Understanding this helps you sequence work in ways that work with rather than against your internal dynamics.
Your Time Management becomes more sustainable when it accounts for your parts' different energy patterns and regulation needs. Rather than fighting against parts that need rest or variety, you can design schedules that honor parts' needs while still accomplishing your goals.
Energy Management makes more sense when you understand that different parts have different energy signatures and requirements. What feels energizing to one part might be depleting to another. Additionally, some parts—particularly those riding on Panksepp's more activated affective circuits like SEEKING or PLAY—show up with inherently more energy available, while others connected to circuits like PANIC/GRIEF or freeze states have less baseline activation. This isn't just about how parts react to tasks; it's about the fundamental energy they bring with them when they show up.
Think of it this way: planning tools provide the cognitive scaffolding for effective productivity, while parts work provides the motivational alliance that makes implementation sustainable and satisfying. When your Self can skillfully navigate between your goals and your parts' various concerns, productivity stops feeling like warfare and starts feeling like coordination.
Trauma-Informed Considerations
It's important to note that for some people, parts work can initially feel overwhelming or activating, especially if there's a history of trauma or significant life stress. The EEFS approach emphasizes several trauma-informed principles:
Go slow and respect resistance. If parts work feels too intense or if certain parts don't want to engage, that's important information. Respect the wisdom of protective parts even when they interfere with productivity goals.
Build safety first. Parts coordinate more easily when they feel safe and regulated. This means it is generally better to start with nervous system regulation practices before diving into internal dialogue.
Work with, not against, protective strategies. Even seemingly problematic parts like procrastination or perfectionism often serve important protective functions. The goal is to help these parts feel safe enough to be more flexible, not to eliminate them.
Get support when needed. While parts work can be done independently, working with a qualified trauma-informed therapist or coach can provide additional safety and guidance, especially if trauma or complex mental health issues are involved.
Setting the Stage for Execution
Understanding parts work and beginning to develop alliance between your different internal systems creates the foundation for everything that follows in this series. The next several posts will focus on transitions—the critical moments when you shift between planning and execution modes, move from task to task, handle interruptions, and reflect on your work. These transition rituals will use the parts framework to help you navigate these shifts smoothly and sustainably. After mastering transitions, I'll then address the execution challenges that trip up so many people: initiating tasks, maintaining focus, working with difficult emotions, and recovering from setbacks.
But now you have a fundamentally different framework for approaching these challenges. Instead of seeing execution problems as personal failures or character flaws, you can understand them as coordination challenges between different parts of your system, each with their own intelligence, concerns, and contributions to offer.
When you can't get started on a task, instead of pushing through with willpower, you can ask: "Which parts are here? What are they concerned about? How can I address those concerns while still moving forward?"
When you get distracted or lose focus, instead of berating yourself, you can inquire: "What part needed attention just now? What was that distraction trying to accomplish? How can I honor that need while returning to my intended focus?"
When you feel overwhelmed or want to quit, instead of forcing yourself to continue, you can check in: "Which parts are overwhelmed? What would help them feel more resourced and supported? How can I adjust my approach to work with rather than against my current capacity?"
This parts-informed approach to execution challenges transforms productivity from a battle against yourself into a collaborative process where all aspects of your system feel valued and included.
Conclusion: From Framework to Practice
The convergence of neuroscientific discovery and clinical innovation has given us unprecedented insight into why productivity challenges feel so personal and intractable, and what actually works to address those challenges in a sustainable manner.
You are not a unified system with consistent priorities trying to overcome problematic impulses. You are a sophisticated coalition of different prediction systems, each with their own intelligence and concerns. Your task is to learn how to coordinate your parts' different perspectives in the service of your larger goals.
The brain science from my previous post explained why this coordination is necessary: different neural networks make different predictions about the same situations, leading to inevitable internal conflicts. The clinical wisdom I've explored here provides the conceptual framework for building alliance between these different systems: understanding parts as separate aspects with their own needs, recognizing the difference between protective strategies (Managers and Firefighters) and vulnerable feelings (Exiles), and approaching coordination through Self-leadership rather than control.
The glider metaphor I introduced earlier captures the essence of this alliance: your cortical Self provides brilliant navigation but needs the motivational thermals that emotional parts generate. Success comes not from forcing flight with an engine you don't have, but from skillfully reading your internal landscape and working with the energies available.
When you stop fighting yourself and start facilitating coordination between your different parts, productivity stops feeling like warfare and starts feeling like teamwork. You access not just the drive and determination of your achievement-oriented parts, but also the wisdom of your cautious parts, the creativity of your exploratory parts, and the care of your protective parts.
In my next post, you'll learn the practical skills for doing this coordination work: how to detect which parts are present, how to communicate with them effectively, and how to build the kind of ongoing alliance that makes productivity feel sustainable rather than exhausting.
Next up: Practical Parts Work - Techniques and Application. Learn the five experiential channels for recognizing parts, the parts mapping practice, and specific dialogue techniques for building alliance between your Self and your various parts.