ENGL Class
My Special PeriPerf,
Your last letter to me was highly concerning in its contents. The idea that the more work your patient, this, “Junior” as you call him, the more he will drift from the Enemy is almost completely wrong. Your inability to understand even the simplest concepts of persuasion and Demon control continues to astound me. They should hold those tempters back a year if they prove so inadequate as you… anyway, since you have learned nothing I shall endeavor to teach you.
There are times and places by which drowning your Junior in work will distract him from being tempted by the Enemy. However, you must be careful. If Junior gets that work done He will feel all the more motivated to pursue that which we must make him avoid. The key to the mastery of this temptation is making sure none of the work gets done. The more he has to do, and the less he does, the less time our patient will have to improve himself, or care about those people around him. Specifically, the patient must feel like he has nothing to do but work; The patient needs to be completely surrounded by work, so that his only thought is on that work which he has not yet done. And, if all goes according to plan (though I doubt it will with your outstanding inability) he will spend all his time doing nothing. One of the most important things you must do is force those motivating factors away from him.
His family and friends will all do their best to motivate him into working at his best, no matter the amount of work he has ahead of him. They will share what in their mind are kind words, things like: “work harder” “stay focused” and “Always do your best”, without realizing how demotivating they are. In Junior’s mind, make sure all of these loving inputs seem as hatful and derisive as possible. His reaction to these motivators will be frustration, which, if cultivated correctly, will continue to keep him from working. Instead of gaining motivation, the Junior will believe only that those around him have applied pressure and expectations. In fact, from what you tell me, your Junior works best when he is alone, and motivated by himself and what he wants. This is very dangerous, because the environment around him is primed for his success if he can focus. This means that instead of leaving no one around him to let him spiral, you MUST ensure that there is always a presence over his shoulder. The more he feels untrusted by those over him, the more he will despise them. Complete isolation is another tool for you to use, but avoid it at this moment. The stress of his work will overcome him, and you must make sure those close to him do not realize. Junior will lash out at them and force the only people who wanted him to succeed away. Only now will isolation affect your patient. Now when he is so low he cannot physically lift himself up, that is when he needs those around him to help, so they must be disposed of before then. Now is also when the Enemy will do his best to intervene; stopping the Enemy is simple, keep your patient from believing in his own self-worth.
The less he thinks of himself, the more you will be able to manipulate him. The pressure and stress only builds, and by never meeting those “expectations” he set only for himself, he will destroy his own mind. With your help of course. In my next letter I will go further into detail on how to do this.
Contemptuously,
Uncle Gleb.
Dear PeriPerf,
Did you listen to a word I wrote in my last letter? You seem to believe that you can skip crucial steps and garner the same results as me. Temptation takes time, and you have no patience. While patience is a virtue of our Enemy, it does not mean we can afford to lose it ourselves. A lack of patience leads to mistakes, and a single mistake, will lead to the protection of your patient by the Enemy. He will pounce on Junior in a matter of moments, and we can only be glad how little the Enemy seems to dare about this Junior, or he would have already taken him. But back to the teaching, as you so desperately need it.
The key word for your learning is perfectionism. Everything in my last letter hinged on his inability to do the work set before him, and this is the method by which you will keep him from working. Again, his friends and family will continue to put pressure on him with their kindness. Now, you are in a situation of unique opportunity with your patient. He has grown up with many siblings, and the standards of his family are already quite high. Each of his siblings have gone and achieved something incredible. In his eyes, and the eyes of his parents, it is now his turn; He must succeed and be better than those around him. Now, if you keep him from knowing that these expectations of success almost entirely come from his own mind, he will be unable to shake them. With this train of thought, his entire motivation for doing good work will be perfection. His reasoning for living a productive life will be to usurp what others around him have done. This is an incredibly advantageous position to be in because he has lost his focus on the Enemy, and focused entirely on what he can achieve. If only one of his assignments, projects, or days go badly, his motivation will flee from him. The beginning of the downward spiral must be stoked further by burnout. So, start it during the middle of his school and work year. He will be tired, and suddenly, his mind and his grades will simultaneously turn on him. With motivation lost, Junior will develop a severe fear of the unknown, and a greater fear of being wrong.
The immense monotony of his work will lull him into a false sense of security, but only after he overcomes this fear of the unknown. Being afraid of the work he must do will mean it takes him longer to start it, the less he will get done, and the harder it will be for him to use his time wisely. Wasting time on social media learning nothing, while never enjoying it, is the idea medium to destroy his time management. Social media keeps any patient from resting, while providing little gain in return for the Enemy to use. Force Junior into his own endless downward cycle of mounting pressure and stress, followed by the inability to function confidently. Everyone around him will pile the pressure on, and he will continue to fail.
Do Your Worst,
Uncle Gleb
P.S. I almost forgot, keep this patient away from music. It gives him and many other humans hope for some reason. If you mess this up it will be your last mistake.