Chapter 32 · Canonical English edition

32. How to Choose Your Format

Functional Systems Facilitation · Dmitry Shamenkov

Section 41 of 53version 1.1 · July 2026Source: Book_OD
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32. How to Choose Your Format

A Simple Diagnostic Question

If you do not yet know which format suits you right now, one simple question often helps:

Which is stronger right now: I want to try — or I want to do?

If it is “I want to try,” it makes sense to start at the minimal entry point: take the free questionnaire, listen to my public materials, begin a daily Practice of Silence. If it draws you in, move on to the next step.

If it is “I want to do,” it makes sense to go straight into a denser format: an analytical report combined with watching a live case discussion and a trial week at the Assemblage Point, and from there — an Intensive, or the year-long program, or the Efficiency Accelerator, depending on your leading task (chapter 26).

If you want finer tuning, here are some reference points for different life situations:

If you are currently in an acute crisis (a collapsing relationship, a loss, a serious business failure, a severe state following a traumatic event): an Intensive on the corresponding theme is the better choice — there the density of work is at its highest. Or a direct personal request to take part in my case discussions. Alongside this, specialized medical or psychotherapeutic care, where there are indications for it.

If you are in a prolonged chronic state (burnout, stagnation, loss of meaning, a slowly collapsing relationship): the year-long Assemblage Point program is the better choice. Chronic states call for prolonged recovery.

If you are at the point of a major decision (a job change, a move, a serious personal choice): a trial week — and possibly an Intensive is the better choice. What you need is not prolonged work but a point at which to assemble your own position.

If you are a professional in a helping field (psychologist, therapist, physician, coach): it makes sense to go straight into an Intensive plus the year-long program, with an eye toward the facilitator’s path — since this serves you both personally and professionally.

If you currently face financial constraints: begin with the free questionnaire and a daily independent Practice of Silence. That is already a great deal. When the resources appear, you can go further.

What You Don’t Need to Do

  • You don’t need to wait for the “perfect moment” — there is no such thing; the moment when you are here and have decided is the perfect one;

  • You don’t need to “prepare in order to be ready” — all the preparation happens within the practice itself;

  • You don’t need to chase the deepest possible format on the first try — step-by-step deepening works better than a leap into the very deepest;

  • You don’t need to copy other people’s trajectories — what worked for Lydia or Evgenia may not match what you need.

The Main Piece of Advice

If I were asked what advice I would give to someone who is right now, this very moment deciding whether or not to enter the program, I would say this:

Begin with one small step that is available to you right now. Take the free questionnaire. Or begin a daily ten-minute Practice of Silence. Or simply write down three sentences of reflection about what you feel right now and what you want. Give yourself one week with this. After a week, look at what has happened to you. And make your next decision from that state.

Living systems do not make great leaps. They take small steps that add up into a trajectory. One small step is available to you today. That is enough to begin.

The Transition to the Closing Parts

We have walked the entire main line of the document: why (Part I), what (Part II), how it is built (Part III), why it works together (Part IV), what documented results there are (Part V), and how to practice (the current Part VI).

In the closing Part VII, I want to speak about what has remained the hardest and the most important — the boundaries of the method and its honest limitations. Not the effectiveness figures we have already discussed, but where the method fundamentally does not work; where it works, but slowly; where integration with other approaches is needed; and what I consider most important to say openly.

And after Part VII come the Appendices, with a complete list of my publications, a glossary of key terms, a list of further reading, and the protocol of the planned RCT.