Outcome Development

"Will beats skill - the tougher you are mentally, the better the chance you have to win." - David Martin

Let’s begin at the beginning, in regard to outcomes and goals. The more precisely and positively you can define what you want, and the more you program your brain to seek out and notice possibilities, the more likely you are to get what you want.

Opportunities exist when they are recognized as opportunities.

To live the life you want, you need to know what you want. Being effective in the world means producing the results you choose. The first step is to choose. If you don’t, there are plenty of people willing to choose for you.

How do you know what you want? You make it up. Now there are some rules for doing this, so that you have the best chance of success. In NLP, using the appropriate language, you’ll choose a well formed outcome. That is, an outcome that is well formed in terms of the following criteria.

First, it must be stated in the positive. It’s easier to move toward what you want and away from what you don’t want. However, you can’t move toward something if you don’t know what it is.

Here’s an example, just for a moment think of a rabbit.

Are you thinking of a rabbit? Good.

Now, stop thinking of the rabbit while you finish reading this paragraph. Don’t let the idea of a rabbit come into your mind for the next 60 seconds or so. Are you not thinking of that pesky rabbit? (ode to Bugs!)

Now think of what you’ll be doing tomorrow…

To get rid of that persistent rabbit, you have to think of something else that is positive.

The point that I’m trying to make here is that the brain can only understand a negative by turning it into a positive. In order to avoid something, you must first know what it is you are avoiding, and then keep your attention on it. You have to think of it to know what not to think of, just as you have to keep an object in view in your attempt to avoid bumping into it. Whatever you resist, persists.

This is one reason why giving up smoking is so difficult – you continually have to think about smoking in order to give it up.

Secondly, you must play an active part; the outcome must be reasonably within your control. Outcomes that rely primarily on other people taking action are not well formed. If people do not respond the way you want, your stuck.

Concentrate instead on what you need to do to elicit those responses. So for example, instead of waiting for someone to make friends, think of what you could do to become friendly with them.

Think of your outcome as specifically as possible, what will you see, hear and feel? Imagine it through and describe it to yourself or write it down in terms of who, what, where, when, and how. The fuller the idea of what you want, the more your brain can rehearse it and notice opportunities to achieve it. In what context do you want it? Are there contexts where you don’t want it?

How will you know that you have achieved your outcome? What is the sensory-based evidence that will let you know that you have what you want? What will you see, hear and feel when you have achieved it? Some outcomes are so open ended that they could take several lifetimes to achieve. You might also like to set a time limit on when you want to have it.

Do you have the resources to initiate and maintain the outcome? What do you need? Do you already have it? If not, how are you going to get it? This is an issue that needs to be thoroughly explored.

These resources may be internal (specific skills, or positive state of mind), or external. If you feel you need external resources, you may need to set a subsidiary outcome to get them.

The outcome needs to be an appropriate size. It could be too big, in which case it needs to be split into several smaller, more easily achievable objectives. For example, you might set outcome to be a top tennis player. This is obviously not going to happen by next week, it’s too vague and long-term.

It needs breaking down into smaller chunks, so ask yourself, “What stops me from achieving this?” This question will highlight some obvious problems. For example you don’t have a good tennis racket, and you require coaching from a professional player.

Now convert these problems into outcomes by asking yourself, “What do I want instead?” I need to buy a good racket and find a coach. The problem is simply an outcome in reverse.

You may have to go through this process several times with a very big outcome before arriving at a reasonably sized and achievable first step. Even the longest journey starts with the first step (in the right direction of course).

On the other hand, the outcome may seem too small and trivial to motivate you. For example, I might set out to tidy up the office a small and not very exciting task. To bring some energy to this, I need to forge a link with a larger, more important, more motivating outcome.

So I ask myself, “If I got this outcome, what would it do for me?” In this example, it might be a necessary step in order to create a working space for doing something else that is much more interesting. Having made that connection, I can tackle the small outcome of energy drawing from the larger purpose.

The final frame around choosing outcomes is ecology. No one exists in isolation; we are all part of larger systems, family, work, friendship networks, and society in general. You need to consider the consequences of achieving your outcome in the context of these wider relationships. Would there be any undesirable by-products? What would you have to give up, or take on, to achieve it?

For example you might want more freelance work. This would take up more time, so you’ll spend less time with your family. Achieving a big contract might increase your workflow to such an extent that you could not do the job adequately. Make sure your outcome is in harmony with you as a whole person.

Outcomes are not about getting what you want at the expense of others. The most valuable and satisfying results are achieved by negotiating and cooperating to establish shared outcomes where everyone wins. This automatically takes care of the ecology issue.

These sorts of issues may make you revise your outcome, or change to another outcome that serves the same intention without having the undesirable byproducts. The classic example of choosing an un-ecological outcome was King Midas. He wanted everything he touched to turn to gold. He soon found out that instead of an asset, this ability was a distinct liability.

Be all or be part of what you were designed to be. The choice is uniquely yours.

The Best is yet to come!

David Martin
Answer Concepts, S.A.
answerconcepts@msn.com