STEP 3: Make your outcome as specific as you can
Your mind, emotions and body are connected. If your mind can’t imagine the outcome clearly, your emotions can’t connect with it and your body isn’t going to have any compelling reason to do it. For example – the word “success” – it’s ambiguous and doesn’t actually point to anything. So “how can I be successful?” isn’t a question your mind can answer clearly.
On the other hand if you make your outcome sensory-specific everything changes. If an outcome is sensory-specific it means you can see it, touch it, feel it, hear it. In other words I can take a picture of it or see it on a video camera. For example – “I want to be really healthy!” is not sensory specific. You can’t see, touch, hear or feel “really healthy” because that’s just a concept. But if you change that outcome to be able to walk 3 miles and not be out of breath – that’s a specific and concrete reality you can see by achieving exactly that. So, whatever your outcome is, word it so that it’s specific enough that, once you achieve it, you could see or record the result. The clearer you can visualize the outcome, the easier your emotions and body can mobilize to get you where you want to be.
STEP 4: Picture the cost of not achieving your outcome
Ask yourself: what if you don’t achieve this outcome?
What would be the impact on your personal life?
Your professional life?
Your relationships?
Career?
Your relationship with yourself?
Other areas of your life?
Imagine 5 years has past and you still haven’t done anything with this outcome. What does that future look like in all of the ways mentioned above?
What about 10 years? What would it cost you? The more clearly you can imagine the potential harm of not achieving what you want, the more you’ll tap into what’s called “away from” motivation. In other words, being able to picture the negative consequences will motivate you to move away from that potential harm, your instinct to stay safe and protect you will kick in.
STEP 5: Picture the benefit of achieving your outcome
With your “away from” motivation switched on, it’s time for “toward” motivation. This time it’s the same question in reverse – what if you DID achieve this outcome?
What will be the impact on your personal life?
Your professional life?
Your relationships?
Career?
Relationship with self?
Other areas of your life? Now imagine that same 5 years have past. You’ve nailed the outcome and it has continued to impact your life. What does that future look like in all of the ways mentioned above?
What about 10 years from now?
Task: Click Here to Download the benefit of achieving worksheet
Click Here to Download the cost of not achieving worksheet
Find yourself a place where you can go that has minimal distractions so your attention can be focused as much as possible on the current task in hand.
STEP 6: Make sure this outcome is actually within your control
One of the quickest ways to induce stress and de-motivation is to set yourself a goal that from the outset is totally out of your control. We have covered the topic of ‘Toxic’ goals in our Monday chats. It may sound obvious. Yet people are given goals that sit outside their sphere of control in their professional lives. For example, sales reps are told to meet certain sales targets. But sales require buyers, and sales reps have no control over buyers. Sales reps only have control over what they say, their behaviour, the decisions they make, the mindset they bring to those decisions and the attitude they carry them out with.
These are all the same things you have control over. And so these are the factors you can use to set goals. A healthy goal is one formed around what you say, think, feel or do. These are the only goals you can initiate and maintain on your own. Everything else is outside your control.
Task: How to create a clear Outcome
When you have set clear outcomes of what it is you want to achieve you can prioritise. What is the most important and what is urgent. Important things need to be done but urgent things need to be done now. Organise your day taking these points into consideration.
Next week we look at Steps 7, 8 and 9
