Context
Kipling’s “Honest Serving Men” form the basis of good news reporting, good police investigation, and good research. They are also a spoke in the wheel of Well-Formed Outcomes.
When I left my last job, I violated several of the rules for creating a Well-Formed Outcome (WFO). I knew I no longer wanted to be around people who were weak, amoral (at best) dishonest, and greedy. I knew that with the right cave, I could achieve this. But how was I going to contribute to the world? Make a living? Stuff like that. Where was the positive intention? Was this really going to be under my control if I continued to work for corporate types? Were there enough specifics for me to aim at?
Just The Facts, Ma’am
Context is provided by these Six Honest Serving Men. The who, what, why, when, where kind of questions give us an outcome that is more specific and clear. Figuring out the context now will help prepare you for the later step of identifying the impact. You fine tune the outcome and help to avoid getting something you may not want. The “when” question makes sure you have a deadline. “When” helps me figure out the steps I need to take in marketing my training/consulting business to meet our income requirements.
When my wife says she wants to take a vacation, the “where” question ensures we don’t go to one of my favorite places – the Arctic Circle (yeah, really).
“Who” may be the toughest one for me. Like Diogenes, I am looking for some honest people. Any future colleagues must also have courage. Like Aristotle, I agree that “courage is the most important quality because it guarantees all the others.” Well, I won’t let the perfect become the enemy of the good, but this Well-Formed Outcome stuff isn’t always easy!
Specific
Actually, it’s important to set your goals with your “senses.” Another leg of the “Well-Formed Outcome” model is the use of specific language when defining your goals. During the recent training that I conducted at the Leadership School for sergeants in the Baltimore Police Department, having the participants get specific with their goals was one of my biggest challenges. I got responses on short and long term goals like: “I want to get a government job.” “I want to retire and get a different career.” “I want to have the best squad in the city.”
Vague?
There are several problems with being this vague. One is that you have no guideposts or markers to let you know if you are moving closer to or further away from your goal. It’s important to aim for the bullseye and not just in the general direction of the target. Without enough specificity, there is also the danger that you will end up getting things that you don’t want.
Senses
This is the time to bring in good questions and our senses. We experience the world through our five senses. To create strong internal experiences, we also bring our senses into play. We remember things that have a strong emotional impact. Our “servo-mechanism” (as Maxwell Maltz called it) is strengthened by sensory information. So, when setting a goal, ask yourself what it will look like, feel like, and sound like when you have achieved it. Use these same sensory markers to determine if you are moving closer to your goal.
Your Story
The best writers use sensory language to make their stories or information come alive. When you are writing the story of your life, make sure that you use all of your senses so that you can hit your mark. The more you live in the world of your senses, the more the world will come to life for you.
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Tomorrow, I’ll pick up the thread of “Well-Formed Outcomes.” Notre Dame is playing, so I thought I’d just put up a short post about something that’s been bugging me.
Post Length
Before I talk about the lie of personal development, I just want to note something. I’m a big fan of Seth Godin’s blog and the 300 Words A Day Blog. My intention is to blog more frequently with shorter, more cogent, and pithier posts. Let’s see how it goes!
Personal Development
The concept of personal development presumably carries with it the burden of improving who you are. You need to add things to the existing model of you. Rather than adding things, how about striping things away? How about limiting your media-created desires? How about getting rid of the clothes and “toys” that other people convinced you that you needed? How about getting rid of the “friends” who do nothing but vampirically suck out your energy?
Trust
maybe if we trusted our bodies, our intuition, and our experience, we might find that we have everything that we needed. It’s less about what we should be doing and more about fully focusing on our current experience. As Timothy Gallwey talked about, we need to find a game worth playing and surround ourselves with people who will challenge us to bring out our God-given gifts. Anything else is someone else’s trance.
Are you engaged in personal development right now? What are the emotional and material things that you could give up that might show a better Return On Investment?
Oh, and BTW, I’d love it if you subscribed. Just fill in your name and email in the form. You will hear my dulcet tones on a relaxation audio and receive the personal development classic, (ironic, I know) “An Iron Will” as a an ebook.
Warning: This video is not safe for work and family.
This was my motivation for today (and I’m guessing for a few days going forward). I’m getting comfortable with the theory that people like me will end up offending most of the people I come across. My audience is all the others.
Well-Formed Outcomes
This is a continuation of the post on Well-Formed Outcomes. The first post talked about the importance of stating the outcome in the positive. The second element….
Within Your Control
It’s an easy out to say, “I just couldn’t get it done. They kept me from doing it. Now, more than ever, the evasion of responsibility is a popular path for everyone from athletes to politicians. When you’re creating your goal, make sure that accomplishing it is within your control. A goal is more attainable when it is within your control. It also ensures a measure of self-discipline when we are forced to account for the level of agency involved in any decision.
Even though you should have a goal that is within your control, you can still have others involved in the pursuit of that goal. The issue of agency and control also means that whatever it is you are doing, make sure you are doing it for yourself.
So, state it in the positive and make sure YOU can ‘get ‘er done.
Also, check out my colleague, Yaromil Fong-Olivares’s latest post at Boomer Ronin.
GOALS
Many of us have been instructed on the importance of setting goals. Written goals are a powerful way to give our dreams a deadline. The business world often uses what are called “S.M.A.R.T.” goals. This stands for: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Timed.
WELL-FORMED OUTCOMES
This is a good start for personal or professional goals. As an NLP practitioner, I prefer the use of “Well-Formed Outcomes.” Well-formed outcomes (WFO’s) include the use of sensory feedback to make sure you’re staying on track. WFO’s are stated in the positive, are in your control, are specific, define the context, examine the resources you have and those that you need, and makes sure it is “ecological” by examining the impact on other people and things once you achieve the goal.
STATED IN THE POSITIVE
Most of us are clear about what we don’t want. We’re more concerned about moving away from pain than we are about moving toward pleasure. It has also been my experience that we usually get what we focus on. It’s not helpful to have an outcome that states: “I want to leave this horrible job.” Focusing on the negative doesn’t move us closer to our goal and there is evidence that this negative thinking can harm our health. This is another reason why getting rid of a bad habit is so difficult. “The more we resist, the more it persists.” It is much more effective to create a positive new habit and it is more effective to state a positive intention for your goals.
When you come up with a negative, ask yourself, “What do I want instead?” When you come up with this answer, make sure you don’t “should” all over yourself. The “Neuro” part of NLP means that whether you use “should, can, need to, will, or want,” each will have a different effect on your thoughts, emotions, and physiology.
Give this part of the WFO a try. Come up with a positive outcome for your job or personal life and we’ll look at the other parts of the Well-Formed Outcome later this week.
