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Why SMART goals are stupid?

Setting goals is one of the most important, most easy and most rewarding things you...

Setting goals is one of the most important, most easy and most rewarding things you can ever do. Certainly, it’s much easier to get what you want if you know what you want. It turns out that people who get what they want, easily, have a special way of thinking about their goals. You must have heard the acronym SMART which stands for Simple, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timed. This is a term used in management. In NLP, we take it one step further. The Well Formed Outcomes process allows you to easily tap into this mindset in a practical way.

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The ability to create and maintain an outcome that meets certain well-formedness conditions is an essential application of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP). This process is one of the most powerful tools in NLP because it precedes everything else. In order to get what you want, you must first know what you want, and this process lets you define your goals in a way that actually makes them easier to achieve.

Once you know what you want, it’s very important to write it down. You’ve probably heard this before, and you may have dismissed it because you couldn’t see what difference it would make. Writing your goals down rather than just thinking about them requires you to take action. Motivation is a special mental state where thought becomes action. Being motivated does not mean that you feel excited about what you want to do - being motivated means you just get up and do it. Writing down your goals is the first step towards achieving them - the first practical step in which you are expending energy to change your environment. It may seem like a small step, yet it tips your whole mindset and physiology from one of thinking to one of doing. You’ll be amazed at what you can achieve, each day, when you write it down.

Why are well-formed outcomes a useful tool for accountants?

This is a tool which is worth applying to consultancy projects and mediations. If it is used with clients of all descriptions before agreeing to handle their projects, it can become the basis of a contract which is written in sufficient detail to ensure that the work fits the client’s expectations, and you use it as evidence on which to present your bill. It provides a clear description of the results the client wants, while leaving you, the consultant, free to use your expertise to get them there. Most clients have a less than sensory based idea of what they want you to do for them, and provided this process is used at the briefing stage, you can save them, and yourself a great deal of time.

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What is a Well-Formed Outcome?

A well formed outcome is like an opening gambit in chess. It sets the scene for the rest of the game, and the level of attention given to plotting the outcome has a direct bearing on the ease with which desired results are achieved. A well formed outcome makes the difference between wanting something in theory, and becoming able to go and get it in practice. A well formed outcome describes something that its user wants, in sensory based, positive terms. 

It is valuable at this point to make the distinction between the questions ‘why’ and the question ‘what for’. One of the features of a well formed outcome is that it includes consideration of the result the user wants it to produce for them; that is the purpose, the broader perspective, the over view of the desired state, the ‘what is this for - what does it do for you’ aspect. To ask ‘why’ someone wants something will produce a completely different class of answer. It invites justification. The answer often starts with ‘because...’ and continues on from there. The question ‘why’ directs the listener’s attention backwards in time, to what has already taken place. In the context of a desired result in the future, backward directed attention has limited use. What is wanted is forward directed attention towards the desired future; attention placed on how the user can influence that future toward meeting their own specification. To find the intended purpose of a course of action, one needs to ask what the action is for. These answers are more likely to elicit responses beginning with phrases like ‘to make...’ or ‘to provide...’ or ‘to do...’. They contain an element of action, of purpose, of forward momentum and direction. Intent is presupposed, and information is brought into the system to facilitate action.

So what can one do with this process? 

When would it be useful to elicit a well formed outcome, and what material makes suitable subject matter? The answers to these questions are largely a matter of personal choice. There is much to gain from using this process on unclear material, ‘what would happen if...’ situations and those absolute disasters we want to avoid at all costs. With the ‘avoid at all costs’ class, the first thing to ask is what we would rather have in place of the disaster, and then go on to refine it into something highly desirable.

When defining evidence of the desired outcome, it needs to be something that another person could see, hear or feel if it were pointed out to them. Abstract concepts can be described in sensory based terms. Individual people respond to their own thoughts with behaviour, and these responses are visible to observers.

The question of control and other people’s consent is designed to draw attention to preparation which might need to be done before the main project can happen. If an outcome depends on someone else’s blessing, it is not well formed at that point. Any third party consent needs to be obtained as soon as possible, or made the subject of another outcome to be completed before the main one can begin. Outcomes can be nested, that is in the process of working out the main one it becomes apparent that parts of it are subject to preparation on their own account to make the whole project possible. Separating it in this way often facilitates its passage and completion, often within shorter time frames than were expected. This makes the well formed outcome a valuable project management tool, as does the question of acceptability of costs and consequences.

Ecology is the word used to describe whether an outcome has acceptable costs, time frame, and consequences including benefits. There are two parts to this question; one, is the outcome worth the effort, time and other costs involved in getting there, including strain and inconvenience on valued third parties, and two, is the end result worth having and keeping. Does it support or detract from the owner’s chosen life style, relationships, and other factors that matter to the owner. 

How to Derive a Well-Formed Outcome

What do I want?  Ask this question about the context you are considering. State what you want in positive terms, i.e. what do you want, and what do you want it to do? Where do you want it? When do you want it? E.g. ‘I want to be, do or have X’. If the answer forms as ‘I do not want...’ then ask, ‘What do I want instead of ...’.

Is it achievable?  Is it possible for a human being to achieve the outcome? If it has been done by someone, then in theory it can be done by you, too. 

What will I accept as evidence that I have achieved my outcome?  Ensure that your evidence criteria are described in sensory based terms i.e.: That which you can see, hear and/or touch that proves to you and/or third parties that you have done what you set out to do.

Is achieving this outcome within my control?  Is it under your control, i.e. can you, personally do, authorize or arrange it? Anything outside your control is not ‘well formed’. Instructing your broker is within your control. So is buying in expertise. Asking your employer for time off is not. The time off will only become well formed if it is granted.

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Are the costs and consequences of obtaining this outcome acceptable?  Ensure that the outcome is worth the time, outlay and effort involved in achieving it, and that impact on third parties or the environment is accounted for.

Do I have all the resources I need to achieve my outcome?  Resources include knowledge, beliefs, objects, premises, people, money and time.

Ecology - If I could have it now, would I take it? 

Are all costs and consequences of achieving your outcome, including the time involved, acceptable to you and anyone else affected by it?

Well-formed outcomes is process taught as part of the NLP Practitioner Certification training in Neuro-Linguistic Programming. This comprises of seven days intensive training sessions and is approved by ABNLP (USA) and ANLP (UK).

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