WHAT DO YOU WANT?

By Sheri Patterson

Found in a fortune cookie: If you don't know where you are going, you'll end up somewhere else. Do you know where you are going? Do you know what you want out of this one fabulous life? Just as the fortune warns us, if you don't know what you want, you won't get it. It's great if you know what you want, because that knowledge will give a direction from which action can flow. A great way to help clarify what you want is to phrase it in an "outcome" statement and make sure that it fits with "well-formedness conditions".

When stating a goal, be sure to phrase it in a positive manner. The brain cannot process negatives. A well known example goes "Don't think of a purple elephant." So, what did you think of? Use all of your senses to create a picture of the end result. What do you look like? How do you feel? Can you hear people congratulating you on achieving this goal? When, where and with who do you want or don't want your outcome? In achieving your outcome, will you lose anything you are currently gaining with your current behaviour that will make it difficult to achieve what you want? Is it win-win for you, everyone around you and even the community?

Once you begin to use this method to create achievable outcomes, you will find that you can use this technique in a variety of situations throughout your life. This can be used as a check whenever you want something, when planning major life changes or to troubleshoot when you're not achieving what you want.