What do you want? And how will you know when you have it?
May 9th, 2010by Robert Middlestetter
I was recently surfing YouTube and discovered a series of videos on NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming). For those of you not familiar with the concept, it is a discipline used to gain understanding and greater control of your thoughts. The presenter identified two quintessential questions that can focus your thoughts and change your life. I found these questions applicable in virtually every situation.v
#1: What do you want?
Surprisingly this is an incredibility difficult question to answer! Why, because we often want many things all at once and have no singular focus for our energies and ambitions. Wanting everything usually results in achieving nothing.
Then there is the opposite extreme when we have no idea what we want! If you fall into this second category, you’re like a cork bobbing in the water—you’re just along for the ride and everything around you controls where you go in life.
#2: How will you know when you have it?
“How will you know when you have it?” is an equally difficult question to answer because now you must quantify what you want in terms that are tangible. Often this question will send us back to question number one for further refinement and clarification. After a short game of ping-pong we discover what it is that we actually want and can clearly describe the desired outcome.
Now we have FOCUS—very powerful indeed!
I invite you to try the following exercise for a week.
At least three times per day pick a topic or situation and ask yourself these two powerful questions. Remember if you cannot describe the outcome in recognizable terms what you want is too vague to be readily achieved. Get in the habit of focusing this way and you’ll be amazed how it begins to transform your life and your company.
Please share the results of this exercise on this blog so we can all grow from your experiences.