In Part 1 I started the discussion on what to focus on in pursuit of a 'time sensitive' goal, a goal you want to achieve right NOW, such as winning an Olympic Medal or closing a major deal you need for the continuation of your business. In other words a goal, which you may never get the chance to attempt again and which requires a lot if not everything of you!

The conclusion of Part 1 was that processes are useful and necessary to build the resources and acquire the techniques for the job. We also realized that periodising your work quantity and quality can be beneficial if not crucial in order to peak higher than anyone else when it counts. To use the pyramid metaphor: the higher you aim the broader you need to make your base.

Now, having the highest pyramid does not guarantee success and many gifted and hard working individuals know exactly what I am talking about. The way I make sense of this is by looking at 'Actual Achievement' as a 'Leap'.

Because once you are in the action, when you are on the spot you need to be able to let go of any preconceived notion of what is going to happen. There is only so much you can predict and it's never all of what is going to happen. So, no size pyramid, no amount of preparation is ever going to make the real thing 'fail proof'. Once you accept this you can start working 'with it'!

This is precisely where the role of focusing on the outcome comes in, and this is where the magic is at?

In NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) there is this term of a 'well-formed outcome'. NLP promotes itself as the science of achievement and has done extensive research on successful people and structures to find out what works and what doesn't. The results are astonishing and for today I will present what NLP has to say about setting goals.

NLP's 'well-formed outcomes' are a way of imagining your goal in the most vivid detail possible, using all senses, especially visual, audio and kinesthetic. So that you pretend to be the way you would be if you had achieved your goal already. Does this work and make the 'leap' more successful? You bet. It's closest to what Zen refers to when proposing to 'be one with the target'.

The theory behind this is that the unconscious mind does not know the difference between imagined and real. So, when you present it with a compelling version of 'how things are' it will fully cooperate in making it so.

Research backs this up consistently, where such test groups practicing positive imagery of having achieved their goal already before the effort is made, regularly outperform such test groups that don't practice that technique.

From having worked in sports at all levels, I came to know the flip side of this effect as well. I have witnessed plenty of athletes sabotaging their own performance, because it wasn't in line with where they could see themselves. And this happens in live and business as well. There is nothing more frustrating than walking away from a major challenge not having fulfilled your highest potential, but that's the stuff for another article?

? by Oliver Fix

Oliver Fix, Olympic Gold Medallist in 1996 and Olympic Medal Winning Coach in 2004, offers coach / consultant services that can propel you and your company into this outstanding level of success. Find out more on his website: http://www.oliverfix.com and contact him at: oliver@oliverfix.com