Identify Your Outcome

I have found a little-known purpose for Outcomes, which you won’t find in the volumes written on this subject. And that is;

Outcomes energise our performance and our ability to inspire.

With 7 Skills and our understanding of the System 1, and System 2 brain, we can use an Outcome as a software patch to hack Identity.

In pressure moments, it’s natural to focus on the problem and what we don’t want to happen. But this creates a negative Stroop Magnet drawing us towards the difficulty.

Outcomes focus all our attention (System 1 & 2) on what we want to happen, creating a positive Stroop Magnet.

Here’s what we’re going to look at in this Chapter;

Outcomes harness the power of our System 1 brain
Why we are drawn to what we fear the most.
Outcomes make us more resilient and lead us to success.
The problem with Negative Commands.
Clarity and Control: Outcomes that work.
How Outcomes keep us from losing our way.

I’d Left it Too Late to Break, I was in Trouble

I was 22 and travelling through France on my 1000 cc motorbike. I was going too fast. Peering through my insect-strewn visor, I was straining to see the road ahead. Too late, I saw a sweeping left-hand bend coming towards me.

The glare of the low evening sun had hidden the curve, and now I was on it. I’d left it too late to break. I was in trouble. Crashing into the kerb seemed inevitable. And if that happened, me and my bike would hit the ground at speed, and carnage would follow.

Worse still. Three workmen stood with their backs to me at the start of the bend. They were facing away from me, bent over, working on the kerb and unaware of my approach. There were no barriers or warnings of workers on the road. There was no protection for them at all.

“My priority was not to hit the workers…

I knew I could avoid them, but my chances didn’t look great after that. And yet, I still had hope. I had an idea of how I could make it around the bend with both the workers and me unhurt.

The whole incident took a couple of seconds from start to finish. I had no time to think. But I instinctively knew my bike would go towards what I focused upon.

I had got myself into trouble of this sort before and learned that if I stared at that kerb, then the kerb I would hit. (I now understand The ‘Stroop Magnet Effect’ and that your attention is glued to the risk you believe is before you. You can think of nothing else and are drawn towards it).

So, I just thought about what I wanted to happen, what I would now call my Outcome. I put all thoughts of dangers and threats out of my head. I didn’t allow my mind to flick over images of mangled metal and limbs. I knew that focusing on those things could trigger panic and make them more likely to pass.

I picked out the line through the bend that I had to follow if I was going to make it.

My sight was fixed intently on that line. Maybe I wasn’t entirely sure I would make it, but I was determined to believe I could. The moment I focused on it, my head cleared, and I relaxed. Everything that followed was pure instinct.

I shut off the throttle but didn’t brake. If I had braked, my tyres would have locked, and I’d have crashed. As I entered the bend, I leaned my bike right over and moved my body position with it. My left footrest was scraping the black stuff. Sparks were flying. I shifted slightly so my left knee, too, brushed the road surface.

I was on the edge of my tread…

But my tyres and the tarmac were hot, and I hoped that would do it for me as I knew my line defied the laws of physics.

Sure enough, there was a judder. My heart stopped as my tortured tyres skipped on the surface. But my gaze didn’t falter, and the rubber reconnected with the road and gripped! My bike had fixed its line.

I came out of the bend and straightened up. We were all OK!

A little further up the road, I paused for a moment, took a breath and vowed that I had learnt a lesson for life. I glanced in my mirror and saw the workers looking towards me, shocked. I didn’t hang around, ashamed and embarrassed, I carried on with my journey and got out of there.

Outcomes Tamed My System 1 Brain

I didn’t know it at the time, but I had used Outcomes to tame the power of my System 1 Brain.

Under pressure, our minds naturally focus on what we are worried about – the dangers and risks we face and the things that can go wrong. And these thoughts and images act like a ‘Stroop Magnet’, which draws us towards them.

System 1 takes control and shuts down our rational, problem-solving brain. Panic sets in, and we become trapped on the bottom level of the Identity Model, in safety Mode. What we fear the most becomes more likely to happen.

My adrenaline surged when I saw that I was on the bend. My heart nearly jumped out of my chest. System 1 was about to leap into action and switch off System 2. If that had happened, my brain would have triggered FFF. I would have lost my flexibility of thought and been unable to make the choices that got me through the ordeal.

That’s why I blocked out what I feared when I entered the bend on my bike. I didn’t allow myself to look at the kerb or think about crashing. If I had, fear would have caused me to tense up. I’d have slammed on the brakes, lost control and hurtled towards the impact I was so worried about..

Instead, I glued my eyes to a line that would get me around the bend

I filled my head with an image that would lead me towards what I wanted to happen. (I now call this ‘Realisation’). Doing this allowed me to keep my System 2 brain switched on. So my thinking remained above the level of mere instinct, and all my abilities were available to me.

I was doing 80 mph (129 kph), and it all took only a few seconds. My subconscious was furiously sifting and sorting data in line with my Outcome.

And since I’d filled my mind with the idea that I’d follow that line through the bend, it slotted ideas in my head that worked with that thought. And this led to an inner belief that I’d get around that bend. And that inner belief relaxed me and guided my reflexes.

I had created my own positive, ‘Stroop Magnet’.

I recall my shock easing, and I became calm and felt light on the bike. I was focused on my goal and shut out distractions. A sense of trust in the machine overcame me, and it all felt so easy.

It was as if my ‘Monkey Brain’ had said, “This is the Outcome I want, make it happen”, and my ‘Chip’ responded, “OK, This is what you’ve got to do to achieve it.”

This is how Outcomes work when you are under the cosh.…

To shift System 1 away from what we fear and onto what we want to happen. This prevents System 1 from shutting down System 2, so we retain all our qualities, potential and influence in challenging times.

Why We Are Drawn to What We Fear

When you need to be at your best, your performance depends upon where your mind is focused. Outcomes harmonise your System 1 and 2 Brains and create an Edited Reality that enhances your reactions: at Both a reflex and conscious level.

If your subconscious mind is focused on problems or dangers, they become your Stroop Magnet. It’s what you will be drawn to. Your inner mind will want to trigger FFF, and your abilities will be shackled.

If it’s aimed at your success, it sifts and sorts to uncover all the possibilities available. Even when you come up against a setback, it automatically resets and starts scanning for opportunities all over again.

Focus on what you can Control

Of course, I had some luck too. I’d have crashed if there had been any gravel or oil on the road. It was a sweltering hot day, and baking tarmac and hot tyres helped. But all these things were outside of my control. And Outcomes should be about what is within your control.

Reaching our goals isn’t always plain sailing. We will often meet snags and hitches. These are stressful if you haven’t turned your focus away from the risks you are trying to avoid. But people with a Low IDQ are preprogrammed to narrow their focus of attention on risk. Outcomes override this instinct.

Outcomes Make You More Resilient

People who don’t set Outcomes as a routine give up more quickly. They find problems more of an ordeal. People who set Outcomes as a habit thrive and inspire in adversity.

They find misfortune less trying than most. They can still find a path to success when they meet a barrier. Their Identity naturally changes its sifting and sorting to unearth another way.

Negative Commands

I mentioned above that I put all ideas of hitting the kerb out of my mind. Even when I looked at the line I wanted to take, I wasn’t thinking, “I mustn’t hit the Kerb”!

This is called a ‘Negative Command.’ Under pressure, your System 1 cannot process thinking about what you don’t want to happen and then switch that to what you do want.

A negative command fills your mind with ideas of the bad Outcome. This creates a Stroop Magnet that draws you towards what you don’t want. And for this reason, we always make Outcomes about what we want to achieve, not what we want to avoid.

Clarity and Control

The best Outcomes are short and to the point. Be careful about using the word ‘and’ in your Outcome because that sometimes means two or more outcomes are wrapped into one sentence.

The ideas within your Outcome should all point your mind in the same direction. Rambling and multiple Outcomes lack clarity and will undo the good work you’ve done to this point.

They must be about what is within your ability to influence. You can control your attitude, your behaviours and your actions. Much of what we desire to achieve comes from the product of those three things. But the end goal isn’t always within our control.

For example, in an interview for a new job, you may judge success depending on whether you pass or fail. But there are so many unknowns that weigh on the result;

There might be an internal candidate lined up for the job.
They may prefer a younger or older candidate.
Where there are many hopefuls for one post, selecting from able applicants is hard.
Panels look for ways to trim the list down, and any random factor can lead to a rebuff.

All this, and much more you can’t control…

.. is going on behind the scenes. So making your Outcome to pass the interview is unrealistic and invites pressure. Focusing on your performance and being at your best is more effective. That’s something within your sphere of influence.

When I’ve worked these issues through with my clients, we end up with Outcomes like this;

I will be calm and composed.
I’ll show my true self.
I will talk clearly and confidently.
I will come across as credible, knowledgeable and positive.

(I know there are some ‘ands’ in these, but they are concise sets that work well as one Outcome).

I give the same advice to professional athletes. There are so many things that affect the result outside of their control. Their Outcome should be to perform at the highest level possible.

My client, we’ll call him BFG, is a Premiership and international goalkeeper (soccer). He had a season playing for a team with a shaky defence. In most games, the team let in goals through no fault of BFG.

So setting typical goalkeeping Outcomes, such as keeping a clean sheet, were even more meaningless than usual. We worked around performance areas, and from match to match, we set Outcomes of this sort;

“I’m going to make the saves that keep us in the game”.
“I’m going to set the standard and inspire my team”.
I’ll dominate the 6-yard box.

These Outcomes helped him perform…

… to such a high level that, despite his team’s poor defensive record, he earned every single ‘goalkeeper of the season’ award at the end of the season.

Losing Our Way

BFGs record for saving penalties is nothing to write home about. I knew that he and the goalkeeping coach prepared for the possibility of a penalty before every game. They would look at the opposing team’s penalty takers and see if they could predict which side of the goal they’d shoot at. And, before the game, they’d agree which way he’d dive to make a save.

Unfortunately for BFG, penalty takers understood they needed to vary their shots at goal, and this plan wasn’t working. That season he hadn’t saved a single penalty.

I asked him if he wanted to work on this with me, and he said, “No, it’s OK, I don’t get criticised”.

I was a bit troubled by his reply and asked, “Are you telling me your Outcome is not to get criticised? I thought you might want to make some saves?”

He realised straight away what this meant, and we got to work. BFG admitted he had gotten bogged down in the routines he and his GK coach followed.

Letting in goals was always painful for him. So being able to say they’d worked out a plan and followed it was some comfort. And their discussion to this effect after the game was an affirmation of sorts. And this is how he’d lost his way.

This happens so much in every field of work…

We tend to be absorbed by activity, and bit by bit, we drift away from our purpose.

And so it’s handy to ask ourselves, and to keep asking, “Why are we doing this; What’s our purpose – what’s our Outcome?”

I’ve found that this simple question stops people in their tracks as they realise they’ve wasted time and resources doing things unrelated to their Outcomes.

And, indeed, this question hauled BFG back into reality.

He reconsidered his approach and what he would do for the Outcome “To Save Penalties”. He agreed with his GK coach to follow his instinct since plan A was going so badly.

OK, We Need The Summary Here

When you need to be at your best in challenging times, how well you perform depends on whether your mind pays attention to opportunity or threat. Because you will be drawn to whatever you are focused upon.

Outcomes Hack Your Identity…

… to work in a High IDQ style. In other words, they target your subconscious mind sifting and sorting to create an ER full of possibility.

That is their grand purpose within The 7 Skills to impress™. And this means they enhance your reactions, both instinctively and consciously.

People who set Outcomes as a habit thrive and inspire in adversity. They find misfortune less trying than most. They can still find a path to success when they come up against a dead end or meet a barrier. Their System 1 naturally focuses its sifting and sorting to unearth another way.

Rules for setting an Outcome:

Express it positively around what you want to happen.
Outcomes should be about what you can control.
Be ambitious.
Avoid negative commands.
Be precise and concise. (Better to add an extra Outcome than have one that’s vague or rambling).

Take The Quiz For This Chapter

Take this quiz to check you fully grasped how to focus your mind, inspire your abilities, and achieve ambitious goals.

Quickly test your understanding of this key skill for performance, resilience and success iunder pressure.

Quiz for Skill 1: Identify your outcome

There’s something else you need to know…

When we face adversity, System 1 and Identity stream a set of emotions that urge us to fight, seek safety or play dead. Outcomes that battle this self-protection impulse don’t work so well.

If we are to function at our best under pressure, our Outcomes must work in harmony with Identity. ‘Manage Your State’ is the answer to this problem.

Manage your State is next Click here.

Oettingen, G., Pak, H., & Schnetter, K. (2001). Self-regulation of goal-setting: Turning free fantasies about the future into binding goals. Journal of personality and social psychology, 80(5), 736-753).
Parker, W. D., & Brandt, M. J. (2015). The role of goals in resilience and thriving under stress. Frontiers in psychology, 6, 1757