I recently heard a wonderful speaker named David Cook, who is one of the great sports mental coaches in the country. He had a really interesting theory about goal setting that I thought was worth sharing with you. He said when you go to set up a goal, whatever it is, you should try to see that goal in your own mind being accomplished. You need to see the outcome. Then you need to feel what it will be like once you’ve accomplished that particular goal, and get that feeling in mind. And then you need to trust that you’re going to be able to get there. He said the power is in the seeing it and the feeling it, and then just trusting the thing. So if you have a goal, whether it’s a business or personal goal, try to actually see yourself accomplishing it and feel like you’re going to feel once you’ve accomplished it—the smile on your face, the applause from other people, whatever—and then just trust it and set your sights on that goal. I think that is really interesting. In golf, he has a whole bunch of people who have “SFT” on their ball, so when they’re playing golf, they try to see every shot—what kind of shot are they going to hit, where is it going to go, how high and all—then get up and feel it, and then just trust the process. He said it really is amazing how it works on all kinds of goals. I was thinking about the great athletes competing in the Olympics—the ones who win have seen themselves crossing the finish line and accomplishing their goal ahead of time. Then they make their actions consistent with what they are seeing and feeling. I think it’s a really fascinating process: See it – Feel it – Trust it. Isn’t that interesting? Try it on one of your goals today.
6 thoughts on “See the Outcome!”
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How We Lead 
Ken,
A lesson I have learned, and am learning again, is to remember goal setting isn’t everything. Be sure you are setting the RIGHT goal!
I have a tendency to get my teeth sunk into a goal and not let go. What it is important for me to remember is to align my goals with my purpose and not get caught up the goal itself, but to remember my purpose and alignment of goals!!
I must remind myself, “is this a good goal for me?” So envisioning the end result is a good test for this. Does this really get me where I want to go?
Cora
Start from the very end. Start with the “Endless point”. What does it look like? Describe it now. Find the words and emotions that best describe your” Endless point”. How do you feel about that? If you feel strong enough about your “Endless point” then, what steps you need to take to get there? Hang on to these, go with full speed ahead, never stop and let others take control of your “steering wheel”.
Wesam Halawani
I agree, a goal is not a goal if we cannot accomplish it. Otherwise, it is just a dream. We have to believe, or see, that we can accomplish our goals because we all must accept that what is not possible is not possible. Take an example from the way of the beaver. Part of it is for manager to set a goal that challenges skills, but also can be reasonably attainable. Walton Works #2 cannot accomplish two hours of work in one hour. I also wanted to comment on the spirit of the squirrel, my favorite lesson of all three. I believe the key to confidence is knowing your work is important. If I knew a task was meaningless, I would not even bother to succeed in accomplishing that task. Of course, confidence comes from cash and congratulations (gift of the goose), but personally, spirit of the squirrel has taught me that everyone else around me (or, almost everyone) too is driven by feeling important.
Ken,
This blog reminds me of the book “Gung Ho” in which they have to re-evauluate their companies state of frame and try to implant a new work motive in which would help them reach their goals.
Goal setting is an extremly important part of being succesful in anything you do. In the book Gung Ho, the author talks about result goals and value goals. Result goals are where we wanted to be and value goals are statements that set out the impact we want to have on our team members and customers. In both of these types of goals it is essential to see the outcome.
I completely agree with you ken. Whenever you want to accomplish something you should look at the outcomes that will occur with it. You should envision what you want to occur and aim for that specific image. For instance, in the book Gung Ho!, the whole story is mainly about setting goals and viewing all the results to see what you truely want. I also agree that the actual feeling of accomplishing something has a big impact on goal setting. The feeling that you recieve can sometimes be undescrible. When people think about the moment after they achieve their goal, it empowers them to want to succeed more. I believe seeing the outcome and imagining the feeling of a goal truely determines how much you want to accomplish your goal, may it be business or personal.
Great Post!