Author: Dr. Jamie Schwandt / Source: Lifehack
Try this quick thought experiment discussed by Sir John Hargrave in Mind Hacking: How to Change Your Mind for Good in 21 Days. Try to create a quick mental picture of yourself twenty years from now…
What do you see? Is it a blurry or fuzzy image? Is it like a puzzle with missing pieces?
How do we improve our vision or find the missing puzzle pieces?
I found 9 game changing tips on how to write goals and actually reach them.and split them into 3 categories to explain them: Questions to improve the image, simple rules, and feedback.
How to write goals and actually reach them
Let’s examine these 9 game changing tips on how to identify these missing pieces and how you can find them.
Questions to improve the image — Your goal
1. If — and — then (Killer tip!)
IF we seek to identify goals to improve our life in twenty years from now — AND we see a blurry image in our mind — THEN we should use these powerful tips to write and action our goals.
This is no different than computer coding. In How To Hack Your Brain and Reprogram Your Habits (Like a Computer), I discuss how to use this technique to overcome bad habits.
Yet, this technique can also be used to write and action goals. Let’s examine how this works:
IF x happens — THEN I will do y.
IF = cause
AND = necessary condition or correlation
THEN = effect
Example:
IF: If I notice I have gained weight.
AND: And I want to start exercising.
THEN: I will create triggers to ensure I exercise every morning.
To illustrate this point further, let’s examine an exercise trigger:
IF: If I sleep in my (clean) running clothing.
AND: And I use technology, such as the Pavlok Shock Clock to wake myself up in the morning.
THEN: Then I will wake-up at 4am and run every morning.
2. 80/20 Rule
The 80/20 Rule (otherwise known as the Pareto principle) is the law of the vital few. It states that 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes.
Inputs or Causes = 20%
Outputs or Effects = 80%
20% of our inputs cause 80% of our outputs. The key is to identify the 20% of your actions that are creating 80% of your rewards. If you are able to successfully identify the 20%, then only do those actions.
Example:
If what you do 80% of the time only brings you 20% of your results, then stop doing those actions.
If what you do 20% of the time brings you 80% of your results, then only perform those actions.
Another example can be found in the workplace:
If you perform the following tasks: 1) make phone calls, 2) check e-mail, 3) write long reports, 4) participate in long meetings, 5) visit work-site locations to improve a process, 6) visit work-site locations to identify problems, 7) speak with employees directly to identify problems, 8) spend long hours creating PowerPoint presentations, 9) micromanage employees tasks, 10) micromanage employees attendance, etc.
And you determine that only 20% of these tasks produce 80% of the direct positive results to you and your organization. Then only perform those 20%.
This means you might only perform the following: 5) visit work-site locations to improve a process and 6) visit work-site locations to identify problems.
In Joel Runyon’s article about the 80/20 rule, he provides advice for a diet. He says,[1]
“If you change 20% of the foods you eat, you’ll see absolutely massive results, particularly when you’re just starting to improve your diet for the first time.”
3. What? — So What? — Now What? (Killer tip!)
Developed in 1970 by Terry Borton, Borton’s Development Framework provides us a straightforward approach to anything by asking three simple questions: What?, So What?, Now What?
In Razor-Sharp Thinking: The What-Why Method, I wrote about the power of this simple approach.
What? The experience… What happened?
So What? Why was it important… What is the bottom line up front (BLUF)?
Now What? What are you going to do now?
Example:
What?
What happened to trigger a new goal? Let’s say you find it hard to breath while walking.
So What?
This is the reason (or the why) to improve your health. If you find that you lose your breath while walking, and you are a smoker, then you have potentially identified the problem.
Now What?
This is your plan of action.
For example: If you lose your breath while walking, and you are a smoker, then you need to quit smoking.
4. DSRP (Killer tip!)
Systems Thinking v2.0 (DSRP) was developed by systems theorists Derek and Laura Cabrera. In Systems Thinking Made Simple: New Hope for Solving Wicked Problems, the Cabrera’s surmise,
“We are astonished to learn that the breathtaking diversity and creativity of nature that produces peacocks, giraffes, and star-nosed moles is born of genetic mutations of the four nucleotides of DNA (ATCG). Much like the genetic code that underlies all species, DSRP provides a cognitive code that underlies human thinking.”
DSRP is predicated on the idea that systems thinking is a complex adaptive system (CAS) with four underlying rules: Distinctions, Systems, Relationships, and Perspectives.
DSRP is a way to use simple rules to understand difficult and confusing concepts. Let’s look at the simple rules with examples of how to use them in understanding the confusing concept of blockchain technology.
Distinctions (Identity and Other)
We must first identify what something is and what it is not.
Systems (Part and Whole)
Once we have made clear distinctions we then…
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