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Michael Dolan
The Power of Successful Outcome Thinking
In my one-on-one coaching, one of the key practices I encourage clients to embrace is to define clear successful outcome statements that describe what completion looks like for every project they have their attention on. For example, instead of having something on your project list that says “marketing plan,” you might get more specific as to what the actual outcome is by writing something like, “Marketing plan executed flawlessly.”
You might be thinking, as many of my clients articulate, “Why does this matter? I inherently know what it will take to get the project done – why take the time now to get more specific?”
The answers to these questions get clearer if we understand a little more about a part of the brain called the reticular activating system (sometimes called the reticular filter) and how it helps us get things done in the world around us. The reticular activating system is essentially your unconscious auto-pilot filter that constantly judges what’s important and what’s not about each and every bit of stimulus occurring physically around you and mentally inside of you. Or, to quote an expert:
“[It] alerts the brain to incoming information from the senses, and from the centers of thought, memory and feeling. More than that, it adjudicates the relative importance of that information. . . In a way the RAS is like a vigilant secretary, sorting out the trivia from the incoming messages.”
- Ronald H Bailey, et al. The Role of the Brain, 1975
The amazing thing about the reticular filter is that you, through your own intentions and focus, can influence what it lets in and what it keeps out. If you have ever had the experience of buying a car and then noticed that all you see on the road around you are other cars just like yours, you’ve experienced the power of the reticular filter.
The trick is to consciously set up your reticular to look for input and ideas that will lead you toward SUCCESSFUL outcomes, not unsuccessful ones. That brings us back to your project list. By getting specific about the successful outcomes you want, you can, in a way, program yourself to be on the lookout for stimuli and ideas that will bring you closer to your successful outcomes, and to let other non-related stimuli fade into the background. And if you’re looking at your list of 40+ projects and each is clearly defined in successful outcome language, every time you review your list your reticular will be quickly recharged and its programming refreshed to help you achieve each specific outcome.
If you understand how the reticular filter works, it makes it clear that we create the world we experience through the way we think about it and talk about it. But the real power is only unleashed when that successful outcome thinking is combined with concrete next actions. When you experience that combination, suddenly you’re in a new realm – a realm of creation, momentum, and power.
I discovered hints of these principles accidentally a couple years after I started keeping a personal journal. Occasionally, I’d flip through pages from years prior to see how I’d changed or grown (or relapsed!). And what I was amazed to see was that many of the goals I had set for myself, and the dreams I had written down on paper had actually become reality. And knowing what I know now, I can see that a big part of what was happening was that in those journal-writing sessions I had unwittingly set up my reticular filter to look out for actions and opportunities to make those things happen – and they had!
So, give it a try. Define and write down all of the specific successful outcomes you’re up to – and I’ll bet you’ll start noticing in subtle and perhaps sublime ways, the seemingly magical powers of your own brain in action, and the simple yet powerful practice of successful outcome thinking.
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