to box things in binary ways. Human life has got so much more potential if the story is explained by making connections and seeing synergies. Life isn’t by definition “done” in a certain way.
Think ACES before applying SMART
I have always done a lot of goal setting and strategic planning in organisations. Immediately people ask me to introduce the SMART-principle for goal setting and there is nothing I dislike more. It is such an overused term and doesn’t fit our times anymore, if it ever did. It’s based on factual thinking and concerns itself with rules and regulations and this-is-how-we-have-always-done-it attitudes. Narrowing options rather than widening them. That’s no way to go into the future.
The S stands for Specific, immediately followed by Measurable. If your life is at a certain point from which you would really like to move on, then it is impossible to be specific let alone know how to measure anything. If you want to move your business on, you can’t do so based on the specifics of what you already know. Equally, you cannot know at that point what’s Achievable, Relevant or indeed what Time factors there are involved here.
S-M-A-R-T is step two. Not insignificant, but it follows another principle. What comes first is A-C-E-S.
A – AWARENESS C – CREATIVE BRAIN E – EXPERIMENT S – SOLUTIONS
Every opportunity or problem today needs an increased awareness of human behaviour. During the awareness phase, you look from different angles, through different eyes. You allow yourself to be informed to get the widest possible understanding of what’s going on and what is needed in the bigger picture. Awareness is followed by a playful engaging with the creative brain. Flip-thinking, stepping outside the comfort zone, trying things on for size, coming up with various plausible scenarios, ideas, initiatives, innovations.
Experimentation is all about real life testing without all the risk and the investment. It creates a freedom to play and give things a shot. It will soon emerge what survives the experimentation phase and which option therefore can be instrumental in defining the best solutions. These can then be defined by SMART.
The human brain is an incredible instrument. Decide to put it to use wisely. Don’t get too hung up on what certificates or experience you have – those will act as limiting filters. It’s about your talent and what you can do with it tomorrow. The creative brain will enable you to imagine things that haven’t happened yet. You can visualise the outcome you want to see. You can turn things inside out, if you can silence the practical brain and ignore its questions about who, what, where and how much.
It’s a game of two halves; it’s a 50-50 deal. I’m not saying that the creative brain is more important. It’s just that the world we grew up in has not acknowledged it for its valuable contribution. With the knowledge that we are so much more skilled and left-brain trained, it would always be my advice to give the creative brain visualisation a bit more space. For planning, goal setting and especially for actioning your every-year itch, base yourself in bigger picture visualisation first. Of course, you need to plan practically, measure improvement and know how you have done, but get immersed in figuring out what you want and who you really are first.
Immobilising thought patterns in the imaginary plaster cast
What’s the practical application of this? I know through working with hundreds of clients that the words only penetrate one level of understanding. Clients almost immediately come back with the “Yes, but” response. They seem to get it on one level but the moment they have to engage in a short exercise all that nodding goes out the window. They like the theory, but theory only never changed lives. In applying it, people meet obstacles almost immediately.
If you have done a certain thing over and over, then it’s understandable that you will struggle. The faculties that you have relied upon will moan and complain, even question why things have to be done differently. You can’t get rid of them because you need them later.
S-T-R-U-G-G-L-E HAS R-E-S-U-L-T IN IT
For now, immobilise all old attitudes and behaviours by sticking them in an imaginary plaster cast. The one the doctor puts on when a bone is broken. Whilst the arm is in the plaster cast, the muscles aren’t being exercised and as a result that arm’s muscle mass atrophies, because they are not being used.
Apply this method to your thinking muscles. If your usual way of thinking and evaluating can be contained in a plaster cast, then those approaches will atrophy also. It’s a mental discipline that will pay dividends. Each time you have the urge to explain, detail or substantiate what you are doing to justify some old pattern, then see that doctor put on that plaster cast. Immobilise those thoughts. This will give you the chance to develop new thinking muscles that can prompt new ways of being and doing things.
CYNICAL SELF ALERT
Yes, but… easier said than done, you might come up with. This is not a question of having a personality transplant. Just for the purpose of trying something new, temporarily, you put on hold (in the freezer or in that plaster cast) your reactions that might have become automatic. Yes, and… says: you never know what you might find. If it doesn’t teach you anything new or worthwhile, take the plaster cast off and apply your usual thinking patterns. Nothing has been lost.
“Yes, and…” instead of “Yes, but…”
Another way of obtaining a new perspective is by replacing or overlaying every “Yes, but” attitude with a “Yes, and” attitude. Yes, but… as an approach is judging things from a distance and commenting on them from your usual point of view. Yes, and… as an approach takes it to the next level by thinking of the next step or opportunity.
"YES, BUT" PEOPLE, GRAB THE BATON AND BEAT YOU.
"YES, AND" PEOPLE, GRAB THE BATON AND RUN WITH YOU.
LOOK AT IT THIS WAY
Is your thinking your own or conditioned? Have you been taught to approach things methodically, “realistically”? Try to pause and apply a different tactic in a right-brain, creatively rich way. The brain plays a game of two halves. Together they can change your world. How can you apply thinking differently to the changing world around you?
TOOLBOX
• ACES: awareness, creative brain, experiment, solutions.
• Thoughts become things.
• Old thought patterns in a plaster cast.
• “Yes, and . . .”
YOUR FUTURE YOUR WAY
In 100 years from now
Your bank balance will be irrelevant
And so will be your insurances, your policies, your pension
Your disagreements, your portfolio,
the colour of your hair.
Only that which money couldn’t buy
Could have changed the world
You once occupied
Rendering you immortal
Depending on what you sowed
Introduction
There is too much talk about the changing world. You must have been knocked unconscious not to know that there has been a rapid development in all fields over the last 15–20