Where’re you going? (5) Do you have the resources? Do you have control?

The word ‘resources’ always reminds me of my time in the police. On Friday and Saturday nights, we were forever ‘running out of resources’. Early in a busy night shift, most officers would be tied up (not literally) with people they had arrested. An arrest would mean hours off the street, interviewing, processing, gathering evidence, doing the paperwork – leaving fewer available to respond to further emergency calls.

At such times, a common phrase heard in the control room would be  ‘Hang on – I’ll just get another police officer out of the box!’

Every day, life calls on your resources (skills, attitudes, beliefs) in the same way. When you run out of resources, you crash – and so planning and preparation before any venture is well worth while.

Unlike the police service .. when you are mindful of the task in hand, there is every chance you will be able to access the resources. However all resources – whatever their source, need energy. Whatever wonders you’re able to perform, remember that you have finite energy available each day .. so be energy efficient!

One great way to conserve resources, which we too often overlook is to find ways to live life in the present .. away from the energy hungry regrets of the past and anxieties of the future.

When considering your desired outcome, remember that resources come in various forms – equipment, technology, tv, videos, books are obvious examples, as are people with the right experience, ability, and encouragement to help you – including friends, family, contacts, suppliers.

Who can inspire you? Who has done this sort of thing before? Who is on the same wave-length as you?

What personal qualities do you have? What qualities do you perhaps need to dust off, or develop – to achieve your outcome?

Is there enough money? If not what do you need to do first to get funds?

You are your own control room! This means that you have direct control of your personal resources. But how do you motivate others? What can you do to really engage those who can help you? And how do you control and maintain your outcome?

Consider also the wider consequences of your desired outcome? We’ll talk about this next post!

(To search for all seven posts in this series, enter the keyword ‘taxi’ in the search box).

Where’re you going? (4) How will you know when you’re there? Who? Where? When?

Continuing from last week, let’s assume that you’ve now defined the outcome you’re going for. Write it down, and before we do anything else, check that the language includes no digital or analogue negatives (see ‘The power of negative thinking’ post – 2nd of this mini-series).

Now that its down on paper, you can run your desired outcome through the checks suggested by nlp, to make sure that it is well-formed, and most likely to effortlessly succeed.

It may sound obvious, but as continue your life, how will you know that you are on the right track .. and equally important how can you be sure when you have achieved what you set out to do? In fact, how do you know that you won’t go sailing past the ‘destination’ unaware until later that you were so close?!

There is only one way for us to experience life; through our senses. Define NOW what you will see, hear, and feel when you achieve your outcome. You may even taste or smell something specific, depending on what you’re going for. And of course your gut instinct – the  ’6th sense’ can also be important.

Your body is a communication device which every moment is sending you internal memos which let you know whether you are on course, whether you are being you.

I will see .. I will hear .. I will feel ..

When you do this, its like setting your compass bearings. Be as accurate as possible, before you start your change journey.

Another well-formed condition worth clarifying at the outset of your journey is the ‘specifics’. Decide with whom you want the outcome, and where you want it. In what context do you want to experience it? What criteria will decide whether you go ahead? Is there a deadline to achieving the outcome? If so when is it. Write down the date. Don’t just think ’6 months ahead’; to your subconscious, which is very literal – pin yourself and your subconscious to an actual date ’23rd June’. Be specific with everything!

Next post, we consider the resources you may need on your outcome adventure!

(To search for all seven posts in this series, enter the keyword ‘taxi’ in the search box).

Where’re you going? (3) Getting from the here to the there.

In the last post (2) of this mini-series, I talked about how easy it is to think negatively,  .. and also how difficult it is trying hard to ‘be positive’!

Far more effective is when we can simply acknowledge and then remove the blocks to who we naturally are - (a positive, loving, compassionate being of course!?)

So what are these blocks that need removing? As mentioned in the last post -

• Most of us are better at knowing what we don’t want, and not what we do want.
• When we think or describe what we don’t want, our subconscious generates an internal representation of it anyway (making ‘it’ more likely to occur)!
• Our trying to be positive is not generally effective either!

These internal blocks keep us from being ourselves, and when we are absent in this way – well life gets pretty difficult, and we’re unable to move forward.

So, being ourselves, being authentic, having integrity – is essential if we are to know where we’re going in life – and if we’re to successfully communicate this to others.

Nlp usefully suggests certain conditions which enable us to set up and realise well-formed outcomes. An outcome here simply means – what you want / where you’re goin’ in life! By keeping to the nlp conditions, we move towards well-formed outcomes in a way which is effortless, motivating, achievable, sustainable, and authentic to the person setting them.

Only when you have set an outcome will you know which tasks are necessary to enable you to move forwards. The tasks are the stepping stones for getting you from the here (your present state) .. to the there (your desired state).

And the tasks in turn will find and make use of your resources (mostly internal again!)

Outcome – Tasks – Resources

First define your well-formed outcome. It’s useful to know where you are going – otherwise your path is vague; your direction is aim-less. Acknowledging and accepting (without blame!) your present situation is also useful. After all, a map showing your destination is useless without the ‘I am here’ arrow!

Get clear about what you want, and also be clear also about what you will need to let go of. Make room, mentally and emotionally, for the change you want. Just as you must first move out old furniture before moving in the new – the same is true here.  Make room in your heart and mind. Know what needs to go. Decide what to compromise, and choose what you want to keep. Be specific with the detail!

We’ll continue with more nlp conditions next post ..

(To search for all seven posts in this series, enter the keyword ‘taxi’ in the search box).

Where’re you going? (1) What do you want?

A first of a series of posts ..

on how to best get where you want to be in life.

Imagine this conversation between a taxi driver and his pasenger ..

TD: “Where you’re going’?”

F: “Well, I don’t want Trafalgar Square, neither Oxford Street, and I’m not wanting to eat, as I’m not hungry..  yet”

TD: “Yes .. but where’re you going?”

F: “I know where I don’t want to go! I don’t want to go to Covent Garden (although I liked it there last time), and I don’t fancy going to the Heathrow airport – as I think that’s just where I’ve come from – though I can’t be sure. Is this London? .. Oh good that’s where I want to be!”

TD: “Yes .. but where – in London – do you want to go!?!”

F: “Well – let me see. I don’t need new shoes, and I don’t like flowers. The weather isn’t good so I don’t want to be outside, and even though I don’t need new shoes, I don’t want to walk very far as the ones I’m wearing aren’t very comfortable ..  I should have worn the others ..  anyway I might get lost if I get out and walk .. for now I’d quite like to stay here in the cab if you don’t mind? “

• What if in our journey through life, we didn’t know where we were going, or what we wanted when we ‘got there’.
• What if we didn’t know how to get to the place (that we didn’t know), and what if .. even when there were people there to help us, we were so clear about what we didn’t want, that we were unable to consider what we did want.
• And what if, even if we had a rough idea of at least the general area of where we wanted to go, we wouldn’t know to recocognise it when we arrived, but instead passed through to somewhere we certainly didn’t want to be? .. and we couldn’t get back?
• What if, even if we knew what we wanted (and how to get there) – we’d rather take the long route, even if it turns out more expensive?!
• What if .. it actually seems a lot easier and more comfortable to stay in the back of the cab, rather than venture out on our own?
• What if we’ve no energy for any of this, whatever we do or don’t do?

What if .. actually .. this IS how we so often find ourselves approaching life!? Is it any wonder we take ages to get anywhere worthwhile!

I’ll soon be posting – sometime next week, a series of short articles all about how to best get to where you want to be without all the hassle.

We’ll start first with recognising the power of negative thinking.

(To search for all seven posts in this series, enter the keyword ‘taxi’ in the search box).