It is in the wordsKEEP IT UNDER YOUR
CONTROL
desert, eradicate disease, tap the ocean depths, and
encourage the arts and commerce.” Jimmy Carter’s 1977
address, in contrast, included “Let our recent mistakes bring a
resurgent commitment to the basic principles of our nation, for
we know that if we despise our own government, we have no
future.” The differences are striking. John F Kennedy’s speech
is an example of communication based on outcome thinking,
whereas Jimmy Carter’s is almost entirely problem centered.
And the hypnotic language patterns (see Chapter 7) in both
evoke very different unconscious responses. Compare “let us
explore the stars, tap the ocean depths” with “despise our own
government, we have no future.” It is in the words.Some things lend themselves to outcome thinking and some
things very definitely do not. There is good news and bad
news. The bad news is that goals that include the following are
not achievable with this way of thinking:❏ To be number one.
❏ To win the race.
❏ To cut the legs from under your competitors.
❏ To be managing director of this company.
❏ To achieve the profit target.
❏ To make my children happy.That might surprise you, as it is very likely that some of your
goals do fall into some of these categories. The point is that
some goals are indeed outside of our control, or they are not
ecological for other people. You will see the significance of
these goals as I go through the other conditions for well-
formed outcomes in this chapter. The only part of the world for
which we can set outcomes and hope to achieve them is in the
kind of person we want to be.
However, the kinds of outcome that you can expect to
achieve with this way of thinking include:❏ To be an example of a caring, entrepreneurial leader.
❏ To achieve my personal best in whatever field I choose.
❏ To work in a way that is supportive of others.
❏ To achieve a role in life that is a position of leading others272 NLP AT WORK