Chapter 4: Taking Charge of Your Life 67
One of Kate‘s career-coaching clients, Raz, was in a quandary. He was an aver-
age student and achieved good enough grades to go to university to study art.
His real passion, however, was working with wood. Kate encouraged him to
use the well-formed outcome process to clarify what to do with his future. He
saw that he wanted to do something creative, and so an art degree was fine.
He imagined himself at exhibitions, talking to people about his work. He knew
he was creative and quite capable of reading around his subject and so he had
all the resources he needed. However, when it came to checking the ecology
of going to university, he realised that he didn’t want to spend years studying
theory. He discovered that he really wanted to work alongside a furniture-
maker and learn in a very practical way.Does the goal identify the first step I need to take?
Lao-Tzu, the ancient Taoist philosopher, is credited with saying that a jour-
ney of a thousand miles must begin with a single step, which is well worth
remembering. Often, change isn’t of the dramatic breakthrough kind, but
a drip, drip, drip effect – slowly getting what you want. You must create a
breakdown of an action plan, showing the steps to get you to your goal.If you decide that in order to be an Oscar-winning scriptwriter, you have to
join a class and start writing, and yet every time you plan on sitting down
to write, you allow yourself to be sidetracked, your goal is going to remain
a dream. For you to turn your dream into a concrete reality you have to
take that first vital step, because without it you may not build up sufficient
momentum to take the next step... and then the next step.The Four-Point Formula for Success
The four-point formula consolidates the information on creating your well-
formed outcome (which we describe in the earlier section ‘Becoming smarter
than SMART: Creating well-formed outcomes’). This formula can be equally
effectively applied to long-term, lifetime goals and short-term ones.Hitting a target is much easier when it’s clearly defined and visible. Robin
Hood would never have won Maid Marion if he hadn’t aimed for the bull’s eye!To hit the target, follow these steps:- Know your outcome.
Specifying precisely what you want is vital. You can use the outcome
frame to fine-tune your desired outcome (check out the earlier ‘Shifting
into the outcome frame’ section) and satisfy the well-formed outcome