2 Simple Strategies For Getting The Outcome You Want

 

We want things to go the way we plan and expect them to go, but when things go wrong or don’t go as planned, or when something happens to throw us off balance and doubt ourselves, we can sometimes find it tough to deal with. Life is full of ups and downs and will always throw challenges at us. We can’t control everything, nor should we try. It’s not what happens to us but how we deal with what happens to us that makes the difference.

Here are two simple strategies that you can use to help you come out on top.

1. Focus on your strengths

There are two sides to every person. Sometimes they’re happy and sometimes they’re sad; sometimes hopeful, sometimes pessimistic; sometimes childish and sometimes mature. We also have a whole load of strengths and weaknesses that affect what we do and how we do it. However, we’re often told to focus our effort and attention on our weaknesses rather than our strengths.

A strength is something that you do consistently well and get an inherent satisfaction from. It could be tackling and solving complex problems, empathising and communicating with people, being creative or being able to cook a certain dish to perfection.

Focusing on what you do well rather than what you’re not so good at has a number of benefits. When you look at what you’re not good at, you can feel bad about yourself and your ability, which in turn can make you less likely to do something about it. But when you focus on, and play to, your strengths you’re almost guaranteed to get results, and the raised emotions and thoughts can help to eliminate any negative effect your weaknesses might have.

2. Set things up ahead of time

Whilst there will be times when you can, or need to, just head into something without setting things up in advance, there will be other times when you might not get the results you wanted if you just blunder forwards making things up as you go. Whatever challenges or opportunities you face, you’ll stand a much better chance of getting a great result if you set things up to succeed ahead of time.

When setting things up, ask yourself what exactly do you want to happen? What solution, outcome or result would be great? Get really clear on the outcome you want and how it would feel to get the outcome you’re looking for. Then start breaking the desired outcome down. What can you do to make it more likely that you’ll achieve your desired outcome? What do you need to put in place before starting? What resources will you need to help you achieve the outcome you want? What will help to make your desired outcome happen? What do you need to do and what are you willing to do to ensure the best outcome?

These 2 simple strategies can make a big difference in helping you get what you want in your life, so don’t delay, identify your strengths and start planning how you’re going to achieve your goals.