Result Truth

Look at what you have created, then work backward through the Model.

You can tell yourself you are doing everything right. You are working hard, following the process, and doing your self-coaching. You can feel certain about all of that and still not have the result you want.

At that point, repeating how hard you have worked will not help you understand what is happening.

Look at your result. Then work backward through the Model. What actions created it? What feelings drove those actions? What thoughts created those feelings?

I call this result truth. It is a way to see what you are actually thinking, feeling, and doing instead of relying only on the story you tell yourself about it.

Make a list of your results

You cannot watch every thought in your brain all day. You would not have time to do anything else. But you can look at your results to find the thoughts that are having a significant effect.

Start by separating circumstances you did not create from results you did create. Other people's actions do not belong in your action line. You cannot mix their Models with yours.

Then look at the parts of your life you have created. Your calendar. Your possessions. The state of your house, your pantry, or your tax returns. Your accomplishments. The money you earn.

Include the wonderful results, too. Sometimes we ignore everything we have done well because we are looking for a reason to criticize ourselves.

The purpose is to look at the math. These are results you have created. What Models produced them?

Be specific about what you have done

A student once told me she had followed my program and done everything I taught, but she was frustrated with her results.

I asked her to describe the process she was following. She could not tell me what it was.

She genuinely believed she had followed it. But when we looked closely, she had set something up once and not gotten the result she wanted. She had put responsibility on the process instead of continuing to evaluate what she was doing.

That belief left her nowhere to go. If she was doing everything right and nothing worked, she could only conclude the process did not work.

Looking at the thoughts, feelings, and actions gave us clues. It allowed her to see what was happening instead of treating her first description as the whole truth.

The same number can come from different fuel

Take your income and put it in the result line. If you make one hundred thousand dollars a year, what actions got you that job or created that revenue? What actions keep producing it?

Do not decide immediately whether the number is good or bad. Look as neutrally as you can.

Then examine the feelings driving the actions. You may think you love your company and feel excited and motivated. You may think you have to pay your bills and feel angry or resentful.

Both people might go to work and earn the same amount. But they have very different experiences of the result because of the emotional fuel behind it.

The number does not tell you everything about how you are living. Working backward through the Model helps you see that.

Decide how you want to create the next result

Once you understand your current Model, imagine the result you want. What would the Model that creates it look like?

If you want to double your income, do you believe that requires grinding, staying up all night, and making yourself miserable? Notice what that belief has you do.

I see people set an impossible goal with excitement, then shift into anger, fear, and desperation because they are not there yet. The desired result has not changed, but the fuel has.

Even if they reach the goal, they may be burned out and unhappy with the experience they created.

I pay attention to the emotion fueling the activities. Negative emotions will come up along the way. That does not mean they need to become the deeper fuel driving your work.

A different result will not solve self-loathing

I spent the first part of my career working with people who wanted to lose weight. Many were trying to fuel weight loss with hatred of themselves.

I would ask what the point was of losing weight while continuing to hate themselves. Having less tissue on their body was not going to change the thought creating that hatred.

The same thing can happen with money. You can make more and carry the same painful thinking into the new number.

What is fueling you matters to the result you can sustain. If you have to attack yourself every year to keep making the money, look at that Model. If maintaining weight loss means continually beating yourself up, look at that Model.

Do not wait for the world outside you to change before working on the thinking creating your emotional experience.

Sometimes the action line is what needs to change

Looking at a result does not always mean you need a completely different thought or feeling. Sometimes you have useful belief and commitment, and the action needs to change.

Imagine I believe I can make one hundred million dollars and feel excited and committed. Then I try to create it by selling one-on-one coaching and realize that action is not producing the result.

I can stay excited and committed while changing the action. I do not have to abandon the belief.

Your action line can change many times. That is part of resilience. If you keep doing the same thing, you will keep getting the same result. If you quit, you create the result of it not working.

Evaluating what happened gives you another option: keep your commitment and try a different action from that same energy.

Look from the future you are creating

A failure can look like a reason to quit when you view it only from the present. Your result does not match what you wanted, and your brain concludes success will not happen.

Look at the same event from the future where you have achieved your goal. From there, it is part of how you got there. There is no reason to abandon the whole goal over that one event.

That perspective lets you tell the truth about your current result without turning it into a verdict on your future.

You can see what did not work, do the math, and decide what needs to change.

Tell the truth about what you want, too

Sometimes people change the goal when they discover how uncomfortable it is. They want to write a book, start writing, and decide maybe they only wanted to make a pamphlet.

Be honest with yourself. Did your desire change, or are you downgrading the dream so you will not have to feel uncomfortable?

Someone else may be thrilled with a result that feels lukewarm to you. That does not mean you have to pretend it is the result you wanted. You know your own desire and potential.

Tell the truth about both sides: the results you have and the results you want. Then ask what needs to change in your thoughts, feelings, or actions.

Your result is information. Let it help you see the Model you are running and the work you want to do next.