OTHER E-BOOKS IN THIS SERIES
THINKING PRINCIPLE ONE
‘How to develop a personal passion’
Practical tips to increase your motivation to achieve
by Andy Gilbert & Annagail Davies, explains thinking principle one of our Solution Focused Thinking System in greater depth. As well as discovering how to avoid blaming others, you’ll also get great tips on how to increase your motivation to achieve and save yourself masses of time in the process!
THINKING PRINCIPLE TWO
‘How to determine what you want and when you want it’
Pragmatic steps to leaping into the top 5% of goal definers
by Andy Gilbert & Rob Smith, gives you tips on defining exactly what it is you want to achieve, as well as helping to increase your self-belief that you can achieve it. It will make your task of deciding priorities, which we cover in this e-book, really easy!
THINKING PRINCIPLE THREE
‘How to produce plentiful possibilities, pressing priorities and perfect plans’
Quick and easy tips to plan your success and get you started
by Andy Gilbert & Ken Hudson, gives you some quick and easy steps to plan your success and get you started. With tips to eliminate time wasting, generate loads of ideas and produce a plan that will work for you, it will help you make your goal come to life and stay alive!
THINKING PRINCIPLE FOUR
‘How to create a self-belief that you can and will achieve’
Powerful insights into building the confidence to succeed
by Andy Gilbert & Graham Field, expands on Henry Ford’s famous quote “Whether you believe you can do a thing or not, you are right.” It gives a powerful insight into just how much we are governed by limiting beliefs, and how we can harness the power of our minds to achieve so much more than we ever dreamed possible.
THINKING PRINCIPLE FIVE
‘How to get others on your side’
Definitive guidelines on involving others to achieve what you want
by Andy Gilbert & Caron Lindley, gives an explanation of the five types of people that you can involve to help you achieve your goal. Research has shown that the bigger your goal, the better your chances of success if you involve others to help. If you only ever involve the people closest to you, then this e-book is for you!
THINKING PRINCIPLE SIX
‘How to make personal choices and take responsibility’
Insightful ideas to help you own your thoughts and actions
by Andy Gilbert & Ken Hudson, takes a hard look at responsibility and its consequences. Personal Responsibility lies at the heart of our Solution Focused Thinking System. Without it the system collapses. Without it, you are missing out on success, respect and leadership. It even promises to be liberating!
THINKING PRINCIPLE SEVEN
‘How to guarantee success’
Clear and simple tips on taking action and measuring results
by Andy Gilbert & Rob Smith, is a hard-hitting finale to the seven key principles of Solution Focused Thinking. As well as challenging your thinking, and challenging you to put it all into practice, there is valuable advice on measuring goals, especially difficult-to-measure things like ‘confidence’. Plus an invitation for you to choose to make a difference.
‘The Making A Difference Workbook’
30 activities and exercises for successful thinking about work, life and everything
by the Go MAD Team, is an essential guide to help you put into practice successful thinking. The workbook is structured to allow you to think through key issues and turn them into practical applications that you can put to use immediately. It will help you to take a step closer to what you want to achieve.
To order any of the above e-books, simply visit www.gomadthinking.com
CONTENTS
Page
Introduction 5
1. The secret of achieving what you want 6
2. The start of something 6
How we know this works
3. Getting the most from this e-book 8
4. First the good news 8
You can make a difference
5. What are the Seven Key Thinking Principles? 8
6. The Go MAD Solution Focused Thinking System 9
7. Level one – personal planning 9
How to make a start
8. Level two – maintaining momentum 10
How to keep going
9. Level three – making a difference 11
Achieving what you want
10. More good news 11
You are a success
11. A sad reality 12
Why some people don’t achieve
12. Making a start 12
What do you want to achieve?
13. Thinking Principle One – Have a strong reason why 13
14. Thinking Principle Two – Define your goal 14
Eight goal defining tips
15. Thinking Principle Three – Plan your priorities 18
Five steps to planning priorities
16. Thinking Principle Four – Have self-belief 20
Five tips to strengthen self-belief
17. Thinking Principle Five – Involve others 24
Five tips on involving others
18. Thinking Principle Six – Take personal responsibility 26
Five tips on making choices
19. Thinking Principle Seven – Take action and measure the results 28
20. You’ve read the e-book, now make the difference! 29
21. Five questions I am often asked about thinking 29
22. Five comments I hear about thinking 31
Liability disclaimer
The material contained in this e-book is general and is not intended as advice on any particular matter. Go MAD Research & Consulting Group and the author expressly disclaim all and any liability to any person whatsoever in respect of anything done by any person in reliance, whether in whole or in part, on this e-book. Please take appropriate legal advice before acting on any information in this e-book.
INTRODUCTION
Welcome to ‘How to achieve what you want, when you want!’ In this short e-book I would like to share with you 7 powerful thinking principles which if applied will greatly increase your chances of achieving success in anything you do, whether at home or at work, just by thinking differently.
This book is dedicated to you. It can help you to:
…increase your thinking ability
…make a difference
…achieve a dream
…escape from a rut
…bring happiness to others.
I will introduce you to the principles of Solution Focused Thinking, a way of thinking that focuses you on achieving what you want, when you want.
These principles are the result of over 4000 hours of research into how people think when they make a difference. I have shared them with hundreds of clients and individuals who are now making large and small differences. They are achieving successes in their own organisations and in their personal lives by thinking more creatively, more quickly and more effectively on a more consistent basis. Here’s what a few of them have said about Solution Focused Thinking:
“The Go MAD Solution Focused Thinking system doesn’t promise to give you success, I will do that, but it sets out how I can achieve success by applying high quality thinking.”
Nigel Barrett
Omya UK Ltd
“I think the Go MAD model is such a simple way of approaching so many different things – coaching, meetings, self-planning etc, the possibilities are endless. Absolutely ingenious! It’s really helped me to achieve some focus at work, I now have a diary and make lists of everything. This is completely unheard of for me, I’ve never ever, ever been anything like remotely organised. Quite a revelation.”
Liz Davis, STA Travel
“The Go MAD System has no limitations. It can be used by all people young and old in their professional and personal lives!”
Mike Gubbins
Business Development Manager, Aon Consulting Ltd
“Thought provoking… Life Changing… Practical…
Gets results! Go on… Go MAD!”
Sarah Goodfellow
Group Training & Development Manager,Matalan Retail Ltd
"Go MAD Thinking is applied by mangers and leaders across our divisions to make measurable differences for themselves, their people and the business. This book contains a practical, flexible framework that we have used for coaching and other business activities."
Jeff Skinner
HR Director 3M UK and Ireland
When I have taken you through the seven key thinking principles, I shall also look at five common questions that clients and programme participants ask about Thinking, and five common mistakes that people make about Thinking.
The secret of achieving what you want is that there is no secret. There are only successful thinking principles, which anyone can apply. The information and principles contained within this e-book will change your life, if you choose to apply them. I know, because what you are about to read has already changed my life and the lives of many others.
Whatever your reason for reading this e-book, my aim is to help you understand and develop your ability to make a difference. Any difference, big or small, that you consider being worthwhile. Solution Focused Thinking is not just about doing something differently or for the first time. It is also about making improvements and building on that which already exists.
I’m going to be very explicit here. If you want to make a difference, this e-book will definitely help. If you don’t, then that’s fine. Have a browse through the pages and then pass the e-book to someone who does want to make a difference (I give you full permission to pass this free e-book on!). Alternatively, store it somewhere safe on your computer for a future moment when you decide you do want to achieve what you want.
Have you ever wondered why it is that some people seem to have the ability to make things happen? Why some people turn their thoughts into reality and really make a difference? I asked myself these questions and as a result made the decision in 1998 to undertake a 12-month research project to identify the key thinking principles applied by people who had successfully made a difference.
There were no criteria for specifying what the difference should be. So the differences encompassed commercial, career, balanced lifestyle, family, community, educational, personal relationships and many more. Some differences were on a large-scale, others much smaller. We included people of all ages in a variety of roles within the organisations. The differences they had made included: doubling the sales turnover of a company; providing exceptional customer care; increasing production by 100%; managing large-scale organisational change; enhancing their career; developing others; and implementing a variety of cost saving initiatives.
“I do whatever I can, wherever I can,
whenever I can, for as long as I can,
with whatever I have, to make a difference.”
Jimmy Carter
From all of this, emerged Solution Focused Thinking – a practical and easily understandable system comprising seven key thinking principles. Based on the original research our company was named Go MAD (Make A Difference).
During the latter part of 1998 and early 1999, the Go MAD team tested the system in a variety of ways, in schools and via development and coaching programmes for leaders. We began helping more and more people to apply the seven key thinking principles and realised that the Solution Focused Thinking System could be applied to virtually anything.
A personal example of this is that whilst writing my original printed book, I set myself the challenge of making a measurable difference about my weight and fitness. Over three months I lost 20lbs to reach my target weight and increased my fitness to the highest it has been during the past ten years. How did I do it? By simply applying the key thinking principles I discovered other successful people were using to make a difference.
Since 1998 the Go MAD team have used the Solution Focused Thinking System to help individuals achieve personal goals and organisations to achieve those much wanted business improvements.
By applying these thinking principles, you too can achieve success in your work, in your personal life or wherever you want to make a difference. It is within your control to achieve what you want when you want.
Here are five tips to help you:
This e-book will give you a good overview to help you to start applying Solution Focused Thinking™. However, if you would like to know more, each of the seven thinking principles has its own more detailed e-book. Visit www.gomadthinking.com for more details.
I have included a selection of my favourite inspirational quotes. You don’t have to agree with each one, just give them some thought. For example:
“It is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves.”
Sir Edmund Hillary
I have also compiled a workbook to accompany this e-book (see our publications on www.gomadthinking.com). This contains a variety of questions and exercises to help you explore each of the thinking principles. You obviously don’t have to get this workbook and complete the exercises. Unless of course you are really serious about achieving what you want!
Read with a purpose. Identify something in your life you want to make a difference about and apply what you read to this difference.
Adopt a supermarket shopping trolley approach. By this, I mean look for what you want and like. Different people want different things. There is plenty of information in this book, but not everyone will want everything. Only put the ideas in your trolley that you want to use. When you reread this book, you will notice different things that you didn’t take from the shelf previously.
So now, enjoy what you read and enjoy what you discover!
4. First, the good news
Anyone can make a difference. A high I.Q. or evidence of academic ability is not an essential requirement. Whilst both might be useful in gaining employment, I have discovered no evidence linking either with the ability to make a difference. There is hope for us all!
5. What are the Seven Key Thinking Principles?
Have a strong reason why you want to make a difference.
Define your goal before starting to make a difference.
Plan your priorities before taking action to make a difference.
Have self-belief that you can and will make a difference.
Involve others to help you make a difference.
Take personal responsibility for your actions.
Take action and measure the results of the difference you make.
We identified that individuals who are successful in making a difference, regardless of what that difference is, applied these principles. However, we also discovered a relationship between these key thinking principles that is equally important to understand. This is illustrated in the next section.
6. The Go MAD Solution Focused Thinking System
This system diagram is useful in understanding the importance of the seven key thinking principles and the 11 links between them. It also provides a simple framework with which to apply the principles consciously.
Involve Others Take
Action
Personal Responsibility Involve
Others
Reason
Why Define
Goal Plan Priorities
Self
Belief
Go MAD Framework
Level one – personal planning
Notice the three levels of the pyramid. The first level we refer to as personal planning and it links principles one, two and three.
Reason
Why Define
Goal Plan Priorities
Principle 1 considers WHY you want to make a difference.
Principle 2 focuses on WHAT difference you want to make.
Principles 3-7 concentrate on HOW to make the difference.
These are the foundations upon which success is built. It takes a strong reason why (thinking principle one) to maintain motivation, face challenges and overcome obstacles. Hence, this is a cornerstone. The other cornerstone is provided by a well constructed plan of priorities (thinking principle three). These principles are linked by having a defined goal (thinking principle two) to centrally support the remaining four principles.
Priorities cannot be planned without a defined goal, and the goal cannot be achieved without a strong enough reason to make a difference. This gives a firm base to go on to achieve what you want.
Personal
Responsibility Involve
Others
Self
Belief
The second level we refer to as maintaining momentum and this builds upon the personal planning of the foundation level. Having the self-belief (thinking principle four) to succeed in making a difference is dependent upon having a defined goal which, you believe, is possible to achieve. Without the self-belief and the desire to achieve, motivation will dip. Hence, the link with having a strong enough reason to make a difference.
Involving others (thinking principle five) should be built into the plan and prioritised. However, to do it successfully takes both skill and effort in order to continue moving in the right direction. The defined goal and plan of priorities established at the foundation level will need to be communicated and both might need to be revised following the involvement of others. Without this involvement and the additional support this brings, it might be impossible to move to the next level.
At the centre of the model is the choice every individual has of taking personal responsibility for their actions (thinking principle six) to make a difference. If this choice is exercised then the other key thinking principles, with which it links, stand a chance of being applied. However, in order to move to the third level all of the first six principles have to be in place.
The third level is that of making a difference and can only be reached by building the foundations with the first three principles and maintaining the momentum by applying principles four, five and six. Even then, it is still necessary to take action and measure the results (thinking principle seven) to know that the goal has been achieved and a difference has been made.
Personal
Planning
Maintaining
Momentum
Making
A Difference
10. More good news
You are already successful in applying these key thinking principles – at least some of the time. Let me give you an example of how you apply them on a daily basis.
Think about travelling to get somewhere. There is always a reason why you get out of bed in the morning. Sometimes the reason is positive and strong enough to get you up instantly; for example, going on holiday or something you are looking forward to that day at work. At other times, you might hit the snooze button and the main reason to get up eventually is often linked with a negative reason why. For example, embarrassment of being late or the consequences of losing a job. Either way, whether a positive or negative reason, it is strong enough to cause you to get out of bed.
Your defined goal (thinking principle two) might be to get to a place by a specific time. In order to do this you will have prioritised (thinking principle three) what needs to be done and allowed sufficient time to do it, which might have included washing, eating, travelling etc. You have probably involved others (thinking principle five) in some of the planning, preparation or travelling to your destination. You believe it is achievable to get there on time (thinking principle four) and the responsibility for doing so is yours (thinking principle six). You travel, arrive, check your watch and measure the results of your actions (thinking principle seven).
11. A sad reality
In my experience of working with thousands of people in many organisations, most people do not think in this way consciously or consistently. What’s more, many people do not appear to believe in their own ability to make a difference or take responsibility for doing so. Quite often people find themselves in an environment where the prevailing culture is: ‘Do as you’re told’, or, ‘Do as we’ve always done’. Hence, there is a lack of encouragement for individuals to think in a solution focused way and their ability to do so, is stifled. This can lead to feelings of frustration or helplessness; an atmosphere of blame: ‘It’s the manager’s fault’. The sad reality is that it is easier to place the blame with others rather than taking personal responsibility for our own success.
12. Making a start
Take a few seconds to think about your life. How is it progressing so far? Is there anything you would like to change? What would you like to have more or less of? What areas would you possibly consider making a difference about? The following list is provided to stimulate your thinking about possible areas:
|
- an aspect of work - fitness - learning - developing skills - certain projects - financial situation - friendships - health
|
- decorating/D.I.Y. - relationships - balanced lifestyle - sport - customers - relaxation - local community - what else? |
Take a piece of paper and jot down the things you want to achieve and keep them in mind as you continue to read about each key thinking principle. Apply the thinking principle in each section to the differences that you want to make. This will dramatically increase your probability of achieving what you want when you want.
“It is never too late to be what you might have been.”
George Eliot
At 11.45pm each December 31st, with a drink in one hand, millions of people talk about things they intend to achieve. Things that, for most, will not happen! Very often, this tradition at New Year is the only reason why and, for most people, it does not prove to be strong enough as a motive to actually do something.
Now imagine a scene from an American movie, set in an old mid-western town. There is a house with a large wooden porch and a rocking chair for grandpa. It’s a hot sunny day and a dog whines, but nobody takes much notice. Another dog walks by and hears the whining.
“What’s the matter? Why are you whining?” asks the passing dog.
“I’m lying on a nail and it hurts,” replies the first dog.
“Well why don’t you do something about it?”
“It doesn’t hurt enough.”
How many whining dogs have you met, who talk about what they want to achieve yet haven’t got a strong enough reason why to do anything? I occasionally work with people in organisations where it seems that most, if not all, are lying on some form of nail. In the majority of cases, these whining dogs could choose to make a difference by:
changing the situation around them
changing the way they think about it
living with it (in which case, stop whining!)
or by leaving.
“You
will never find time for anything.
If you want the time, you must
make it.”
Charles
Buxton
When the reason is strong enough, you will do what is necessary. Reasons are the fuel behind the goal. Without them, you might not even make a start never mind start moving forward.
It’s important to note here that there can be two types of motivation either of which might be giving us a ‘reason why’. Are you being pulled by a dream or pushed by circumstances? (Remember my example of getting out of bed in the morning?) In other words, when assessing your reasons why, do you notice that you are tending to move towards gaining pleasure or moving away from a specific source of pain? It doesn’t matter which, but it is important to know the difference. If you are seeking to move away from the source of pain, your motive for continuing to take further action is likely to decrease the further you move away from the pain.
Let me give you an example relating to making a difference about personal finances. Your strong reason why might be to avoid paying interest on a credit card or to get rid of an overdraft. Both these reasons are focused on moving away from something you don’t want. As the credit card bill and the overdraft reduce, the pain becomes less and might even become bearable. The danger is that the focus remains on the past e.g. ‘It’s much better than it used to be’, rather than refocusing and moving towards something you do want.
There is a strong link here with the second key thinking principle of defining goals. Once you have defined meaningful goals, that is, those linked with a strong reason why, you start heading in a direction. Without a direction, you will drift.
So when you consider what you want to achieve, think about your motive. Are you acting out of fear of the consequences, or because of the expected pleasure when you fulfil them? If it is because of the fear, how might you possibly create a strong reason why about something you do want as opposed to something you don’t want?
Action
Think back to the things you want to achieve that you identified earlier, go through them one by one and note down on a scale of 1–10, where 1 is low and 10 is high, how strong your reason why is for wanting to make that difference.
Where you have given yourself a score of 5 or less, note that everything in your life with a reason why on this scale of 6 or above, is going to come first. Now is the time to reassess whether or not you are really bothered enough to do anything. If in your heart of hearts you know that your reason why not is stronger than your reason why, either choose to do nothing or choose to think differently.
Tip: Make the reason why stronger than the reason not!
14. Thinking Principle Two – Define your goal
The average person does not have well-defined personal goals. Remember you will never achieve more than you set out to achieve. Most people aim at nothing and hit it with incredible accuracy. Decide to be successful by developing well-defined goals.
Your ability to learn and regularly apply the skills of goal-setting, will largely determine your future.
I realise that, for some people, the word goals can be a turnoff. You don’t have to use this word! During the research many people referred to: targets, specific objectives, well-formed outcomes, having an end in mind, the destination or simply knowing what they wanted. Some even referred to it as the thing I’m after. Sometimes we don’t realise that we have identified and defined goals. For example choosing and going on a specific holiday.
“I’m not goal orientated!” stated a participant on a development programme. I resisted the temptation of asking him how he had managed to attend the course on time, without having a goal of doing so.
“It concerns us to know the purpose we seek in life, for then… we shall be more likely to attain what we want.”
Aristotle
Goals direct your actions; your actions create results. Without thinking about goals there is no direction, resulting in a lack of focused action.
Imagine a ship setting out to sail without deciding a destination or direction. It would drift out to sea and bump into obstacles as it bobbed around. Think about people that you know who are perhaps like that ship.
If you want personal success, concentrate on defining exactly what you want. What do you want to have, do or become?
Focusing on how to achieve what you want before fully defining exactly what it is you want, causes most people to give up before really starting. ‘There’s no point in setting a goal, because I can’t see how to get there.’ If only life was that easy and predictable! Focus on the why and the what (thinking principles one and two) and leave the how (thinking principles three to seven) for later.
Here are eight tips for goal defining:
Tip One: Write down your goals
Research has shown that people with written defined goals achieve more than those who don’t. Writing goals down shows how serious you are about being successful. It starts moving an idea in the mind, from your imagination to reality. A well-written goal gives precision and clarity of direction.
Tip Two: Develop the ability to turn an aim into a SMART goal
There are variations on what SMART stands for, and this is what we at Go MAD Thinking use:
Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Relevant
Time-scales
Knowing what SMART means and having the ability to write SMART goals are two different things. Many of the leaders we work with have often heard of SMART goals and can recite what each letter stands for. However, I estimate that less than 20% can actually write a SMART goal in a single sentence. To show how this is possible, there is an example of a SMART goal at the end of this section (following goal defining Tip Eight).
Tip Three: Seek harmony between your goals
Check that your goals do not conflict with each other. If they do, for whatever reason, do something about it. Common conflicts include:
Too many goals and not enough time
Personal goals conflict with work goals
Goals do not include a loved one’s involvement when it is needed
Goals are not aligned with core values.