As part of the ongoing search for ways to improve our newsletter “The Full Nelson” we asked our subscribers:

“If they could ask Bill one question what would it be?”

We received many great responses and we will continue to answer each of these questions in the blog over the next few months.

But to get things started I will attempt to answer the following question:

“How can I get the best performance out of myself and what do I need to do to achieve this outcome?”

So here we go with my response to that question.

The first and most important aspect to consider and understand is what it is you mean when you say, “How can I get the best performance out of myself”?

If it is in a general sense, such as improving yourself so that you can get more out of life, then it is about outlining specific areas that you can improve upon that when added together, will make a significant difference in you and therefore your life.

Things such as developing:

• A better smile
• The ability to be a better observer
• A firmer handshake
• A better temperament
• A more positive outlook
• Increased levels of awareness
• To listen more
• To laugh more
• Your personal values and philosophies

As you can well imagine taking any of these simple aspects of everyday life (and many others) and making a concerted effort to improve them, will bring with the experience a wide variety of improvement, benefit and achievement.

Therefore leading you to improving your performance in a variety of ways.

If you are talking about a specific outcome in regards to a better performance, then I would suggest using an approach that I have continued to utilise over the past twenty-five years.

It is the model I use in every goal-setting situation that I am involved with. This is what it looks like:

This model is based on three interlinked parameters:

Outcome - ‘What’ do you want to achieve?
Process - ‘How’ will you achieve it?
Reason - ‘Why’ do you want to achieve it?

Now as strong as this model is and as many times that it has been used to create and achieve successful outcomes, its use does not guarantee anything.The model, the content and strategy it creates, will only ever be a good as the level of discipline applied to it creation, pursuit and achievement.

So as you can see, there are ways to improve performance both generally and specifically, but the common ingredient in both will be the discipline needed to achieve the improved performance you are looking for.

The outcome is what it is you ultimately want from your goals and your pursuit of them. A new car, a bigger house, to win the local debating competition, to represent your country at major sporting competition, to earn respect in both your personal and professional life.

The process is what you need to do to accomplish the outcome. The steps you have to take, the obstacles you have to overcome, and the people you might bring in to help you. These and many other ideas and areas become part of the process to achieve your goals.

The reason is why it is you are pursuing these goals. I know that sounds too obvious and, to a certain degree it is.

However, this does not mean that it is not important. Not only must you have a reason for pursuing these goals but also you should have quite a few.

But let’s take a closer look at the three different parts of this model in detail.

1. The Outcome – ‘What’
The secret to realising your goals and your dreams is to pursue something that really matters.

Your goals must mean a lot to you.

Your goals must be strong enough to turn your dreams into reality.

The thought of attaining your desired goals is going to cause you to act upon your dreams and desires. The goals are reflections of where it is you want to go with your life and the things you want from it.

This sounds strange: “Of course my goals are what I want!” I would question that statement and here is an analogy to explain why:

You are just going about your business, nothing out of the ordinary and for no particular reason your mind starts to wander and before long, you start to think about your goals.

You start to visualise your goals being completed and all of a sudden you start to dream about something that is related to your goal, but isn’t actually the goal you had set.

The more you think about the second issue, the more excited you get by it, the more motivated you become because of what you are now thinking.

Well, nine (9) times out of ten (10) that second avenue of thought is really what you want. It is not the initial goal or outcome you thought about. Your true goal is where your thoughts ended up after thinking about your initial goal.

Make sure when you are configuring your goals, you ask “What is it I really want?” and make sure to write it down, leave it for a few days, and then come back and question it again.

The importance of getting your goals right at this stage of the situation cannot be overstated.

The destination of your goals becomes the key. It needs to be the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, the light at the end of the tunnel, the punch line at the end of the story.

It serves the purpose of driving you towards achieving it, but it also serves the purpose of once it is achieved, providing a sense of achievement that increases your confidence and levels of self-esteem.

But this will only happen if, when you attain your outcome goal, it has had the significance to override the time and effort that went into attaining it and it provides you with the excitement and enjoyment you thought about when you first started creating it.

All of the emotion and feeling you dream’t about for so long has been realised when the goal has been attained.

Your goals need to be viewed with what I call the Gucci Approach - “After the price is forgotten the quality still remains”.

2. The Process - ‘How’

Goals are usually developed from your desire to achieve more, to be better at what you do, and to accumulate the wealth you desire, with wealth being more than just monetary reward.

Your goals come from your dreams, hopes, and desires, wants and needs.

This part of our goals is the outcome. What is it that turns our hopes, dreams, wants and needs in to action and, hopefully, reality?

The answer is the second part of the goal-setting process and probably the least though about or strategised: The process.

The process is the ‘doing’ part of the goals. The process is the plan that is going to get you to your outcome. The outcome is ultimately dependent upon the successful completion of all parts of the process.

The process is made up of specific strategies, plans and activities that when pursued and completed will have you well on the way to achieving your outcomes or goals.

Take your time to fully layout the process required to achieve your goals. Information developed here will go along way in helping you realise the price that needs to be paid for your outcomes to be achieved.

The outcome is usually the part of the goal-setting process that provides the drive, the motivation and the excitement, as you can always relate to achieving something that you desire.

However, it is vitally important that some of this motivation and excitement and, most of all, commitment and discipline is directed towards the process.

After all, if there is no pleasure, motivation or commitment towards accomplishing the areas contained in the process, then the chances of the process being completed become greatly reduced.

If the process is not being accomplished, then what chance have you got of achieving the outcome?

3. The Reason – ‘Why’

Quite simply the reason ‘why’ you are pursuing these goals is the reason.

It doesn’t have to be complex, it doesn’t have to be intricate, but it does have to be substantial. In many cases it might seem quite obvious. Nevertheless, this does not mean that these reasons do not have to be strong.

Regardless of how vivid your vision, no matter how motivated you are by the outcomes you have identified or by the process you have created to see your goals realised, there is one thing that you can be assured of:

Somewhere in the development, pursuit or attainment of these goals, you will come across a roadblock - a period of time where your resolve toward the successful completion of these goals comes into question.

It is at this time where the ‘reasons’ that you have decided to create, pursue and attain your goals takes on their own special significance.

And it is at this time that the need to have multiple reasons also comes into play. If you have numerous reasons that have major significance to you then the continued pursuit of your goals will be relatively easy.

If not, then you will spend a lot of time questioning the advantages of pursuing the goals, and you may even get to the stage where the price that you are required to pay to see these goals achieved becomes too much.

Hence, the goals get left behind and you move on in another direction.

Rather than getting to this stage, it is vitally important that when you are creating your goals, you clearly outline the reasons you want to either pursue or complete them.

It may not seem so important at the time, but down the track you will witness first hand why you must know the reasons behind why the creation, pursuit and eventual attainment of these goals is important to you.

The Journey Continues!