Monday, November 10, 2008

Focus on the Outcome

A reader comment made me go seek out the Jack Canfield equation: Event + Reaction = Outcome.

Now I don’t subscribe to any one business philosopher - they’ve all solved a piece of the puzzle and I’ve learned quite a bit from their books and seminars. Their true success is in identifying the nugget that carries across disciplines and questions.

A great nugget is Event + Reaction = Outcome. You can’t usually predict or control an event. You can’t control how you feel about it. You can control what you DO about it and so you influence outcome through that control.

That separates the complainers from the action takers!

I truly believe that it’s healthier to check-in with how you feel before choosing how to react. Then you know exactly what the commitments/sacrifices/changes/requirements ask of you. Then it’s a choice.

Life will forever ask us to do things with which we are uncomfortable, aren’t sure we like, or that simply changes stuff. Having a kid prompted me to different choices in career. Having feedback from my community makes me consider choices I might have otherwise discarded (or taken).

Your personal community is in the Canfield equation. Your community is a safe place to explore your reaction and folks who care about you can talk you through your choices. This network can offer perspectives sometimes out of reach to those directly involved in the emotional turmoil of change.

Another reason to build community and be a living, breathing, emotional person!

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