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It may be known by several names, but “outcome thinking,” or “outcome focusing” is simply defining the result of our endeavours, before we set into action. While it can be as complex as we want it to be (look at Stephen Covey’s Habit Two, Begin with the End in Mind”), you don’t have to imagine your potential eulogies to benefit from it in your everyday life. Outcome thinking is just an easy, but underrated good habit that can be used by anyone, on any scale, to bring about immediate, tangible results.

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On the most basic level, outcome thinking is about improving how we go about completing a task. This is obvious for our grander schemes: If I have a complex project or goal in mind, reaching it requires carefully planning the expected results and how I will go about producing them. With larger tasks, it is intuitive to first visualise the end, then hammer out the steps that will lead to it.

Organising the Work in Your Head

But what about the mundane, everyday tasks that are generally repetitive and well known to us? The chain of action is more set and arguably, less fluid: Do this, then that, have X do something in parallel, alert Y to this, etc. In this setting, it is common for the most effective actions to become secondary to the most routine actions. In fact, the agendas and routines may become directly confused with action.
This is compounded in a work environment where the desired results are abstract and assumptions about who is doing what become inevitable. David Allen describes this well on his blog: “That‘s the problem with knowledge work: your workbench is basically inside your head where only you can see it.“ The bane of all too many office workers is yet another meeting where little is achieved and the talks go around in circles. The actual purpose is never clearly identified—and is consequently never reached. Actions are rehashed as a form of overcompensation, to make sure we are on the safe side.
Known to many, but perhaps overlooked is simply asking before any task, meeting or project: What do I really want achieved in this particular situation? How will I know that I have succeeded? What will it look or feel like, once it is finished?
When we look at and define what needs to be done to achieve our specified results and nothing more, we can devise short cuts that our routine approach would not have allowed for.

Applied Outcome Thinking

Take the example of the meeting again. Suppose a certain office has had the same two hour, five person meeting every Wednesday for years. The meetings have staled; the time drags. It may be helpful to challenge the old habits and ask before a meeting: What exactly do we wish to achieve today? What projects and tasks will we focus on? Whose presence is necessary for achieving the desired results—and who is just showing up for donuts? Is the meeting always stretched to fill its allotted time, or can it be shortened by sticking to the pertinent issues?
By no means is this applicable only to meetings. Suppose you are delivering a complex product consisting of several components and services. Asking yourself what a fulfilled order would look like from the customer’s side makes a big difference in how you go about actually fulfilling it. The companies who routinely exceed their customers’ expectations are the ones who keep envisioning the final result from the viewpoint of the customer. They even debrief their salespeople, making sure to successfully fulfil the expectations they created.

As simple as this all sounds, it is surprising just how many projects and tasks are launched without clear objectives, with everyone assuming a common understanding that may or may not actually exist.
Outside the office, outcome thinking can be applied to virtually any project, from cleaning out the attic to planning a party, and is a useful habit that anyone can benefit from. The next time you set out to complete a task, ask yourself what you are really trying to achieve. You may be surprised at how just a few moments of reflection from the outcome point of view can streamline and focus your consequent line of action.

» Get the PDF on “Outcome Thinking” including full references
(Club members only)

Author: Ilike Merey

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Life Design Wiki: Flow Theory; Focus Your Time; Goals and Values; New Habits