We have now come to the final letter in CAR – that is R for Results. We have passed through the Ready, Set, Go – the three steps – of A, which included defining our desired Results in the middle step.

So now we come to identify the three elements of Results. They are Desired Results, Actual Results and our emotions about our Results. Let us examine each of these in turn, starting with: Desired Results.

(1) Desired Results can be expressed in two ways, tightly by Features and more loosely by Benefits. Features of a desired Result can be expressed in such a way as to be discernible by our senses – by answering the questions: how does it look? How does it sound? How does it feel / work? How does it taste? How does it smell? 

Alternatively, the desired results can be expressed in terms of the Benefit the Result brings to certain people. For example, to my dad the Features of a car were rarely important. It didn’t matter if the car was Holden or Ford, black or white, “as long as it goes!”  Defining a desired Result (goal) by Benefits may leave room for some flexibility for the person performing the Action because more than one set of Features may produce the desired Result. A black Holden and a white Ford could both give the desired Benefit (transport) even though the Features are different.

Similarly our Current Circumstances can be defined by Features. But rather than Benefits (of our Current Circumstances – which we would hope to keep), we might define the Issues for different people, that we need to improve. These five elements (Issues to address, Start Features, Action, Result Features and Result Benefits) could be considered as forming a CAR Bridge between our Current Circumstances and our desired Results.

(2) The next element of R is Actual Results. Desired Results are one thing but Actual Results may be another thing altogether. If we have a good run there may be no difference between the two, but if there are other influences at play they may be quite different. The 6S’s we considered in our Current Circumstances may be useful here: our Season, our Settings, our Surroundings, our Self, our Strengths and our States. Alternatively we could use the PET ROCK acronym, instead of our Self and our Surroundings.

(3) Finally we come to our Emotions about our Results. Even though emotions are non specific feelings, they are a communication from our subconscious to our conscious mind which beg for understanding. The formula “Emotions = (are) an Evaluation of our Experience compared to our Expectations” shows that we can do more than describe our emotions, we can dive deeper by defining our Experience (i.e. our Actual Results) with respect to our Expectations (i.e our Desired Results). Different standards or perspectives can yield different Evaluations and hence different Emotions.

Quite apart from making emotions consciously comprehensible in the way, we intuitively know if they are positive or negative, good or bad, right or wrong. Either way emotions can be a motivating force / a driving force for change.  

Points to Ponder

What do your present Emotions tell you about your:

• Actual Results
• Desired Results
• Values / Roles / Perspectives
• Appetite for Change

Copyright © 2021 John Harris