How are you setting your goals, Inside-out or Outside-in?
Last week I was describing the concept of “Living from inside-out” to my class participants in a high tech company.
The example I gave – If you target to become a VP of a company that is an “outside-in” way of seeing your goal. The “inside-out” approach could be – I want to innovate, drive a product (what kind?) that I care (fill in here with why you care…) and I am willing to take risks, sacrifice my comfort to make it a success (define it using your values). Basically you are defining your intention qualitatively; you are not attached to a certain form of it. There is a good chance that this might get realized in a different shape or form beyond your imagination!
Coincidentally enough I found something similar in Seth Godin’s blog this week:
Ways to improve your performance:
- Compete for a prize
- Please a demanding boss
- Make someone else’s imminent deadline …
The thing is, all of these external stimuli are there to raise your game and push you ever harder. They are fences to be leaped, opponents to be defeated.
The alternative is to compete against nothing but yourself. To excel merely because the act of excelling without boundaries or incentives thrills you. And the good news is that once you find that, you’ll always have it.
During most of our adulthood, we are used to living the “outside-in” way, it is not easy to make the shift. But if you really care about “lasting solutions to problems, lasting happiness and success” inside-out is worth the effort!
Image courtesy: InviteChange.com
