Problem Frame vs. Outcome Frame

Are you focused on what you want or what you don’t want?

Most people say they focus on what they want but when I ask them what they want here’s what usually happens:

• They say what they don’t want
• They get into the stories of what they don’t want
• They analyze the endless possibilities of why what they don’t want is happening

Your mind and nervous system are like muscles. The more you use them the stronger they get.

If you are thinking about your problems, what you don’t want, analyzing why it’s happening, etc. you’re just strengthening those muscles. That leads to you feeling disempowering emotional states. Most people are stuck in this frame. It’s called problem frame.

If you think about your outcomes, stating what you want in the affirmative, regardless of understanding what happened before or how you’ll get there, you’ll strengthen those muscles in your mind and nervous system. That will lead to you feeling high frequency emotional states that will get you to take more of the actions you need to create what you want. This is the frame you want to be in. It’s called outcome frame.

So when you aren’t feeling the emotional states you want it’s simply an action signal telling you to do something different.

Here are some simple questions you can ask yourself to get yourself back on track.

What’s my outcome?

Am I in problem frame or am I in outcome frame?

Is this bringing me closer to the life I want to create?

Is this bringing more joy, love, or purpose to my life and others?

Listen to the Peak Performance Humans Podcast. I interview top performers and extract the rituals, thought patterns, and strategies they use to produce the results they have in life.

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