Result

A result is an outcome or an object. It can also be a credential or a prize, as in winning the game that earns a team the Grey Cup. The title, Grey Cup Champions, is the outcome and the Cup is an object that represents the prize for attaining the outcome. There are results everywhere. Another word that might be a cousin to ‘result’ is the word ‘consequence’. Consequence sounds a bit ominous, don’t you think?

I quite like the way Stephen Cover, of 7 Habits fame, puts it. He said, “if you pick up one end of a stick, the other end comes with it”. Nice. Speaks to consequences and how things are intertwined and connected. Some will say ‘you reap what you sow’. Yeah, that is the story of a result. If we are not liking the results we are experiencing, maybe it is time to notice our actions and how they cause those results.

Some results are created by a collective, maybe even the whole human race. Like global warming is, according to some, our fault as a species. The result of an election is caused by an accumulation of votes of the entire nation. The way we treat each other, most of us, most of the time, is a result of our commonly shared values. Some families get this result, some get another result, because of a shared value set.

Results arise from choices that generate actions. How are these choices decided upon? How do you make choices about what to act upon? And remember the actions we are talking about here include thinking, which we can’t see. In my experiences with this question I have found that beliefs or values, which are beliefs on steroids, are the basis of decision making. Actions follow beliefs and results follow actions.

What is a result you desire? What are the actions you do, day by day? Are you getting that desired result? If not, change the action(s). In order to change actions you need to check in with your beliefs. If beliefs do not support the action needed, then change the beliefs. Sounds easy enough. Not always easy to do. However, if you can see where the mismatch is you can make the change that will get you your result.