The Tool For Managing Your Thoughts and Getting Results
Mindset Gets Us Outcomes
Mindset is important to everything we do because our thoughts are what get us our results in life. Our thoughts create our experiences and our outcomes. How you think about a circumstance will influence how you experience that circumstance.
The Model
To rework my mindset, I like to use The Model, also known as CTFAR: Circumstance, Thought, Feeling, Action, Result.
The Model is an easy-to-use method to analyze your thoughts about any circumstance, so you understand why you are or why you’re not getting results.
The Model starts with naming the circumstance, which is everything outside of you that’s a fact or can be proven. For example,
my mom picked up the kids from school
or the temperature is 95 degrees currently.
Next comes your thought about the circumstance you just named.
I’m so glad my mom picked up the kids from school as that gives me
more time to work on this project or 95 degrees is way too hot!
From our thought sparks an emotion. For instance,
I feel excited my mom picked up the kids from school
or I feel grumpy that it’s so hot.
We know emotions drive behaviors, so you’ll want to ask yourself two questions for the Action line: what action do I take and what action don’t I take when I feel that emotion? In this case,
I work a bit faster to finish my project and I don’t scroll social media, or
I act short-tempered with my co-workers, and I don’t contribute
effectively to the assignment at work.
The last line, R, are the results I get from my actions.
I finish my project before the kids get home or
the team is not happy with me, and I feel grumpy.
Oftentimes you can see the results line correlates back to your thought line.
Below are two additional examples, so you can see the flow of The Model. First, I’ll show a hindering thought (a thought that isn’t getting you the results you want) and then a helpful one (a thought that’s getting you the results you want) with the same circumstance.
Examples of a Hindering Thought and a Helpful Thought in The Model
Hindering Thought
Circumstance: Learn a new hobby
Thought: I don’t know if I’ll be good at it
Feeling: Insecure
Action: I try it once or twice but don’t put effort into it
Result: I don’t learn the new hobby (which reinforces the thought that I don’t know if I’ll be any good)
Helpful Thought
Circumstance: Learn a new hobby
Thought: I can figure this out
Feeling: Confident
Action: I ask friends for tips, I look for mentors, I look up advice on YouTube
Result: I learn a new hobby (which reinforces the thought I can figure this out)
If you have difficulty in shifting from a hindering thought to a helpful thought, nothing has gone wrong. Your brain just isn’t open to the new way of thinking (yet) because you’ve thought the hindering thought for so long.
Bridge Thoughts
When that happens, you can use a bridge thought to help you get from a hindering thought your brain wants to hold onto to a helpful thought that gets you the results you want.
A bridge thought is a phrase that you can add onto a hindering thought that helps open the door for your brain to slowly accept a new way of thinking about a circumstance.
Bridge Thought: I don’t know if I’ll be good at it, and I’m curious if I can figure it out.
Using the Model
Using The Model / CTFAR and bridge thoughts can help you tackle new projects that you might feel hesitant about or want to avoid. Learning how to create new thoughts, and new results will help you build confidence when you want to try something new because you know how to manage your thoughts around that circumstance. How we think about something matters because it impacts our results.
I Can Help
I can help you identify your current thoughts about your circumstances, determine what’s working and what’s not working, and shift to creating new thoughts that get you results that bring you results and satisfaction in life.