THE SOLUTION TO A SIMPLE, MEANINGFUL, WELL-DESIGNED LIFE /
THE F Ê T E / LIF E PROJECT NO.
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WHAT IS MY OUTCOME? Welcome to the Fête/Life Project – a collection of helpful, useful and practical articles that can be applied to life at any time, but especially now. Sourced from the many magazines we have released, our message has never been more relevant or needed by our community today… let’s embrace the simple life and treasure what is truly important – human connection, community, self care and pure acts of kindness. SUPPORT WHEN YOU NEED IT MOST /
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STORY / JOSHUA FIELDS MILLBURN
WHAT IS MY OUTCOME? It is not ambition that sets a man apart, it is the distance he is prepared to go. I’ve accomplished a lot in my 31 years on this earth – not because I’ve had the most ambitious ambitions in the world and certainly not because I’m smarter or more skilled or better acclimated than the next guy, but because I’m willing to keep going, to keep taking action, to keep moving forward when many other men would give up, give in, or give out. When I’m tired and uninspired, that’s when I know I must shake the dust, right myself and advance. This type of laudable work ethic doesn’t
Your purpose gives you the leverage you
Another way to frame this question is to
come naturally. It didn’t for me, at least.
need to keep going, especially when you
ask yourself, ‘What is my strategy?'.
Rather, it’s a formula, and it works 100%
reach a roadblock. Without this leverage,
Remember, strategy is just a fancy way
of the time it’s applied.
it’s easy to get excited about a new idea,
to say recipe. Once you have a recipe,
These days I avoid goals in favour of directions, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have a recipe for moving forward. The way I see it, you must be willing to ask yourself four questions if you want to accomplish anything. If you do this enough, as I have,
but quickly fall flat on your face because
you can use it time and time again to
you no longer know why you wanted your
get the same result.
outcome in the first place (i.e., you’ll lose interest). You might have that initial
QUESTION 4: IS THIS WORKING?
ambition, but you must also find enough
Now you know what you want, why you
leverage to take you the distance.
want it, and you have a strategy to get
it becomes habitual and you begin to do
Sometimes we want a specific outcome,
it with everything – literally everything –
not knowing why we desire that outcome.
from conversations with co-workers
Perhaps you want to make a billion dollars.
to massive long-term goals.
OK, fine, but why do you want to make a
there. Great! You’re ahead of 90% of the population. This final question is crucial, though. If you take massive action and are
billion dollars? ‘So I can feel secure,' you
fortunate enough to achieve your outcome
QUESTION NO.01 / WHAT IS MY OUTCOME?
might say. OK, but can’t you feel secure
right away, then the answer is simple, yes,
This should be an obvious first question
without earning a billion dollars?
my strategy is working. If you don’t reach
in any endeavour. So obvious we usually forget to ask it – we skip ahead to questions three and four, and we end up wondering why we’re spinning our wheels. Another way to ask this question is to ask yourself, ‘What do I want to happen? Do I want to lose weight? Do I want to stop fighting with my significant other? Do I want to make a billion dollars?'. Before you can move forward, you must have a vision of what you want – without a vision, people perish.
Of course you can. So your real outcome in this case isn’t to earn a bunch of money – your outcome is to feel secure.
arbitrary sum to make you feel secure.
before you reach your destination. If you’re
To put it simply, you must be willing to
not getting what you want, change is
change your outcome so you have a good enough reason to see it through. QUESTION NO.03: WHAT ACTIONS MUST I TAKE?
QUESTION NO.02 / WHY DO I WANT
Once you know your outcome and why you want your outcome, you must take action.
This is the most important of the four
At first, it is important to take massive
satisfaction unless you can adequately answer this question with a high level of detail. Another way to ask it is to ask yourself, ‘What is the purpose of my outcome?. This question is the why
you have a strong enough purpose, you’ll
be willing to change your approach until There’s nothing wrong with earning money, you get your desired outcome – even if it but you needn’t rake in an exorbitant, means testing a thousand different routes
THIS OUTCOME?
questions. So important you won’t find
your desired outcome, then you must be willing to change your strategy. As long as
action, to give you the initial momentum you need to move forward. Then you must be willing to take ongoing, consistent actions until you reach your desired
a must. After all, doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity. When I was a kid, my mother used to say, ‘If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again'. Unfortunately, as adults, we tend to do the opposite – we get discouraged or embarrassed or ashamed when our recipe doesn’t work, and although we make it 90% of the way to our outcome, we give up. We quit. We fall short of the finish line.
outcome. There’s no avoiding this step – we all must take action.
behind the what – the purpose behind the outcome.
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health / W E L L - B E I N G
What’s strange is these feelings of
Thankfully, this formula doesn’t work only
discouragement and embarrassment
for large goals, it works for any situation
are completely mental. If we fail, we look
in your life. For example, if you get into an
around and hope no one noticed and
argument with a loved one, ask yourself
we vow to never do it again. Big mistake. We must fail. We must figure out what doesn’t work so we can figure out what does. Children already know this part of the formula – every child fails hundreds of times before she is able to walk. But what does the child do? Does she try a handful of times and then cower in embarrassment after failing? No, she continually changes
these same four questions. You’ll quickly discover your desired outcome isn’t to argue – the outcome you want is something else. Once you uncover your true outcome and its purpose, you can develop a strategy to get what you want, re-evaluating your actions until you reach your outcome. The same goes for every aspect of life –
her strategy, she keeps trying until she
health, relationships, passion, growth,
gets it right. That’s what all kids do.
contribution. If you ask these four
And now nearly every person in the
questions constantly, you’ll uncover
world can walk.
myriad revelations about yourself and
We don’t need goals to live a compelling, meaningful, purpose-driven life and we
you’ll accomplish more than you ever thought possible.
certainly don’t need goals to make us
ESSAY INSPIRED BY ANTHONY ROBBINS’
happy. If you’re not getting what you want,
ULTIMATE SUCCESS FORMUL A.
though, it’s a good idea to ask yourself these four questions. They might help you clear the clutter obstructing your path.
The Minimalists are bestselling authors and international speakers, Ryan Nicodemus and Joshua Fields Millburn, who have been featured on the Today show, Time magazine, New York Times, Wall Street Journal and L.A. Weekly. They have written three books, including the bestselling memoir, Everything That Remains. Their #1 indie film, Minimalism: A Documentary About the Important Things, is available to purchase through iTunes and Google Play. THEMINIMALISTS.COM
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FETEPRESS.COM.AU / ISSUE NO.28