How do you use your answer to the question above to guide what you choose?
Use your standard to assess your options and explore other possibilities when your current options don't meet the mark.
You may be able to name them. Or you may know what you want to change, what you want more of, or what you no longer want to accept.
When describing what you want, you might be inclined to get specific. Or you might use broad terms that capture the general idea without defining the details.
Both approaches have limitations.
Specificity is useful when the detail is required. The problem is making details mandatory when an outcome could work for you without them.
If you specify $300,000 in annual net income as one of your aspirations, would earning $299,999 really make the outcome unacceptable? What about $299,000? Or $275,497? Or $503,143?
Introducing a specific dollar amount doesn't capture what you are really after, the life that you would like the money to provide.
At the other hand, aspirations such as “more freedom” or “financial security” do not have enough detail to establish what you mean. If you asked another person for what those words mean to them, would you both provide the same description?
Using vague terms doesn't capture what you are really after and it leaves your aspirations up for interpretation.
In one case, you have specified more than is necessary. In the other, you have not specified enough to describe what is necessary for you.
To use your aspirations to guide a decision, you need to describe what you want in a way that captures what you need to be satisfied with the outcome.
Your search doesn't communicate enough about what you're looking for. More information is required before options can be identified.
The problem: Your description doesn't establish what you're actually looking for clearly enough to distinguish what fits from what doesn't.
This is the same problem with using aspirations such as “financial security” or “more freedom” to guide a decision. Without defining what those terms mean to you, it's difficult to distinguish possibilities that could deliver what you want from those that wouldn't.
There is a lot of information, but the results aren't even restaurants. You are being recommended places that meet your description without meeting your needs.
The problem: Your search includes details that do not reflect what you actually need. The results might match your description without being suitable for you.
This is the same problem with specifying an income goal without describing what you need that income to provide. You could focus on meeting a particular number without understanding what that number needs to provide you.
When it comes to using our hopes and wishes to guide our decision-making, the key is describing what you want accurately enough that the results reflect what you're actually looking for.
A useful description includes enough detail to distinguish what fits from what doesn't, without introducing details that aren't necessary.
Useful descriptions can have different levels of detail. The important thing is that the details serve a purpose. For example, in Google Maps, you can find a restaurant via name, address, or coordinates.
There are multiple ways to describe your aspirations in order to use them in your decision-making, but you'll know you've arrived at a useful description when it can do six things.
▪️Clarify what you mean: Understand what you're actually looking for, rather than relying on broad terms or unnecessary details.
▪️Communicate it to others: Describe what you want clearly enough that someone else understands what you mean.
▪️ Assess your current situation: Determine how your circumstances measure up against what you want.
▪️Identify the gaps: Understand what is missing or would need to change to achieve the outcome you want.
▪️Evaluate possibilities: Assess existing options that could meet your requirements.
▪️Generate alternatives: Identify other ways to meet your requirements when existing options don't meet the mark.
By applying the ORS™ you define what your aspirations require and get to use that information to guide your decisions.
It allows you to:
▪️Clarify what you require: Put your requirements into words that faithfully capture what you mean.
▪️Give others a clear picture of what you require: Enable others to identify what fits your requirements and what does not.
▪️Understand any gaps: Compare your current situation with your requirements to identify what is already satisfied and what remains unmet.
▪️Evaluate opportunities: Assess options against your requirements—not just against what makes each option appealing.
▪️Generate alternatives: Explore different ways to meet your requirements without treating the first plausible solution as the only one.
Use what you need from ownership to guide which business you buy.
Use what you need from ownership to guide what you do next with your business.
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The Operational Reality Standard™ and ORS™ are trademarks of Happy Mindset Inc.