Outcome Format

This format is used for developing a plan from the “future,” i.e., working backward from having achieved your goal. In NLP, the term Outcome is often used instead of “goal.” The Outcome Format is a goal-achievement strategy on the timeline, described below.

Standard Steps:

• Well-formed goal formulation (e.g., SMART)
• As-If Trance: Experience goal fulfillment
• As-If Trance: Look back from having achieved the goal
• Test and Future Pace

Basic Idea

Starting from the present state A, you formulate the goal. Then, from state B (goal achieved), you look back at A and describe the path from A to B.

Example:

You’re in Berlin and want to go to Paris. It’s tough to describe the route from Berlin to Paris in detail. But if you imagine you’re already in Paris, it’s usually easier to look back and see how you got there.

Detailed Description:

1. Well-Formed Goal Formulation

A goal is a desirable future condition. “What is your goal?” “By when?” Maybe chunk up: “What does that allow you to do?”

Evidence

Sensory-specific experience
“What difference does achieving the goal make compared to now?”
“How will you know you’ve reached your goal?”

2. As-If Trance: Experience Goal Fulfillment

One core NLP pattern is the “act as if” method. Bandler, Grinder, and their modeled therapists observed you can achieve something simply by acting as though it’s real.
“How does it feel once you’ve reached your goal?”
“Where are you right now?” (Environment level)
“How do you behave? What do you do?” (Behavior level)
“What are you especially good at creating?” (Capability level)
“What matters most, what do you believe in?” (Values/Beliefs level)
“Who are you, what distinguishes you?” (Identity level)

3. As-If Trance: Look Back from the Achieved Goal

Here, define and anchor 3–5 resources.
A: “What’s it like now that you’ve reached your goal?”
B: “What is it like a year later, once it’s second nature—and you look back at the present or at point A?”
C: “If, at point B, someone asks you how you achieved your goal, how would you describe the steps? Observe the time between now and A—explain how you got here.”

Important: Name the steps and resources that led to the goal state. From this, develop a plan or to-do list.

4. Test and Future Pace

Test:
“How does this seem?”
“Do you really like it?”
“Is it worth the effort?”

Future Pace:
“What do you do today—right now—to make this goal happen?”
If you can’t imagine the goal in the As-If trance, do some resource building.