15 questions to super-prime your brain's Reticular Activating System...

‘Work smart not hard’ is a mantra frequently quoted as a reminder about converting dreams into goals with a bit of strategic planning. It’s all about being more effective without expending more energy.

The acronym SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timed. A well structured SMART goals exercise is all about designing a plan of action that cuts through the noise and, with a series of challenging questions, takes you step by logical step to where you want to be and also when you want to get there. It’s a bit like establishing your preferred destination and drawing a roadmap or setting the sat nav. But, what happens when you don’t plan SMART? ?

Fail to plan, plan to fail

Back in 1982, *Larry Walters took off from a back yard in San Pedro, Los Angeles, in a garden chair suspended from 42 helium filled balloons. With him he took 13 gallons of bottled water for ballast, a parachute, a lifejacket, an altimeter, a watch, a two-way radio, two litres of Coke, two torches, an air pistol, a road map of California and a compass.

He also had some sandwiches (flavour unknown). He didn't bother with a safety belt as the chair (which Walters named Inspiration) was tilted back 10 degrees. It was tethered to the 42? balloons by four ropes and his idea was to ascend to 100ft, eat a sandwich and float around a bit .

However Walters’ plan was seriously flawed. Turned out his craft was significantly over-ballooned and, when his ‘ground crew’ released it on that fateful morning, ?it immediately shot up at a staggering rate of 800ft a minute; the force snapping the tethering rope and knocking off his glasses.

Despite this, the experience of going up in a piece of garden furniture was, at first, quite something, Larry explained later. ?At one point he caught sight of a small plane … below him! Soon, however, he was near to 10,000ft and drifting into controlled airspace.

At this height he should have been breathing with an oxygen tank (which he didn’t have). This is where a Delta airline pilot spotted Walters crossing the approach to LAX airport. 'We have a man in a chair attached to balloons in our ten o'clock position, range five miles,' he told air traffic control.

Numb with cold and struggling to breathe, Larry realised it really was time to come down. He had calculated he would need to shoot seven balloons with his air pistol for a controlled descent to the ground.

However the chair, caught suddenly by a gust of wind, lurched forward and his air pistol was knocked to the ground. To his horror, the craft now started ascending again. A subsequent official hearing was told he could have been carried to 50,000ft up at which point he would have turned into a human ice lolly. Fortunately, providence intervened and Lawnchair Larry (as he later became known) heard the welcome hiss of escaping gas.

The balloons were starting to leak helium and he was descending again. As the chair descended, however, its cables became tangled in a power line. Amazingly, Walters wasn’t electrocuted, but the neighbourhood he was over did experience a 20-minute blackout.

Finally, Lawnchair Larry touched down, just 45 minutes after he had taken off...and was immediately arrested by police. Walters actually became a bit of a national celebrity in the USA for a while but, for most, his doomed flight served as a nightmarish example of what can happen when our plans are not so smart after all! ?

Be less Larry

If you don’t want to be like Lawnchair Larry, try using the following SMART goals questions taken from the Fusion Therapeutic Coaching Diploma and Skills Certificate programmes. The questions are structured to set your brain’s Reticular activating System to?achieve goals fast. So, strap yourself in, prepare for a safe journey and do what author of ‘The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People’ author, Steve Covey, suggested,? ‘Start with the end in mind!’

15 of the SMARTest questions

1.?????? What do you want?

2.?????? Why do you want that?

3.??????How will you know when you have got it?

4.??????What will that feel like?

5.??????What will others notice?

6.??????Imagine a ladder. If 10 is where you want to be, where are you now?

7.??????What have you done to get you this far?

8.??????What do you have to do to get you up just one more step?

9.??????What are your internal and external resources?

10.??? What skills have you used so far?

11.??? What challenges have you met and overcome?

12.??? What can you do to take this forward?

13.??? What could stop you?

14.??? When do you want to achieve this by?

15.??? When will you take the first step?

? *Walters’ exploits are being celebrated in the musical ‘42 Balloons’ that opened May 2024 at The Lowry theatre in Salford. ?

The Fusion MBMM programme ?

The Fusion Mindfulness Based Mind Management Certificate is a self guided 8 week, experiential course (still ￡395) on completion of which you can purchase the full programme ￡325) to run with your?1-2-1 clients or with groups.?Please note the cost of the MBMM programme is set to rise to ￡995 this week.? ?

The 2024 Fusion Therapeutic Coaching Diploma and Master Coach programme is full but you can still access the NCFE accredited Skills Certificate at the reduced price of ￡455 (deductible from the cost of the Diploma should you later enrol)

THE FUSION THERAPEUTIC COACHING DIPLOMA

MASTER-COACH TRAINING?2024/25

A comprehensive 60 hour integrated coach-counselling programme led over 6 months with 12 months tutor support delivered via Zoom as small group training by leading BACP accredited psychotherapist Frances Masters

Aimed at counsellors, coaches, psychologists and wellbeing practitioners who want to safely and ethically integrate key counselling skills and advanced coaching techniques to help clients achieve fast and effective outcomes no matter where they are on the continuum of wellbeing.