You’ve come to the last step in the I-SSEE method: Evaluation and the opportunity to revise strategies.
Read that last part again: you’re going to be evaluating strategies, not yourself as a person! There is a reason that the previous step in the I-SSEE method is specifically named experiment with strategies. It focuses on strategies and implies that you will need to go through some trial and error to arrive at a solution that works.
Experiments are followed by evaluation.
Thomas Edison was famous for his attitude toward experimentation and evaluation: “Negative results are… just as valuable to me as positive results. I can never find the thing that does the job best until I find the ones that don’t.” That was the attitude that led him to experience success after success.
What if he had instead given up after only a try or two and either decided the problem was too big to solve or attributed the failure of strategies to his qualities as a person: “I’m not smart enough to solve this problem.”
DO: view a strategy that didn’t work as an opportunity to learn.
DON’T: view a strategy that didn’t work as evidence that you are somehow “bad,” “lazy,” or any other negative label.
DON’T: view a strategy that didn’t work as evidence that the problem can’t be solved
How often should I evaluate strategies?
How often you evaluate strategies depends on when you would normally expect to see evidence that the strategy is working or not. For example, you will normally evaluate whether a new eating pattern is effective in helping you lose weight at the end of a week or two. You wouldn’t expect to see a result the first day. Other strategies should be evaluated the first time you try them. (See example below)
What questions do I ask to evaluate a strategy?
- How well did the strategy actually work? Did it move me forward to my goal? Part way or all the way?
- If it didn’t work: What kept the strategy from working? Are there obstacles that I didn’t consider?
- Does it just need a small change—a “tweak” to work?
- Are there additional strategies that I can “bundle” with the original one to get the result I want?
- Is it time to choose a different strategy altogether?
- What have I learned from the experiment with this strategy that I can use in choosing the next?
Revise, Rinse, Repeat!
I can’t emphasize this enough. Evaluation is only the endpoint when you achieve the outcome you want.
Until then, you will evaluate what worked or didn’t work with the strategy or strategies you have chosen, and then go back to experimenting with strategies (Step 4) where you modify any strategies that you need to, bundle strategies together, or decide on a new strategy to experiment with.
You may need to cycle through those last two steps a few times before you find what works. The important thing is to keep going with the process. Don’t stop at the first (or second or third) obstacle and decide you can’t do this. Remember Edison!
Occasionally, you may need to back up to step 3 if you realize that a SMART goal you had set wasn’t actually realistic. In that case, you’ll need to craft a new SMART goal that is attainable, then move through the Experiment and Evaluate steps again.
Occasionally our strategies work for a while, then don’t work so well. That happens. It’s not a failure! It’s normal! Tuck the strategies away for future use (They worked once. You may find they work again at some point.) Re-evaluate and try out some new experiments and you’ll soon be moving forward again!
Example:
Experimental strategy: I will work out as soon as I get home from work. (The strategy is setting a specific time.)
Result: You didn’t work out. (i.e. That time didn’t work for some reason which you are about to figure out in the “Evaluate” step—NOT you were “lazy.”)
Evaluate: Look back over the 5 categories of strategies: strengthening your motivation, cueing, finding a way around obstacles, increasing the sense of reward, and tracking. Ask yourself if bundling any of these strategies will be more likely to get the result you’re after.
Revise: Don’t be too quick to abandon a strategy you thought would work. Revising typically starts with tweaking your original strategy or layering on an additional strategy or strategies to strengthen the effect. Your new revision becomes your next experiment in the I -SSEE approach.
You had intended to exercise as soon as you got home from work, but when you got home:
- You just didn’t feel like exercising: Do you need to add a strategy to remind yourself of your deepest reasons for wanting to work-out?
- You fell into your normal routine, got distracted, and forgot that you wanted to work out: Do you need to add a strategy involving a cue to work out as soon as you get home?
- You were hungry, ate first, and then didn’t feel like exercising because you were full: Is there a strategy you could employ to get around the hunger obstacle for tomorrow?
- You did exercise right away, but didn’t like it and think you might not do it tomorrow: Would it work to bundle it with a strategy that increases the reward?
- Did you record the fact that you didn’t work out? Tracking is a very useful strategy for developing strong internal accountability. It works together with many other strategies: it often strengthens our motivation because we want to self-report something positive! It serves as a cue for evaluation, maybe even an on-the-spot revision: “I didn’t exercise right after work, so I’ll exercise while I watch TV after dinner, then I can record that I exercised!” When you record a behavior that meets one of your goals, just recording it gives you a “pop” of reward. (Maybe we are all kids at heart and never outgrow some form of sticker chart!) Tracking is a way to develop strong internal reinforcement as you see you accomplished something you set out to do.
If after a week or two of tweaking or bundling with additional strategies, you come to believe that the time you originally thought might work just doesn’t, then you choose a new time, which becomes a new experiment that you will evaluate.
The I-SSEE method is the process of resetting that will lead to renewing your health!
Return to Self-Coaching Introduction
Return to Step 1: Identify where you are now
Return to Step 2: Seek reliable information
Return to Step 3: Set SMART goals
Return to Step 4: Experiment with strategies
