Last week a close friend was travelling through Dubai, and we met for lunch. During our conversation, he commented that “Life is one long pursuit of BATNA”. I love this quote and I know that I will refer to it regularly. Also, I don’t consider it coincidence that he is one of the most professionally disciplined and successful people I know. As you will see, I think most successful people operate from this mindset. So, let’s discuss what this means and how a considered understanding of this perspective can fundamentally change your life in every area.
BATNA is an abbreviation used in negotiation theory for “Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement”. It is what you will do if you don’t come to agreement. In commercial negotiations it is important to know your BATNA because this is the single most powerful source of negotiation power. Another way of thinking about BATNA is your ability to walk away; if you have good alternatives, you will not be beholden to one course of action, one supplier or one offer. The existence of good alternatives, even if not as good as your preferred outcome, gives us negotiation power because we can walk away.
BATNA is about constant improvement. It’s about never accepting your current hand of cards and always looking for ways to improve your chances of success. It is this definition of BATNA that my friend was referring to and it is this mindset that is so pervasive in successful people.
In the study of NLP, there are six values area of life: Career, Family, Relationships, Personal Development, Fitness & Health and Spirituality. This is referred to as the ‘NLP Values Wheel’ and whenever we have imbalance in any one of our personal values, we have imbalance in our life and experience some form of dissatisfaction. The level of dissatisfaction can range from inconsequential to depression. I have had personal coaching clients who externally seem to have everything; a great job, family, good health and financial stability however, they feel unfulfilled and suffer bouts of depression. Research shows that we can only predict 10% of a person’s true happiness from their external world, with 90% of our happiness a function of how we perceive and process the world.
To complete this week’s blog and give us something to ponder, let’s now use this brief insight into the NLP Values Wheel (which I could write a book on, one paragraph does not do the concept justice), and relate it to BATNA and my friends comment that “Life is one long pursuit of BATNA”.
When we take a step back and review our position with respect to any of the value areas of life, if we are honest with ourselves there will probably be some areas we are lagging. Any such position is a potential area of weakness. The most common use of BATNA is as a financial variable; if I fail to close the deal, what is the next best business option I have? However, BATNA is not only financial. If a relationship fails, where does that leave you emotionally and motivationally? If you have a health issue, how does that impact your family and finances?
As you can see, the values areas of our lives are inextricably interlinked and dependent upon each other. A one-dimensional BATNA based on focusing only on having a strong balance sheet is probably the best way to not have one. We need a multiple BATNA’s each focusing on developing all areas of our life and this should be a constant pursuit. Such a mindset develops resilience, balance and ultimately success. Whatever success means to you..
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