Written by Ian Rhett

A CPR (which stands for Context, Purpose and Results) is a mechanism to declare the outcomes and intentions of any activity, whether it’s planning your day, or guiding a massive project involving hundreds of people over several years.

To create a CPR, you start with writing the RESULTS. I’ve heard it said to write the results in the past tense, as if they’d already occurred. Indeed, when a project is complete, it’s often quite remarkable to stand in the present, “checking off” results written into the future from the past.

———– STEP ONE: Dream up your RESULTS ——————
Some RESULTS might look like: “Everyone was satisfied with their participation” “The project was smoothly completed on time, within budget and without crisis”

One way to think of RESULTS is that it’s your order form to the Universe. What do you want to have accomplished out of the activity? Be positive, specific and don’t be afraid to “Go Big”. When you feel like your RESULTS brainstorm has passed, start to work on the PURPOSE.

———– STEP TWO: State your Purpose —————— The structure of the PURPOSE statement ties the results into a kind of vision statement that provides a clear and inspiring description of WHY the project exists, and the impact it has on you, your surroundings and the world at large.

The PURPOSE statement is basically organized like this: The purpose of _ is _ through __ so that ____ .

If you’re inspired to make up a different structure, go ahead. What’s important to cover are three things: 1) give it a name, 2) give it a purpose, 3) describe the WAY OF BEING (”through ____”) that calls you to live large and 4) express the positive, inspiring reason or motivation to whatever you’re doing a CPR for in the first place. Or just fill in the blanks. You’ll get the hang of it if you practice.

——– Step 3: The key to everything: CONTEXT —————— The CONTEXT is a short catchphrase that summarizes the vision and results into something that touches the essence of the project and its intentions. The CONTEXT thus becomes a kind of background to the activities. Just as important, the CONTEXT becomes a memory device that allows you to quickly accessing the purpose and desired results of your project. Extremely helpful in making choices as you step into the unknowable future, armed with a clear vision of the results you want to have.

If you’ve never used a CPR before, you should pick a project or activity and try it out. It’s quick and easy and the results, well, they speak for themselves (through you)!

Here’s an example:

CONTEXT Quickly and Clearly Communicating Purposeful Results

PURPOSE The purpose of my email to the list is to share the CPR tool with members of my community through clear communication and understandable examples so that anyone reading this can use CPR to create anything they want to have out of any activity they pursue.

RESULTS – the CPR process was explained clearly and succinctly – I added insights people found meaningful and helpful in their understanding – at least one person started using a CPR regularly as a result of reading these instructions – The writing flowed smoothly, and I spent less than 30 minutes writing this description.

I also like to add the PERIOD which the CPR spans. A specific timespan puts a beginning and an ending to the “container” so to speak.