Brief Therapy

I am currently studying a subject called Brief Therapy. The need for being brief when treating someone has always been there, in the early years of psychology because there were so few psychologists and so many people with psychological issues. Today the pressure comes from the medical insurers who want to restrict the number of visits with psychologists for cost reasons.
The Brief Therapy model does not care what caused your problem, it focuses on what needs to be done in the future to resolve the problem. The underlying philosophy is that you need to visualize how your life would be if a "miracle" happened overnight and the problem went away (equivalent to the Mindshop magic wand tool). Then you think about the exceptions, the times you have experienced when the problem was not there. You work out what is working for you (and do more of it), and you work out what is not working for you (and try something different).
The logic of all this is that our natural tendency is to try harder when things are not working for us rather than trying something new. I am using the Brief Therapy model with my business clients with good success. Much of the methodology is very similar to the Mindshop approach to business and personal improvement, so it is no surprise that I am using it. The difference is that Brief Therapy is supported by scientific research so its confirmation of the Mindshop approach is comforting.
So in summary the Brief Therapy steps are:

1. Set the vision assuming your problem is resolved
2. Think about times when the problem was not there
3. Make a list of what is working and do more of it
4. Makes a list of what is not working and do something different

My added suggestion is to develop some key performance indicators (KPI's) so that you can monitor your outcomes. For example if your issue is lack of sales then set KPI's such as sales, average sales per customer, and process KPI's such as number of contacts and number of proposals. Of course the action plans need to be consolidated into a one page plan. Good luck with your application of Brief Therapy.