Outcomes

We do most things because we expect an outcome.

But we have this wrong, in that it is not the outcome that defines the things we do.

If we write a blog post, and nobody reads it, likes it, shares it, we still have a blog post. There is nothing different in the work we have put in, in the tools we have used, in the practices we have followed, in the experience we have made. The act of writing the blog post, and the blog post itself, is not enriched (or impoverished) by the number of visitors it gets (or it fails to get).

And so, a smart first step when you choose you want to ship, is to free yourself from the trap that is the outcome. That is the only way to do with consistency, even when no one is watching, to make of doing a practice that sustains your motivation, your creativity, your purpose.

Outcomes are volatile. Doing has the power to be forever.

The spiral

What are the things you absolutely need to get done today, this week, this month, this year?

What are those things, and why, what purpose do they serve?

If you do not have answers to these two questions, if you shrug them off with a “too many” or “they are important”, it is very likely you are not going anywhere. And when you go nowhere, you end up taking on more. An endless spiral of unimportant and unpurposeful.

When someone asks you how are you, focused is a thousand times better than busy.

Mediocre

When many people have to agree on something, the final result will be mediocre.

That’s why you should design your company in a way that assigns responsibilities clearly, and then truly delegate everything that is not on your table.

It takes gut to do work that matters.

Damages

Scoring a point, winning an argument, having it your way.

They might all seem like great things, except the damages they make are often greater than the satisfaction they bring.

If you find this difficult to grasp, think back at the last time you failed to score a point, you lost an argument, you did not have it your way.

What you felt back then is the same your counterpart is feeling today. And you know for a fact, it is not a feeling that it is easy to shake off, not a sentiment on which it is possible to build a strong relationship.

And so I guess the question would be: is it worth it?

Personal

When you start thinking that somebody has done something to hurt you, offend you or cut you off, do two things.

Take a break.

Reach out and have a conversation.