The Advantage of Action
The Advantage of Action
Letting go of goals helps bridge the gap between who we are and who we want to be.
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If you are building something, it is far more useful to focus on the work you are doing to produce the result than the result itself.
Jack Butcher
Despite our best efforts, most resolutions and goals go unmet.
We make sweeping declarations at the beginning of the year or when something particularly unpleasant happens and we vow that we will do better and be different.
However, we often find ourselves falling back into old habits even when we’re deeply focused and motivated to improve.
Every time we fall short of the results we want, we’re reinforcing to ourselves that we can’t follow through on the promises we make to ourselves.
We’ll never be able to achieve everything we set out to accomplish but each failed attempt makes it harder to accomplish what comes next.
To consistently get what we want, we have to prove that we can get results, but focusing on results is the worst way to achieve them.
Focusing on outcomes dilutes actions
Obsessing over a goal is like thrashing around in quicksand. When we’re only focused on the results we do more harm than good.
There is a big gap between where we are today and where we want to be.
Focusing on the results ignores the path between those two points and makes progress seem difficult if not impossible.
With this mindset, we always feel our goals are a long way away and it’s going to take a significant amount of energy to finally accomplish what we’re hoping for.
Eventually, we start to wonder if we’re making progress at all or if we’ll ever be able to hit our goals.
As doubt seeps in, our effort dwindles, our consistency falls away, and we’re left with the belief that failure is inevitable.
But if we shift our focus, we can change our results.
Daily action delivers results
If focusing only on results is like thrashing around in quicksand then focusing on our daily actions is like slowly and methodically pulling ourselves out of quicksand without panicking.
Counterintuitively the more we let go of the result or goal and focus on the work that will get us there, the easier it is to make progress.
This works for two reasons: we’re playing a trick on our brains and we’re genuinely developing new skills.
When we focus on daily action it’s like watching a movie on a plane instead of staring at the flight tracker the entire time.
The movie distracts us and lets us enjoy the journey so the trip feels faster while obsessing over the tracker makes the trip feel like it’s crawling by.
Focusing on daily action also forces us to consider the concrete steps that will move us from where we are today to where we want to be.
Instead of trying to blindly jump immediately to the results we want, we begin to break down the path to getting there, making a little bit of progress each day, and becoming a bit better at the work that will carry us to our goal.
When we’re focused on the work, we’re not worried about our progress or discouraged when there’s a setback.
All we’re concerned with is the task at hand.
When we consistently focus on doing the next right thing, eventually we’ll pick our heads up and we’ll have achieved far more than we could have guessed a few months prior.
Of course, we need goals and objectives to drive our actions, but our actions will always be infinitely more impactful than the goals themselves.
Anyone can have a goal, but only the ones who focus on doing the work will achieve them.
Prompts
What did you set out to do at the beginning of the year, but haven’t made progress on yet?
Have you been focused more on the results of the daily actions required to get there?
What are the daily actions that are most important for you to focus on?
Deep Dive
The One Thing - Jay Papasan & Gary Keller
Cutting through the clutter to achieve the results we’re after.
Thanks for reading! I’ll see you next Sunday.
Kevin