The results trap
This week was brutal. Like everyone else in America, I found no shortage of distractions in the news. My political beliefs are the last thing you need showing up in your inbox on Sunday, but I tell you this because when I'm distracted, my worst work habits come out.
I spent the last few days fighting off enemy number one: results-oriented thinking.
Results-oriented thinking, or resulting for short, is when you evaluate the quality of an uncertain decision based on its outcome, not on the reasoning process that led you there.
This is easy to understand with an example. Imagine you’re driving towards an intersection that has a red light. You decide to run it and make it through without hitting another car. Was it a good decision?
Results-oriented thinking says yes. You saved a few seconds and no one got hurt.
Process-oriented thinking, its contrast, says no. It was uncertain that you wouldn’t hit another car and the downside to that outcome is very, very high.
Process-oriented thinking is great because if you make the right principled decisions over a long enough timeline, luck will take care of itself. I can say that from experience.
I’m about 2 years into my company and have over 25 paying customers with 12 enterprise logos. While my company isn’t big by normal standards, it’s a lot to keep up with as a solopreneur. There is always a decision I can think about in a results-oriented way and drive myself mad.
I can ruminate about whether I lost a prospect because my sales pitch was slightly off. I can worry about whether I’m going to renew my biggest customer. I can stress myself out wondering if there’s a bug in a critical part of the product. The list is endless.
The only way to enjoy this kind of work is to remain process-oriented. Make the right decision and let the chips fall where they may. And if you don’t, you end up with the kind of week I just had, second guessing every little thing.