Tag: results

Finding the balance between striving for perfection and getting things done

We should all try our best at whatever we do, but we need to realize that our best is not perfect, and will never be perfect, no matter how much time we spend on it. Instead, we should focus our time, energy, and money on a mix between creating the minimum viable product (MVP) as quickly as possible and making adjustments based on the results/data that comes in.

Just because we think something will go according to plan, doesn’t mean that it will. If we’re inexperienced, sometimes we just don’t know what we don’t know. And even when we are experienced, sometimes there are still unexpected surprises or we feel the butterfly effect from some other event outside of our control.

So, our goal should be to know what we’re aiming for (having an end result in mind), develop a plan to get there, and execute that plan as quickly as possible. Yes, you should check your work, you should look for errors and try to avoid pitfalls when you can, but if you wait for “perfect,” it will take you a year to do something you could have achieved in a month (and it still won’t be perfect).

Get moving. Get started. Don’t wait for perfect. Pay attention to the results. Modify your actions based on your new hypothesis. Repeat.

Lead measures and lag measures – you reap what you sow

Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds that you plant.
“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds that you plant.” – Robert Louis Stevenson

There are lead measures and lag measures.

Lead measures are actions you should track to help you get to your goal (such as how many prospecting phone calls you made, deals you analyzed, days or minutes per week you exercised, or calories you consumed). Lead measures typically don’t get you too excited, but they are necessary for you to hit your goals. These are the seeds that you plant.

Lag measures are results-based. Examples of lag measures might be how many deals you closed, how much weight you gained/lost, hitting a PR in a specific exercise, etc. Lag measures are the end results. Their success depends on what you’re doing for your lead measures, therefore they are lagging behind. This is the harvest you reap.

Obviously, you don’t always want to only plant seeds and never receive the harvest. You need both to stay motivated and keep getting the results you desire. But don’t expect the harvest to always be there if you stop planting seeds daily/regularly.

Consistency, intensity, and reaching your full potential

Consistency trumps intensity, but you will never achieve your full potential without both.

If you do something once, you can’t reasonably expect results to come from it immediately. If you cold call one person, don’t expect one sale. If you work out one time, don’t expect six pack abs. If you make a one-time stock purchase, don’t expect to be able to retire tomorrow…

Consistency is about continually doing the bare minimum that you need to do in order to improve 1% that day. You have to consistently do the right things to achieve great results.

Intensity is another tool we should utilize to achieve the best results though…Sometimes it’s OK to stay up late and cram in a study session, but it’s not sustainable. If you do that every night, eventually you’ll crash. If you push it hard in the gym that’s great, but if you’re so sore that you can’t workout for a week afterwards, how much good did it really do? So many people follow diet programs or participate in 30-day challenges, which again, can be great, but when you stop following that, are you keeping the majority of the good behaviors or falling back into bad habits?

Intensity can help you achieve amazing results, but you need to have a stopping point. If you’re always doing things in an unsustainable manner, you’re going to burn out. It’s almost like redlining an engine for a car…you can ramp up to RPMs to pass somebody, but if you’re only driving in the redline, you’ll burn up you engine and do more harm than good.

When you decrease the intensity, you need to think of it like turning down the dimmer on a light switch. You’re not flicking a light switch on and off, just like you are not turning your intensity on and off. Because what usually happens there is you become an all-or-nothing person. You either work out really hard or you don’t work out at all. You eat extremely clean for 30 days, then you fall off the wagon. You invest a couple of times, then you don’t touch or even look at your retirement account for a year…you will yo-yo with manic highs and lows, and you’ll never reach your full potential.

Consistency needs to be the foundation of your success. That needs to be your number one goal – find something you know you should be doing everyday and do it. Don’t break the streak, but if you do, get back up and start it over immediately. Once you’ve found something that you can consistently do, focus on turning up the intensity more frequently. The more often you can do this, the better results you’ll get in a shorter timeframe.

On competition – with others and yourself

When doing anything, you’re not just competing against other people. You’re really competing against yourself.

Do not be content or disheartened based on the result. Be content or disheartened by judging your level of effort. Did you give as much effort as you are willing to in order to get the result that you desired? That’s the real question…if you’re not happy with the result, change your effort, your strategy, or both.

This too shall pass

“This too shall pass.”

Tell yourself this often to stay level headed. Tell yourself this in good times and in bad. Make sure that you’re doing the right thing today to set yourself up for a better future tomorrow.

Just because things are good today doesn’t mean that they will remain good tomorrow. If you get lazy and don’t follow through with your duties then things will turn around for you in a way that you don’t want.

The same is true if things are bad today. It will get better, but only if you’re doing the right things to correct your situation. Don’t just give up. Losers throw their hands up in the air and give up. Winners know when to cut their losses, when to pivot, and when to try again.