Why You Shouldn’t be Results Oriented

We hear everywhere that you should be results oriented. Here’s why I disagree with it.

I’ve seen a lot of job descriptions that mention focus on results. Usually it goes in opposition to focusing on processes. Even when you write your CV, it’s recommended to write measurable results you achieved (increased conversion by 3%) rather than actions you were doing (conducted A/B testing). I agree with that. But.

From my personal perspective, there is a conflict. What I’ve seen a lot is when everyone in the company is focused on (short-term) results, things are done in a quick and dirty way, and the company never goes past MVP phase. Everything is MVP and here we stop. Which becomes even worse as these MVP-stage products become a dependency for all of the following products. Your final “result” is a sub-par product that will become a legacy for years and will cost you a lot to improve and rebuild later on.

In my personal life, focusing on results leads me mainly to frustration. If you’re trying to lose weight, your result would be something like “to lose 5 kg in 6 months” or whatever else. I personally lost 15 kg in less than a year in a healthy way, will share about it in detail separately. But the most realistic outcome is frustration when you gained 1 kg in your first month even though you tried to do everything right. So you give up and stop. Your actual “result” is +1 kg and frustration.

Instead of focusing on results, I believe in building the right process or setting up a routine. I’m not interested in 1 specific result that I will achieve by doing something short-term. I’m interested in building a machine that will generate these results, always and many of them. This machine is a process. It might be longer to build but it will last longer and will generate you results. A good example of such a process is “every feature should be A/B tested”. You need to teach your people what A/B testing is and what statistical significance is. You need to build a platform that will make it easy for everyone to do A/B testing. A lot of A/B tests will fail, does it mean someone did not achieve a “result” here? The “result” is always making right decisions, not guessing the right decision just this one time. That’s how you have a machine that lives by itself and generates (and saves) you tons of money.

Instead of focusing on “losing 5 kg in 6 months”, focus on setting up a routine. Exercise 3 times a week. No matter if it’s a 60 min workout or 15 min workout. More important is to make it a routine. A lifestyle. Ignore results. Don’t check this number of scales even. Setting up a routine is a very realistic goal that you can achieve and be inspired to keep going and to do the next step. Okay, you’ve been doing 3 workouts a week for 3 months already? Good. Now start thinking more about their quality. Duration and the technique of the exercises you’re doing. That’s how you can actually change your life and see the results long term.

For sure, sometimes you need to do something quick and dirty, build this MVP. That’s good. But remember, that MVP is a means to an end. Your actual result is long term.