Measure your actions, not your outcomes

Let’s say you attempt to do something 362 times and you’re only successful 103 times. That works out to roughly a 28.4% success rate. How would you rate yourself? Would you call this a success?

I’m guessing probably not.

And yet Roger Federer, arguably the greatest tennis player of all-time, has played 362 tournaments over the course of his long career and won only 28.4%, or 103, of those tournaments.

Would you consider Roger Federer to be a failure? Again, I’m guessing probably not.

This is the problem that comes with judging your efforts based on outcomes alone. Outcomes are influenced by many things that are out of our control. However, measuring the actions we take focuses our attention on what we can control. This enables us to stack the deck in our favor and put ourselves in the best possible situation to succeed.

Let’s address this issue as it relates to your financial planning. 

You set a goal of buying a lake house and after years of saving, you have enough for a down payment. But just as you reach your savings goal, your daughter makes the elite travel soccer team. Goodbye lakehouse summers! Your summer weekends will now be spent driving sweaty kids to soccer tournaments. 

Did you fail in reaching your goal? Or did life just happen? And have you considered the additional opportunities you opened up for your family through your diligent saving? 

The more we embrace taking action towards our goals and not judge ourselves solely on outcomes, the better. After all, our goals are likely to change over time — whether we are the ones who decide to change them or not. 

When we learn to adapt and adjust as things outside of our control happen, we gain a superpower – the ability to be ok no matter what life throws our way. 

And that’s perhaps the best outcome of all.

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