Andy Neary argues that focusing on preparation and controllable factors instead of outcome-based goals cuts stress and boosts success. The shift moves you from chasing results you can't fully control to building habits and effort you can.
Chapters
With the fourth quarter right around the corner, I've got a big tip for you. Do not focus on outcome based goals. What do I mean? Every week I send out a text to my coaching community. I audio text them one thing. What is your number one goal this week? And it's interesting how often I get back an outcome based goal. I want to write one new account, I want to sell one new piece of business. That's an outcome based goal. If you focus on the outcome, every day is going to be filled with stress and anxiety. The rest of your year you're going to be in this frenetic state. And that is not fun. So my advice is instead of focusing on the outcome, focus on that which you can control. Focus on your preparation. You may not be able to control the win, but you can control the fact you are going to be as prepared for that opportunity as you can be. It's like when I was pitching, if I spent all my time focused on the outcome, winning the game, I would have been stressed out and anxious. Even before I took the mound, some of the best games I ever pitched were games that I lost. Was I mad? Yeah. But at the end of the day, I could go to bed at night happy knowing that I controlled what I could control. I was prepared, I had a game plan. But I still lost. I was out competed. And that's okay. And I'm asking you to do the same thing with the rest of the year left. Focus on that which you can control. Focus on your preparation. Focus how you approach each day. Focus on your daily habits and rituals so you do put yourself in the best position to win. Because at the end of the day you, you can't control how much you are going to win, but you can control you and what you're going to do to make sure you are in the best position to win. If you do that, the rest of your year is going to be filled with more wins, a lot less stress and a lot more happiness. So go make it happen.
