Today I finished reading Michael Ellsberg’s The Education of Millionaires: Everything You Won’t Learn in College About How to Be Successful
. A great book about a very successful man who made it all happen without any kind of degree or special education. After reading this book you have absolutely NO reason why you should not be able to achieve anything you want out of life. By giving you a huge amount of real world examples of highly successful people, it really pushes the mindset of high-achievers into your head and gives you some major insights into the mind of self-educated and great people.
The difference between focusing on outcome and focusing on output was one that really resonated with me at that very moment.
He talks about the kind of people who only work because “they supposed to be” working. They only put the minimum amount of effort into their daily routines. Whatever their boss orders them to do, they will execute with the least amount of effort, and personal thinking. They might get the job done, but they won’t overextend in any way or form. This frees them from any responsibility. They can always blame others for their non-action and passive acknowledgment. These people focus on output. Basically they try to look busy.
People who are focusing on outcome are different (and will always be more successful in the end, because they have the right mindset). They are only interested in measurable outcome. If the work can be done in less time by doing it differently, they might do it this way, even if it is somehow “unusual” or “uncommon”. As long as it produces the required outcome, everything is fine.
Usually these people put extra effort into their work. When they see a potential area in their work environment where they can improve something, they just do it. They spend extra time to fix it. They do not wait for orders to fix it, they do the work first and then cash in the bonus for doing it. Bosses love these guys, they are the first people who get promoted and the last ones who get fired.
Try to be such a person, focus on being effective not occupied, focus on being productive instead of being busy, focus on outcome instead of output and everything will work out in your favor!
