Blueprint >> Outcome-Independence

Disclaimer: This document is in raw form as I process and distill 4 years-worth of my personal development notes. Expect some typos and cryptic language for now. I will be updating frequently and polishing up.

Prescription: Be outcome-independent.
Related Concepts: Results vs. Process Oriented, Journey vs. Destination, Flow, Mastery

What is Outcome-Independence?

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Why is it Important?

Attachment to the outcome leads to self-sabotage, disappointment, and frustration. You cannot guarantee the outcome anyways. Attachment makes you desperate and reactive. Outcome-independence makes you attractive.

Outcome-Independence Videos

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Outcome-Independence: Key Points

Be outcome-independent in your activities, especially work. Counter-intuitively, the more invested you are in getting the result, the more attached you become, the less likely you are to get it.

You will keep this book for the rest of your life, building up an ever-large repository of information and insights. The beauty of the commonplace book is that it's your personal compilation. The best of the best for you! It organized your mind.

The only thing in your control is how diligently you work. You cannot guarantee the end result because of external factors outside your control. Stop worrying about the things you can't control and focus on the things that you can — your behavior.

• "You have the right to work, but never to the fruit of that work." ¹
• "Perform work without selfish attachments, alike in success and defeat." ¹
• "Those who are motivated only by their desire for the fruits of action are miserable, for they are constantly anxious about the results of what they do." ¹
• "Nothing being more important than anything else, a warrior chooses any act, and acts it out as if it mattered to him. His controlled folly makes him say that what he does matters and makes him act as if it did, and yet he knows that it doesn't; so when he fulfills his acts, he retreats in peace, and whether his acts were good or bad, or worked or didn't, is no way part of his concern." ³
• "The spirit of the warrior is not geared to indulging or complaining, nor is it geared to winning or losing. The spirit of a warrior is geared only to struggle, and every struggle is a warrior's last battle on earth. Thus the outcome matters very little to him." ³
• "If a warrior is to succeed at anything, the success must come gently, with a great deal of effort but with no stress or obsession." ³

By worrying about the outcome, you waste valuable mental resources on something outside your control, denying those mental resource to very thing that needs them — your work effort. This creates self-sabotage. Wanting something too badly leads to needy, desperate behavior and rash decisions that undermine your very goal. If you are outcome-dependent, you are much more likely to quit half-way through a project when you don't get the results you expected as soon as you expected.

Examples of outcome independence:

• When selling your house, focus your attention on the process of selling, not the final sale price. You have no control over the final sale price, but you do control how many ads you run.
• When losing weight, focus your attention on the process of going to the gym, not your weight. You have no control over how many pounds you shed, but you do control how consistently you go to the gym.
• When writing a book, focus on your writing, not the amount of copies you'll sell. You have no control over how many books you'll sell, but you do control the depth of your research.

Don't start an endeavor or project attached to a particular outcome. You cannot directly control how many units you'll sell, how much weight you'll lose, what ranking you'll get, how much money you'll earn, how many clients you'll attract, or how popular you'll become. Don't even try to worry about these things. Instead, accept that you can only control how hard you work.

Use Sedona Method to release your craving for the outcome. Don't worry, you'll still be motivated to pursue it, you just won't be crazed. It's better to pursue your goal in a steady, even-keeled way.

John Wooden is an amazing example of outcome-independence. He never cared about the scoreboard. All his energy went into improving seemingly trivial aspects of his practice sessions. The high scores and championship wins came out of that. He never encouraged his players to worry about the scoreboard. ⁴

Try to only take on projects that you would enjoy doing regardless of the outcome.

Journey vs Destination. Enjoy the process of what you're doing.

References

1. Bhagavad Gita, Easwaran
2. RSD Nation, Owen Cook
3. The Wheel of Time, Carlos Castaneda
4. Wooden on Leadership, John Wooden