To Achieve Your Goal, Don’t Focus on The Outcome

Success is a by-product of a good process

Thomas Oppong
4 min readMar 23, 2023

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Photo: Prophsee Journals/Unsplash

Yes, we all have goals we want to achieve.

Some goals are personal, like losing weight or learning a new language.

Others are professional, like launching a new business or getting a promotion.

But sometimes, we focus too much on the outcome and not enough on the journey. We become so fixated on the result that we forget to invest in a better process to get there.

When we focus on the outcome, we put unnecessary pressure on ourselves. We start to compare ourselves to others, and we become anxious about whether or not we’ll achieve our goals.

It often leads to stress, burnout, and even failure.

This is where the idea of ignoring the outcome makes sense.

It may sound counterintuitive.

Let me explain.

While having an outcome or goal in mind is important, the journey towards that goal is just as important.

The experience, process, and systems for achieving a goal take over 99 percent of your time.

By shifting our focus to the process and enjoying each step along the way, we can actually increase our chances of success.

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Thomas Oppong

Making the wisdom of great thinkers instantly accessible. As seen on Forbes, Inc. and Business Insider. For my popular essays, go here: https://thomasoppong.com