Success constantly battling with value

Sustainable growth: Is it more about celebrating your win or understanding why you lost?

We are often called to set up goals. In fact it is usually part of a performance screening process based on which we evaluate our work, namely in the corporate world KPIs, OKRs etc. Although clarifying targets and setting up milestones, undeniably helps us become more efficient, structuring our effort towards achieving a result, isn’t panacea. To achieve consistent delivery of value, wether this is in a business or personal context, goes beyond analysing measurements and data.

Producing tangible concrete outcomes, is not an end result but an ongoing never-ending process. We often consider our ability to meet an objective as a success. But this approach could potentially lead us to stagnation as we focus on the emotion created by this happy or sad ending after which it seems we are done, no matter what the outcome is. It is a perception that it doesn’t incorporate progress into the mix. But value is continuous, we can’t breakdown the process of learning and iterating. Despite achieving goals or meeting deadlines, the journey of delivering meaningful results is never ending.

Opposing dialectics

Of course this battle between success and value isn’t something new. Major philosophers have distinct opinions and have articulated opposing dialectics through time. Hegel on the one hand proposes that contradictions (or name it alarming results) allow us to create new meanings keeping old concepts incorporated within them, in a continuous process of evolution. On the other hand, Aristotle considers the continuous concept of “becoming” an imperfect situation. Instead he focuses on “being” and considers the fixity of our character and identity as the whole truth, considering being-for-yourself as the outmost state of mind.

Circling back to evaluation, and goal management, the question of wether we should we remain unaffected by a positive or negative result is arising. Should we treat the results of our labour as defining moments, as defining moments, indicative of our capabilities, or could we treat them as a vehicle that could potentially lead new understanding or determination to form? In other words, should we synthesize out of a contradiction to become more knowledgeable about the possibilities out there or instead treat the situation that has led to a big win or loss, as if i can be replicated exactly as it is ignoring the continuous evolution? It comes down to our preference to either shift our perception rethinking our purpose, or focus on personal identity aiming to preserve character attached to an almost dogmatic, results-oriented approach.

Putting on a more detached behaviour, separating ourselves from the tendency or almost obsession for end results, may lead us to find meaning in the process itself, re-adjusting our perception of our own needs, by not taking pleasure for granted based on past experiences. Even the biggest of wins or achievements undeniably, don’t have a lasting effect and sooner or later get outdated.

Using an everyday example, we cannot but accept that not all workouts create triumphant feelings. Sometimes you drag yourself to exercise while some other you just can’t have enough of it. Depending on the day you may feel useless or a professional athlete. Feelings and emotions related to achieving goals step in the way of sustainable growth even possibly divert us from from fulfilling our purpose.

Emotional governance

In this respect, rgulating emotions allows for longterm, strategic growth. In fact, by not regulating our emotions we are becoming enslaved by obstacles or big achievements, subject to positive or negative circumstances. While, instead, we could practice moving obstacles out of our path and preserving our composure independently of favourable or not circumstances persisting on our endeavors.

Regulation is often linked to new technologies and uncharted territories that need to be initially explored and consequently controlled. It is a balancing act that wishes to establish protecting systems, keeping us away from extremes. Most of us have tried to regulate our emotions at some point. From persuading ourselves that we can get past a divorce or the death of a loved one to simply controlling the urge to indulge in a never-ending chocolate consumption.

Various religions and in general life-philosophies, act as tools that wish to frame experiences in a productive way to quell our emotions and put them in a meaningful context, even if, or especially when, they are painful. In this perspective, when trying to understand the world around us, the ideal we should be striving for is emotional governance. Controlling our emotional state can help us from obsessing with success or failure and allow us to perceive any metrics as simple guides rather than end results that permanently label our capabilities, limiting our vision for the future.

Every product manager knows for example, that the market’s needs never end. No matter how successful a product launch might be, there is always a new day coming right after, that you will need to continue delivering useful features to maintain your position in the industry and your clients’ trust.

In this context being happy or moody, experiencing a success or a failure, should only feed you with additional information calling you to reshift you perception and accelerate your growth, rather than mark your overall performance, value and most importantly potential.