One of the most impactful changes you can make is to shift your focus from Outputs to Outcomes.

You can read about this distinction in this article: Start with the Outcome.

In short:

• Outcomes are what the customer does with what you have created: It’s the sign-up’s or the usage of your offering.
• Outputs are what you build or create.

This means:

Focusing on outcomes not only shifts our perspective towards serving our (potential) customers but also provides us with focus down the line.

Once we have clearly defined our Outcomes, we can determine what the quickest way to that might be. Starting with outcomes simply speeds up our work.

But it’s not what we usually start off with. Usually we start with the solution we want to build (output) and put all our resources into creating it. But without clarity what we are trying to accomplish in the first place we are often stuck in a cycle of busyness with little to show for.

As a business owner, your main ambition is to shift your customers behavior with your offering. If we out that front and center, we make our work purposeful and focused. Based on Outcomes, we define what we need to build and then map out the key actions necessary to achieve the outputs.

It usually takes some time to create a meaningful outcome for your customers that you can measure. Sometimes (rarely) you might want to reduce or expand this timeframe. 4 weeks / a month is usually a good place to start.

Sometimes you simply don’t know what the outcome might be. This is particularly true if you are just starting out. Imagine you start creating content. You don’t know how many people will see the content and engage with it.

Generally, outcomes are similar to assumptions. You assume that if you achieve the output that you’ll also achieve the outcome. Because the outcome is not something you have 100% control over, there will always be uncertainty.

So in the one instance where you simply don’t know because you are learning a skill, you can do two things

(a) make an educated guess, or

(b) create an output-based goal for the purpose of learning a skill or getting a feeling for what a sensible outcome might look like.

In the example of content creation, you might have a monthly goal of creating 100 pieces of social media content. After this one month, you will have a very good feeling what a good outcome might be.

If you are stuck, try this: limit what you work on each month to maximum three outcomes. That way, you’ll be able to focus and make progress. Often, we get stuck because we do too many things at once. Limiting the number of outcomes you work on is probably the least intuitive but impactful measure you can take to make progress.