Results Syndrome

Have you ever done the right thing and gotten the wrong result?

Have you ever done the wrong thing and gotten the right result?

If so, you might be a candidate to develop Results Syndrome.

I hope you’ll forgive me for using a sports metaphor. They’re cheap and far too common, but I like this one because it contains a surprising paradox.

Yesterday I heard a professional coach claim that a player was too focused on results.

Huh?

If there’s any venue in which results matter, it’s professional sports. Winning is the ONLY measure of success. Get on base, score the goal, hit the shot and, above all else, win the game. How can you be “too focused on results” when results are the only measure of success?

But he’s exactly right.

In sports—and in life—focusing on results is a great way to ensure a bad result.

Every athlete knows there’s a correct way to perform a particular skill, but doing it correctly doesn’t guarantee 100% success. Sometimes you do everything right but the opponent makes a great play or you get a bad bounce or the wind blows the wrong way. In sports and in life, doing it right doesn’t always generate the desired result.

So you yield to the temptation to cut a corner. You drop your hands or mess up your footwork, because you have to try something. And even when you do it wrong, sometimes it works. You get a lucky bounce or the opponent trips, and you succeed.

And since it worked, you repeat the process, and perhaps you get a second lucky break. And suddenly you’ve developed a bad habit that, over time, will inevitably lead to failure. You’ve developed RS—Results Syndrome.

Think this is only about sports?

A young lady doesn’t get noticed by the popular guys. One night at a party she relaxes her morals a bit, and suddenly she’s the center of interest. She likes the results (attention), so she repeats the behavior. She’s contracted RS.

A salesperson always treats customers respectfully but hasn’t met the quarterly sales goal. So he sends a million spam emails with some honest-but-tricky fine print and a few elderly folks fall for his scam. The boss rewards his “success” with a hefty bonus. Guess what happens next quarter? RS strikes again.

I’ve prayed for the right opportunity that’ll make book sales take off, generate speaking opportunities, and allow me to share my message—because that’s really the goal, not the books or the attention. At least that’s what I tell myself. And nothing’s happening.

So I “fudge” my resume, just a little, to make my experience seem a bit more “inspiring.” And someone invites me to a big event and promotes my false claims. Everyone likes the presentation. I sell a bunch of books.

No harm, no foul, right? More people hear God’s message of grace and hope, so I’m sure He’s pleased with the results. And all I’m spreading is the epidemic of RS.

See how it works?

Okay, the last one hasn’t happened—yet—but it’s a real temptation. Wouldn’t such a good result justify a really small wrong? Of course it wouldn’t, but the infection of Results Syndrome grows from that question.

So am I claiming that results shouldn’t matter? No. We all want to succeed and achieve, to be effective, to accomplish good, productive outcomes. But Results Syndrome warns us of an important paradox.

When we focus primarily on results, especially immediate results, we decrease our chances of achieving sustainable, repeatable long-term results of which we can be proud.

Immediate results always point us toward simplistic, quick-fix approaches to complex issues. They trap us on a never-ending treadmill, fighting one urgent fire after another, running ever faster to solve problems created by previous shortcuts. And all of this chasing and running doesn’t ever identify or solve the real problem.

So what’s the solution?

Understand that outcomes, especially short-term outcomes, often depend on factors beyond our control.
Control what you CAN control—your attitude, your effort, what you do, and how you do it.
Do the right thing.
Do it the right way.

I think that’s the vaccine that prevents the horrible, life-destroying infection of Results Syndrome.

What’s one area in which RESULTS SYNDROME has infected you?