Worrying About Success

"Too many people think only about getting results. The key to success, however, is to focus on the specific task at hand and not to worry about results."

What do you think this piece of advice means, and do you think that it is, on the whole, worth following? Support your views with reasons and/or examples drawn from your own experience, observations, or reading.

I read somewhere that if winning is not important then why do we keep score? To work without a clear aim is unlikely to be productive. Imagine: in a stockholders meeting investors question the CEO  about the results he aims to get, and he says: "I don't know about that, I am just focusing on tasks at hand." Not only would he get fired, the company would be but through hell for hiring such an individual as CEO! Results matter.

However, there is a difference between having an aim and in being obsessed with it. The advice above does not ask an individual to not plan for results: it just asks to not worry about them. Often when people become obsessed with results, they often take decisions that are wrong at best and unethical at worst. Such a worry not only robs an individual of his peace of mind, ironically, it also prevents him from achieving the success that he worries about. If an individual charters the way to success with patience and diligence, focusing on specific tasks at hand and not worrying about results, much can be achieved. As it is said, feather by feather you can pluck a goose.

A good example of the perils of obsession with results can be seen in the origin of current economic crisis engulfing the world: its origin were bankers feverishly worrying to achieve their given targets and pocket fat bonuses. It was disclosed in Financial Times that the Royal Bank of Scotland dismissed concerns of a dutch risk analyst about the risk profile of the investments in mortgage based securities. Worry about achieving success blinded them to pitfalls of the road they were taking.

A recent health survey indicates a rise in stress generated diseases like asthma, depression and high blood pressure in young professionals. This gives me conviction that if people follow the above stated axiom in their lives, it can save them a lot of stress associated with worrying about results. 

Concluding, I sincerely feel that such an advice is wise and good to follow. Not only it ensures that one does not loose one's head (and health) to worry, but also that one achieves success. Even though success is the defining factor of all actions for most people, worrying about is counter-productive. The best way is to move towards it steadily, focusing on the task at hand as a step towards it.