Detach from results to do braver, better work

Results are noisy and slow. Process is quiet and immediate. If you build your identity on outcomes you can’t control, anxiety drives the car and your best ideas stay in the trunk. The paradox is that detaching from results often improves results, because you free working memory for the hard parts that actually matter.

Imagine coaching a team with a scoreboard glued to each player’s face. They’d stumble, obsess, and miss the ball. Many of us work that way. We refresh dashboards mid‑draft. We check comments between takes. We think it’s responsible. It’s actually a tax on attention.

A violinist I coached stopped checking audition results during practice weeks. She split her notebook in two: controllables and uncontrollables. Her controllables were bow drills, metronome reps, mock auditions. Her uncontrollables were judge tastes, hall acoustics, competitor quality. During practice blocks, she allowed only controllables into view. After auditions, she graded her inputs, adjusted the plan, and moved on. Two cycles later, she played cleaner under pressure. Same hands. Less noise.

Psychologically, this is locus of control plus process orientation. Humans perform better when they act where their actions matter and ignore the rest. This doesn’t mean apathy about goals. It means respecting cause and effect. Invest fully in labor, release attachment to fruits, and you’ll do braver work because you’re not bargaining with the future every five minutes.

Write two lists: what you can control and what you can’t for your current project. Schedule specific process goals—hours, reps, drafts—and block time on your calendar. During those blocks, hide metrics and silence notifications so you can keep your eyes on the work, not the scoreboard. After delivery, grade your inputs honestly and pick one process change for the next cycle. Keep doing the labor, not the refreshing. Try it for the next two weeks and see how your focus—and your output—change.