Focus On The Actions You Can Control

When I started creating content, I watched the numbers I wanted to grow: income, leads, and subscribers. Slow results made me question the work too soon.

I would jump to a new idea before giving the last one time to develop. It felt like progress, but I was digging a lot of shallow wells.

Separate Actions From Results

A lead indicator is an action you can influence. A lag indicator is an outcome that shows up later. For a content business, publishing useful work and speaking with readers are actions. Subscriber count and revenue are outcomes.

Outcomes matter, but they can be slow and unpredictable. Actions give you something useful to do today.

Choose A Few Useful Actions

Pick activities that connect to your goal. You might publish one helpful article each week, talk with a few people in your audience, or improve an existing page. Track whether you did the work and what you learned.

Review The Results

Don’t assume that repeating an action will guarantee growth. After a reasonable period, look at the results. Keep what helps, change what does not, and give a good process enough time to work.

That shift helped me focus on the work I could control instead of chasing the next promising idea.

Adapted from Joshua’s 2023 podcast episode and saved show notes. This is an edited article, not a copy of the original blog post.