Too many people confuse inputs for outcomes.

I heard that Warren Buffett—one of the world’s best-known investors—doesn’t schedule meetings more than 24 hours out, a bold simplicity in contrast to the rest of the world that has calendars full of meetings for weeks. A common defense for why others can’t do that is, “Well yeah, he can do that because he’s Warren Buffett.” I can’t say for sure, but my guess is that he didn’t start that when he became the world-renowned Warren Buffett; maybe he became the world-renowned Warren Buffett because he started doing that. What many see as an outcome may have actually been an input.

When I talk to a lot of newly-married entrepreneurs and tell them about my family life, many of them say they’d love to get to a place where their business is doing well enough that their partner can be a stay-at-home parent. I tell them they have it backwards: my wife wasn’t a stay-at-home mom because SuperFriendly was doing well enough for her to do so. SuperFriendly did well because my wife decided to invest in our family and our business by being a stay-at-home mom.

I used to think I’d get an assistant once I made more money. Now I realize that having an assistant is what makes me more money.

I used to think that I had to save up for a time to have a backup computer. Now I realize that having a backup computer saved me many times.

Don’t confuse inputs for outcomes.

Join 55,500+ subscribers to the weekly Dan Mall Teaches newsletter. I promise to keep my communication light and valuable!