Definition

Evaluating results is rating results against a standard.

A result is a change that an action or event brings about.

Examples

• Business: after a store’s redesign, the owner counts the extra customers, checks that the season doesn’t explain them, and weighs the added sales against what the redesign cost.
• Medicine: a clinic checks whether a new test led to more correct diagnoses, and whether that gain was worth the test’s price and the patients’ longer waits.
• Learning: after a month of practice, you test yourself, find you know 200 more Spanish words, notice you’ve come to enjoy the practice, and decide the 15 minutes a day was worth it.
• Meetings: after an hour-long meeting, the leader notes the decision and plan it produced, the lively discussion most people enjoyed, the person who left frustrated, and the eight hours of time it took.
• Critical thinking: after working through a hard argument, you note both the clearer view you reached and the pleasure of figuring it out.
• Walking: after an evening walk, you notice you enjoyed it, stopped dwelling on a hard conversation, and slept better, and decide the 30 minutes was well spent.
• Video games: after two hours of a game, you weigh the fun and the break from stress against the lost sleep and the chores still waiting.
• Escape: a glass of wine after a hard day eases your worry for an hour. An honest evaluation counts that relief, along with the cost and the worry that comes back.
• Procrastination: putting off a report brings an afternoon free of dread, while the report is still waiting and the deadline is closer.

Non-Examples

• Reporting activity: “We held 12 meetings and sent 40 emails.” This says what was done, not what changed.
• Going by a vague impression: “That went fine,” with no look at what changed or what it cost. Noticing what you felt, such as “I enjoyed it” or “I stopped worrying,” is different: that is observing a result.
• Judging by a proxy: taking grades as the learning, or a rating as the customer’s satisfaction.
• Judging performance: rating how well the work was carried out. Good work can still produce a poor result.

Drawbacks

• Accountability: looking honestly at results means owning the poor ones, which many people find uncomfortable.

Causal Model

Value from your efforts, over time = (right goals) × (right execution) × (right evaluation)

This lesson covers right evaluation: judging honestly what an effort changed, what it cost, and whether it was worth it.

Process

1. Result: Name what the effort changed, wanted or not, and the evidence for each change. Include how it felt at the time, such as enjoyment or relief, and what lasted afterward. If it changed nothing, say so.
2. Cause: Check that each change came from the effort and wouldn’t have happened anyway. Separate what came from how you carried it out from what came from luck.
3. Comparison: Compare the result with the goal.
4. Cost: Count what it took, including everyone’s time. A one-hour meeting with eight people costs eight hours.
5. Value: Weigh the result against the cost.
6. Findings: Say what worked, what didn’t, and why.

Key Ideas

• Evaluating: rating something against a standard
• Right goal: a result worth what it will cost to get
• Right execution: a good approach, carried out well, at low cost and with few undesirable results
• Right evaluation: an honest judgment of what an effort changed, wanted or not, whether it was worth the cost, and why
• Direct result: the change an effort produces toward its goal
• Indirect result: a change produced along the way, such as trust, fatigue, or energy
• Experienced result: a change in how you feel during an effort or just after it, such as enjoyment or relief
• Lasting result: a change that remains after the effort ends, such as a skill, better sleep, or a task still undone
• Relief: the easing or ending of something unpleasant, such as worry, boredom, or thoughts you’d rather avoid
• Activity: what was done, as opposed to what it changed
• Performance: how well the actions were carried out; good performance can still give a poor result, and poor performance a good one
• Cost: what it took to get the result: time, money, and effort
• Value: the benefit of an effort’s results, weighed against their cost
• Proxy: a measure that stands in for a result, such as grades for learning

Common Mistakes

• Counting activity as a result: “We met for an hour” says nothing about what changed.
• Judging by a proxy: taking the grade or the rating as the result it stands for.
• Ignoring undesirable results: the side effects count too.
• Ignoring cost: a result can be good and still not worth what it took.
• Ignoring the payoff: calling eating, drinking, smoking, or procrastinating “pointless” when it reliably brings relief. The relief is a result, and it is why the habit continues.
• Counting only the short term: taking the enjoyment or relief and leaving out the lasting results and the cost.
• Ignoring enjoyment: treating how a meeting, a lesson, or a hard problem felt as beside the point. Whether people enjoy an effort shapes whether they come back to it.
• Judging only by the result: luck plays a part, so look at performance too.