I recently got a healthy reminder of how easy it is to raise your expectations WAY too high and cheat yourself out of enjoying small victories. Let me preface this by saying Im not trying to boast intentionally (although I may or may not be humble bragging subconsciously). My most-read Kindle book has well over 25,000 downloads, my most viral article got shared over 200,000 times, and Im so used to putting out viral material that getting thousands of shares just doesnt affect me like it used to. While having a megaphone is nice, I sometimes feel a sense of disappointment when I publish something that doesnt meet those (perhaps unreasonably and absurdly high) standards. Self-loathing is a good word to describe my mood on some days when I publish a dud. I read a really good book called Thinking, Fast and Slow that helped me get over this for the most part. The author talks about a statistical principle called regression to the mean. It would be easier to give you a case study than a textbook definition to explain this concept, so Ill just do that. You know that myth about how football teams/players that win the Super Bowl are guaranteed to have a terrible season the next year if theyre featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated? There is no curse at play. It is regression to the mean. No one could keep up the level of performance it would take to be worthy of that cover replacement forever. A team or players average performance probably isnt even close to what was reflected in the year they won a championship. If they have a crappy season following that, then it is due to the simple fact that even superstars cant claim to be perfect. The same principle is at play when it comes to what I publish online. It would be impossible to put out one viral piece after another. There needs to be an occasional stinker to satisfy the phenomenon called regression to the mean. Even Stephen King has put out a horrible book or two and hes my hero, so I shouldnt be so hard on myself. Applying this to you and whatever you do = dont chase perfection, because it just aint gonna happen. Focus on the process instead of the end result. It is good to work on improving your average (I try to!), but dont get upset when you fall short of your expectations, because regression to the mean is a simple fact of life that you cannot escape.
Posted on: Sun, 30 Nov 2014 23:02:21 +0000
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