parents: My Principles
- Why
- True goal sustains motivation and quality.
- True goal simplifies decisions; weakens distractions.
- Chasing by-products turns scores into the aim; work drifts and shallow hacks creep in.
- Hit the true goal; by-products follow.
- What
- True goal: the change I want in the world or in me.
- Understand a problem. Build a good tool. Help someone for real.
- By-products: traces of impact, not the impact.
- Money, status, follower counts, likes, press.
- True goal: the change I want in the world or in me.
- How
- Decision rule: if metrics were invisible, would I still do this?
- Substance test: does this improve the work, or just the optics?
- Systems: tight feedback loops, clear iterations, real users; let by-products emerge.
- Measure: leading indicators > traces of impact
- Leading indicators tied to the goal: clarity, depth, solved problems, retained users helped.
- Track by-products; don’t steer by them.
- Boundaries: say no to work that boosts numbers but weakens the work.