C̶a̶u̶s̶e̶ Contribution and Effect

What is the relationship between efforts and results in your life?

I’ve wrestled with this question over the last 10 years - both personally and in my work with nonprofit organizations that want to know if their programs are making a difference. Over these years, I’ve found that the most useful approaches somehow find a way to navigate twin truths:  

            1. The humbling fact that our efforts directly cause very little.

            2. The sobering fact that that our efforts contribute to almost everything. 

There are a range of simple situations (e.g. hammers and nails) where effects can be clearly and directly linked back to a single cause. By contrast, in complex situations (e.g. pandemics, parenting) our efforts don’t generally cause direct 1:1 change…but clearly contribute to the outcome.

Effective organizations and individuals use different approaches to allocate their limited energies for each of these realities and find a way to leverage both toward progress. Being clear about the distinction between cause and contribution is a good first step to maximizing traction and minimizing wasted energy.