Vanity success metrics

Vanity success metrics
Photo by Bianca Ackermann / Unsplash

Let's say one's goal is a "successful book." But getting featured in a "prominent journal" is a vanity goal: it could be a different journal representing success tomorrow.

The process behind a successful book remains similar. But it's output format, the "success event," the topic, can all change with time. If you focus on the inputs, the outputs will take care of themselves in an era-appropriate manner. But if you focus just on the output, then you might find yourself out of time.