"Don't Confuse Effort With Results" with Nick Power

This week, Erica and Erin take on the cult of productivity with guest Nick Power, marketer, creator, and professional chaos enthusiast. 

Nick shares how he first heard the phrase (hint: it didn’t go well), and how it still haunts the way we talk about work and worth. They also get into what counts as success, how “results-only” thinking dulls creativity, and what might actually be worth measuring instead.

Don’t forget to leave us a review and call the hotline to share your favorite or most cringe-worthy cliches:

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Links & resources

Nick Power on LinkedIn

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickcpower/

Nick’s Very Cool, Fun Merch

https://uncapitalized-goods.printify.me/

Transcript

Don’t Confuse Effort with Results With Nick Power

The Trash Talk Podcast Episode 22 | October 2025

Episode Summary

Hosts Erica Breuer and Erin Thomas sit down with marketer and creator Nick Power to unpack the popular cliché, “Don’t confuse effort with results.” Together, they explore how this advice can crush creativity, distort motivation, and lead to burnout—especially in marketing and startup culture. They also discuss what might be more useful to say instead, and why trusting the process still matters in an age obsessed with outcomes.

Table of Contents

• Intro
  
  
• Main Topic 1: The Origins of “Don’t Confuse Effort with Results”
  
  
• Main Topic 2: When Results-Only Thinking Backfires
  
  
• Guest Interview Highlights: Nick Power on Creative Effort, Marketing, and Meaning
  
  
• Key Takeaways
  
  
• Call to Action
  
  
• Show Notes & Links
  
  

Intro

Welcome to Trash Talk, the podcast where cliches go to die. In this episode, Erica and Erin are joined by guest Nick Power, known on LinkedIn for his sharp takes on “chaotic authenticity.” They discuss one of the most overused pieces of advice in business and sports: Don’t confuse effort with results.

For Nick, this cliché hits close to home. As a former athlete and marketer, he’s good at effort—it feels like control. But he also knows how easily “effort” can become a shield for insecurity, overwork, or creative fear.

Main Topic 1: The Origins of “Don’t Confuse Effort with Results”

Nick first heard the phrase from his boss at his very first marketing job—a bootstrapped startup barely making $30,000 a year. As the company’s first hire, he was experimenting, hustling, and trying everything to get traction.

One day, while going over his ideas, his boss dropped the line: “Don’t confuse effort with results.”

Nick understood the kernel of truth—it’s about focusing on outcomes—but the comment crushed his spirit. “It felt like he couldn’t see how much I was trying with what little I had,” he recalls. “When you’re working with zero budget and no team, effort is all you have.”

He realized later that while the advice had some merit (it made him think about metrics and measurable goals), it also risked killing creative energy and initiative.

Main Topic 2: When Results-Only Thinking Backfires

Marketing is full of ambiguity. It’s not brain surgery—there’s no single “right” way to do it. So when leaders fixate only on measurable results, they often miss the creative experimentation that drives innovation.

Erica points out that in startups and creative fields, “effort” often looks like trying new things, testing ideas, and exploring what might work—not just ticking off tasks that lead to instant ROI.

Nick agrees. “When we rush toward results, we crush the spirit of trying,” he says. “We lose the messy, beautiful part of the process that makes something worth doing.”

He describes his early marketing efforts—building brand displays out of driftwood, redesigning packaging, creating immersive trade show booths with fake trees bursting through wooden floors. “Those things didn’t show up on a dashboard,” he says, “but they made people stop and pay attention.”

Erin adds that this kind of “performative effort”—working long hours, filling calendars, optimizing endlessly—has become a modern productivity trap. “We start to perform effort instead of asking what actually needs to get done,” she says. “We measure our worth by exhaustion instead of effectiveness.”

Guest Interview Highlights: Nick Power on Creative Effort, Marketing, and Meaning

• On leadership and phrasing: “I wouldn’t use that phrase with my team. I’d say, ‘Think about the result you want and work backwards.’ That phrasing keeps the focus on purpose, not punishment.”
  
  
• On creativity: “Marketing is supposed to connect people—not just cram them into funnels. When you focus only on results, you lose the humanity and the joy.”
  
  
• On burnout: “If you don’t have something lighting you up, you can’t lead from an authentic place. People can tell when your light is dimming.”
• On trusting the process: “I spent two years writing on LinkedIn before anything took off. I wouldn’t trade those years—they built the foundation.”
  
  

Key Takeaways

• “Don’t confuse effort with results” can oversimplify complex, creative work.
• Focusing only on measurable outcomes can crush innovation and morale.
  
  
• Reframing matters: “Don't mistake results for purpose."
  
  
• The process is as important as the product—especially for creativity.
  
  
• Sustainable effort requires joy, curiosity, and space to fail.
  
  
• The best results often come from trusting the process, not rushing it.

Call to Action

If you liked this episode, follow Trash Talk wherever you get your podcasts. Leave a review, share it with a friend who’s tired of corporate clichés, and subscribe to the Trash Talk newsletter for behind-the-scenes insights and episode extras.

Show Notes & Links

• Follow Erica Breuer: LinkedIn
• Follow Erin Thomas: LinkedIn
  
  
• Follow Nick Power: LinkedIn
• Nick’s Merch: Buy Here