What is the power of being process-oriented and outcome independent?
When you focus on the process of what needs to be done, you’re controlling the controllables. You’re not unrealistic in trying to force things outside of your scope of control to happen nor confused about how you should proceed towards a goal. The process provides and if we stick to it, results will occur eventually.
As I wrote in ‘How To Master Your Goals’:
“By focusing on the process towards goals, you pay close attention to the actual steps that need to be carried out and in turn, become intimately familiar with the actual reality of what the domain behind the pursuit of a goal is like. This familiarity cannot be obtained from hearing or reading about it from a third-party source but has to be directly experienced.
Enjoy the process regardless of the result. This is more likely to occur if your goals are intrinsically motivated. Creating micro goals towards an overall macro goal to the extent that the flow state from carrying out the micro goals almost removes the need to focus on the macro goal will also help you enjoy the process.
By focusing on the process, the person concentrates on the controllables of the everyday tasks and tackles them with committed awareness and gusto. They’re more likely to surmount the challenges presented and have a spring in their step when they do so. They’ll learn with deep understanding what is and isn’t meaningful and fulfilling for them. They’ll still acquire tacit knowledge of the domain as well as various soft skills peripheral to the job. If after a period of time they come to detest the career, they’ll have still tackled the initial macro goal in an optimal fashion.
By focusing on the individual steps towards the macro goal and seeking enjoyment when doing so, they will have on average been more content day-by-day when doing the work and can look themselves in the mirror knowing that they gave the career their all with no regrets. They’ll have acquired a range of skills and possible resources such as contacts that may be applied towards future goals in another domain. This is in contrast to treating the career only as a means to an end seeing the day-to-day tasks as chores to tough out in the pursuit of ‘guaranteed’ state changes once the promotion to senior-level architect is reached.
It’s important to get the everyday process right because the process is life itself. The process isn’t just a means to a supposed (and often ephemeral) end but one that makes the most of the time we have. Even if our goal posts change, if we follow the process, we can look back knowing that we’ve made the most of our time.”
Focus on the process – The process is preparation
Behind pounds of success is a tonne of preparation. “He who is best prepared can best serve his moment of inspiration.” wrote Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
Stories of success are all to visible but what we don’t see is what went on behind closed doors to achieve it. A Hollywood movie 90% comprised of the less glamorous preparation behind a success story (probably >90% in reality) wouldn’t sell as well as one that cuts out those ‘boring’ bits.
Yet those boring bits are where success is made. You see a good process IS the practice session.
The unglamorous processes we follow are what get us over the line in the end in any endeavour we undertake. They are the ones that prime our bodies and minds to perform when needed.
For example behind most of the top athletes and sports stars today is a fanatical practice routine and a love for pushing their limits away from the big stage so that they’re ready when the cameras are on.
