Processes are who you are.
“Outcomes are short lived.
Processes are who you are.”
-Ray Zingler on Twitter
“It’s not about the outcome, it’s about the process.”
You’ve probably heard this a million times and maybe even scoff at the cliché phrase.
The statement is basic and overused and the advice certainly isn’t anything to write home about, but is it without value?
Absolutely not.
The reason this statement is shouted from the rooftops at every team meeting from sports to business is because it’s extremely valuable if you actually take the time to listen and act on it.
On the surface, we are driven by the outcome:
Winning the championship.
Achieving that goal.
Getting the promotion.
These are all exciting things and can serve as good levers to drive motivation to begin taking the proper steps to achieve the above.
But do you have to be a process-centric person to achieve the above one time?
Not at all.
There are always those teams that win the state championship once.
The people who hit their weight loss goal once.
And the people who do whatever they have to do, one time, to achieve that promotion at work.
Why are there so many one offs out there?
It’s because people are solely focused on the end goal.
They are motivated by the attainment of “x” and do not understand the value is actually in the process.
Despite achieving the end goal feeling much better than the process, the end goal is short lived and the process is what creates your identity.
The reason processes are valuable is because they are who you are. When you systematize your life and build out processes, you convert your short term, short lived motivation into discipline.
And when you have discipline to act on processes (consistently) you open the door for repeatability.
It doesn’t guarantee you’ll win every time, but you get to increase your chances of spinning the wheel when discipline and processes guide your life.
And the more times you spin the wheel, the more chances you get to win.
It’s for this reason the Kirby Smart’s, Nick Saban’s, and Elon Musk’s continue to win.
They leave very very little up to chance.
They are simply repeating (and refining) proven processes that have proof of concept.
Better systems = better processes = better winning percentages.
Build and hammer the process. That is where the fruit is.
