Everyone around you is hyper-focused on results. Now, this attitude can be valuable. It pushes people to achieve and lets us reach our goals. Focusing on results lets us know i we are moving in the right direction, the wrong direction, or no direction. It is valuable to concentrate on results from time to time. But at the end of the day, it is more valuable to focus on the process when our satisfaction with life is concerned.
Where focusing on results becomes a problem is when it robs you of the enjoyment of the process. The process of achieving a goal is pleasure. The process is progress, and progress is a key to human happiness.
When we become single-mindedly focused on results, we can slip into the mindset that we are not allowed to be happy or fulfilled until we produce those results. Until we cross the finish line, we cannot be happy with the race.
People who live like this miss out on much of the juice of life. They miss out on the subtle enjoyment of simply working towards something in a controlled and purposeful manner. They give up hours, days, weeks and sometimes even years of happiness in exchange for one brief moment of happiness. And more often than not, it turns out to be nowhere near as enjoyable as they predicted. Think of many people who go to law or medical school, or sometimes even college or highschool. They sacrifice all sense of enjoyment of the present moment for the idea of some possible enjoyment in the future.
The solution to this is to shift your mentality and allow yourself to be satisfied with the process. Allow yourself to enjoy the simple work towards your goals.
If you can master this, you will find yourself exponentially happier in your life.
- Think about your goal, establish it, write it down – decide what you want.
- Now put our goal to the side and don’t think about it.
- Focus your mind on the process, and on the work that it will take to accomplish your goal. Identify the small steps towards your goal.
- List out all the small, individual pleasures of your work that you enjoy – no matter how small, insignificant or ridiculous they seem.
- Concentrate on the components of the task you enjoy and allow youself to think about them for a while.
- Now put your perspective back into the entire task of working, but continue to resist the urge to look at your goal constantly.
By focusing on the process, you free up your mind from being tied to the future. Instead, you can actually live in the present moment and learn to enjoy it. This will create additional happiness in your life and allow you to be satisfied with your work. Do the above exercise with your day job if you have one. List out all those parts of it that you actually like, even if you dislike th majority of it.
Allow your mind to spend more time focusing on the things you enjoy instead of the things you dislike. You will find yourself happier in life simply by concentrating more on those things you do like as opposed to the things you do not like. As you do this, your attitude will begin to change and you will discover more and more opportunities to enjoy your current work and life.
In all things, learn to shift your thinking away from results and direct them to the process. It will allow you to be satisfied in the present moment and will make you happier.
Many times in the Bible, christ uses various analogies about growth and agriculture. I think this served two purposes. First, it was a relatable way to teach people in an agrarian society. And second, I believe it showed us that God loves things that grow and improve.
Take an example from things that grow, they are not in a rush. They grow at a specific rate of speed, and they grow until they can grow no further. That is how we should be as well.
