As business owners, managers in a business or employees who dare to be successful, the day-to-day can be, well, challenging. And that’s exactly what it takes to be great. Challenging yourself to do whatever it is that you do, whether it’s professionally, personally or in your volunteerism, is what makes the outcome successful! But how do you get to the outcome?
I attended an event at which a speaker, Ben Newman, challenged us with focusing on the process and not the results. The illustration was a St. Louis Cardinals player who, having struck out and flied out over the course of a dozen at-bats, could not have been focusing on “I have to get a hit, I have to get a hit, I have to get a hit.” Instead, in the Cardinals organization, the focus — and the players are apparently taught this — is on the basics of how to get a hit knowing what the pitcher’s repertoire of pitches is, being ready to read the ball, and being able to adjust your swing as well as being able to hold back your swing, which together can create the result. It is the process. Just focusing on the result alone will not get you there.
Same thing even if you are not a professional baseball team or player. We focus on how to process information, produce most economically whatever it is we produce, discover new opportunities for our service or product, and achieve higher and greater objectives that each of us wants. Focus on the process.