To Maximize the Outcome, Optimize Your Process

 “The good life is a process, not a state of being.”_Carl Rogers

I have read quite a few books and countless number of articles on the science of human achievements. One thing that stands out of all the principles in those texts is the singular importance of goal setting to any form of success. 

Many of the peak performance experts maintain that ‘goals’ is the be all and end all, in the world of self-improvements. Some assert that whatever we may choose as our ambition: in the end, ‘goals’ is everything.

In many ways, this is true. Outcomes and goals are pretty essential; they are the lag measures by which our intentions become tangible. Without goals, how can anyone know when they are done?

However, if you look at things from another angle, you will realize that lag measures (goals) — as important as they are— come to be because of a series of choices and actions earlier taken; prior actions are what generates the result at hand. 

These series of steps are what some experts call the lead measures; they are the process that will give birth to the goal in view. Without them, the grandest goal in the world will end up as nothing but delusion. 

Think about it.

Success or failure with our goals doesn’t just happen out of thin air, we make it happen through a series of prior actions, always. 

People fail as a result of repeated errors in judgments, and by the same token, people succeed by repeatedly making the right choices toward the achievement of their chosen goal.

Hence, we can succeed by improving the quality of our process not necessarily by increasing—or even reducing—the size of our goals! 

This is so because we can always influence the actions that will ensure the goal. As a result, it makes sense that the process leading to the goal deserves a special consideration over the goal itself. 

The goal in any game is to beat the competition, but every great team knows that the secret to making that happen goes beyond merely thinking about the goal. 

Therefore, highly effective leaders choose to focus on the process and consistency of their performance; they understand that real success comes from striving to do better, each and every day. 

When you adhere to the right process, the winning will take care of itself. This principle applies to all areas of our lives. So if we want to make the most of any outcome, all we need to do is optimize the process of our pursuit.

Put the Process First

From the angle of business management, Edwards Deming, the American engineer and expert on corporate efficiency validates this principle when he said:

"Eighty-five percent of the reasons for failure are deficiencies in the systems and process rather than the employee. 

The role of management is to change the process rather than badgering individuals to do better."

You see the point? 

Deming just accentuates that if we have any shortage in our outcome, the problem is less about us and our goals but more about our personal system of operation. 

Essentially, most of us fail to achieve our goals, not because there is a problem with the goals or with us, but simply because of the weakness in our strategies: our process.

Therefore, the role of judicious self-management is to focus on improving the process above all else; herein lays the essence of this entire article.

Finally, if we take charge of the process of our pursuits, we can guarantee almost any results in our lives. And, when we are wise enough to optimize for a process that leads to extraordinary outcomes, we can win big, over and over again.

The Pathway to Excellence

“Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working.”_Pablo Picasso

David Byles and Ted Orland write an interesting story—which is relevant to the topic of today— in their book, Art & Fear. The story reveals a subtle trap that keeps many brilliant, ambitious minds from making great things happen. 

If you are someone who aims at an audacious goal but has been unable to make meaningful progress due to the syndrome of analysis paralysis, I think you will find this narrative pretty useful.

After reading the story, you will understand that the trick to success in whatever we seek lies in making a start, having tolerances for mistakes, gaining traction and improving the process of doing the work. All these apply, whether we desire to master a skill, build a business, or mold a pot.

Now let’s get down to reading the fascinating story:

“The ceramics teacher announced on opening day that he was dividing the class into two groups (Group L and R)…

All those (Group L) on the left side of the studio, he said, would be graded solely on the quantity of work they produced…

(And) all those (Group R) on the right would be graded solely on its quality.

His procedure was simple: on the final day of class he would bring in his bathroom scales and weigh the work of the “quantity” group: fifty pound of pots rated an “A”, forty pounds a “B”, and so on. 

Those being graded on “quality”, however, needed to produce only one pot – albeit a perfect one – to get an “A”.

Well, came grading time and a curious fact emerged: the works of highest quality were all produced by the group (L) being graded for quantity. 

It seems that while the “quantity” group (L) was busily churning out piles of work – and learning from their mistakes – the “quality” group (R) had sat theorizing about perfection, and in the end had little more to show for their efforts than grandiose theories and a pile of dead clay.”

As you can see, it turned out that all the best pots came from the group that was focused on production; the quantity group that was engaged in the most essential activity: doing the work.

And the unambiguous reason is because they were busy doing something, honing their skills, and improving their system. Unlike the other group that was putting off the real work under the guise of having to make something flawless.  

This story is a classic example of the true path to excellence and the insidious danger of perfectionism. You see, it’s only by actually doing the work that we develop the relevant skills necessary to produce something great. 

Your masterpiece will likely not happen on your first attempt. Therefore, you need to be willing to churn out a good number of ‘pots’ to eventually get to your best mold. 

The prolific inventor, Thomas Edison was right after all; genius is ninety-nine percent perspiration and one percent inspiration.

Stephen Covey’s Second Activity Quadrant: Important but Not Urgent

“Most of us spend too much time on what is urgent and not enough time on what is important.”_Stephen Covey 

The leadership expert and author of the classic book, ‘7 Habits of Highly Effective People,’ Stephen Covey writes that there are four activity quadrants for everything we do as humans. 

The four quadrants go as follows: first quadrant captures the important and the urgent; second quadrant captures the important but not urgent; third activity quadrant captures the urgent but unimportant, and the last activity quadrant captures the not urgent and the unimportant.

My focus in this article is the second quadrant, where the important but not urgent things reside. They are vital things like, sound health, true spirituality, quality relationships, personal growth and gracious legacy. 

According to Stephen, these things don’t always scream the loudest in our ears. And because they are not always pressing on us for immediate action, a lot of people put them off day after day, until it is too late.  

Certainly, for essential things to retain their rightful place in our lives, we need to be proactive in our response to them. The next few paragraphs will enlighten us on how to do just that.

Deliberately Prioritize the Important Over the Urgent

Steven Pressfield also writes about this in his best-selling book, ‘the War of Art.’ His take on the topic goes as follows—as best as I can recall.

He pens: “We need to have keen awareness on the difference between what is urgent and what is important.”

Now get ready for the uncommon sense which comes from his next piece of advice.

Apparently, you would expect the urgent thing to get the right of passage, right?

But Pressfield counter-intuitively counsels otherwise. 

He concludes that no matter how urgent the less important things are: “We must do the important thing first.”

Ostensibly, this is one of the best principles of beating daily distractions that we can count on. 

You see, a priority doesn’t become a practical reality by itself; it takes formidable sense of self-direction to make it so.

What is Your Wildly Important Thing?

Now, decide on the one thing that is truly important to you, which will likely not feel urgent at the moment, as that is the nature of wildly important things. Then organize your life around accomplishing that definite aim.

A definite goal gives us a strong direction and prevents us from being sucked into a whirlwind of busy but often less productive motions. To make this as practical as possible, try breaking down the goal into steps.

It is by breaking down our meaningful goals down into concrete steps can we clear the distraction-enabling fog that could stand in the way of our progress. This is how to maintain a positive trajectory towards our serious wants.

To be clear, a specific aim is not the same as a serious want. 

For example:

Desiring to become a valedictorian is a serious want, but going to the library every day is a specific aim. 

Desiring to be healthy is a serious want but eating a balanced diet at every meal is a specific aim. 

Desiring to be a pious person is a serious want but studying a verse every day from a divine text is a specific aim.

Desiring to build or grow a business is a serious want but securing one new customer a day is a specific aim.

Can you spot the difference? 

A specific aim is not only exact but it can also be quickly measured. It is assess-able in real time, and as a result you can detect on any day whether you’re on track toward achieving your serious wants—or not.

Now, set a specific aim on your serious wants and begin your steady stride toward your own unique form of greatness. 

Please, don’t lose your birthright to distractions; don’t lose your agency to mere 'urgencies,' and take the necessary precaution against foreseeable emergencies, if you want your short life to matter at the end of the day.

For many of us, we spend most of our time reacting to what is urgent rather than responding to what is important. And if we don’t decide to be proactive now, we may end our lives with heart-crushing regrets rather than soul-lifting attainments.

Ultimately, it is up to you and me to halt our own frenetic race to nowhere, and redirect our steps toward the path of lofty purpose and greater meaning.

Invest Your Willpower

“Willpower is essential to the accomplishment of anything worthwhile.”_Brian Tracy 

Whatever success may mean to us, whether it is to become a valedictorian, to build a profitable business or to master a useful skill, willpower is prerequisite to making great things happen in our lives. 

The power of will is an asset of tremendous value, and those who know how to sustain this personal mental strength can do almost anything in the world.  

Arguably, what differentiates the heroes of this world from everyone else is nothing but their cultivation of indomitable will through habitual acts of courage.

Notable successes are achieved by people who use their supply of willpower to establish the right habits first, and then implement those habits over and over, until the habits truly become second nature to them.

In this regard, Charles Duhigg, author of the best-selling book, 'The Power of Habit,’ even said: “There’s nothing you can’t accomplish if you get the habits right.” This is true to a large extent. But what needs to be highlighted here is that, to fully establish the rights habits, you need to exert your willpower to the edge.

So the thing to do for a solid chance at long-term success is to use our current supply willpower to establish the relevant habits for our most important goals.

If we do, it won’t matter so much that we are tired, stressed, or overwhelmed on our most disappointing days; because we can always find some support from our firmly established habits. 

With the right habits in place, we will always have the necessary self-discipline to do something right, no matter the measure of the temptations bombarding us. 

Consequently, we can stay the course of ambition because we have properly conditioned our self-will beforehand.