Enjoy The Process
In my very first post of the new Windy City Coach Blog back in January, I wrote about setting goals and enjoying the process. I would like to touch on the latter a bit more in this post. I truly believe that it's something that can impact your training, and more importantly your day to day life.
One of the things that people don't talk enough about, in my opinion, is what we can learn from our children. It's easy to think the joy in parenting comes in watching your children grow up. But, if you take pause to sit and watch them, they can remind us of innate lessons that have been lost on many of us over the years.
My daughter Rhoda loves building. Blocks, trains, card piles, you name it. Now, she's only a little over two years old; however, I'll watch Rhoda sit and focus as she puts together a number of building blocks (think legos), becomes satisfied, knocks them all down, then begins again. I've watched her do this over and over and over. Same with her wooden train set.
I watched this for quite a while before I wondered...
Does Rhoda even care what the final outcome looks like? She must, to an extent, right?
Does she need my approval? No. She definitely wants me to help (DADA COME BUILD THE TRAIN!), but she's not looking for approval.
And this is when it hit me...
Rhoda just loves to build her blocks and trains.
She is truly engaged and enjoying the act. She isn't concerned about impressing anyone...not even herself. She just loves to do it. Period.
It's truly inspiring to watch. There is such simple joy in the process and such little worry about the product.
How rare is it in our adult lives that we enjoy the process of something as much as we look forward to acknowledgement of the finished product.
Do you golf? When is the last time you just truly enjoyed the round of golf independent of how you scored. I mean really enjoyed being outside and swinging the club, not the Scotch you drank after the round in the clubhouse. When was the last time you didn’t worry about the score at all?
How about cooking? Ever truly enjoy the process of cooking? My guess is that you are only concerned with how the dish tastes at the end of the day.
Or, how about the CrossFit Open? There's a time relevant topic. Have you been enjoying the process, not getting too hung up on your "score?" I hope so. It's gotta be fun!
Learning to enjoy and appreciate the process and caring less about the end product can be a huge advantage when pursuing any goal.
What would happen if you looked at your training like Rhoda does with building her blocks and trains?
You’d walk into the gym everyday excited to be there and for what that day held.
You’d be more focused in everything that you did in your training.
You wouldn’t be hounded by any of the self doubt that comes in the judgement of the finished product.
You wouldn’t wonder what’s next after you reached your goal because you’d just get back to doing what you loved…training.
And I would bet that your end product would be better without you even thinking about it.
So put some thought into what your goals are and what end point you are shooting for. Then think about how focusing on the enjoyment of the process could change the game for you. A more productive and enjoyable process might even enhance and improve your finished product.
And above all…
Be more Rhoda!
That is all.
-- Justin