Maybe it’s about the Process?

By the time you will finish reading this blog post, you will have an understanding of Process vs Outcome mindset. I will share a real life example so that you will know what this is all about.

Set Goals, have a plan to achieve them, follow the steps and you are all set!

I am sure we all have heard something like that from time to time be it in professional setting or personal. While focusing on end results / goals is always recommended but this often leads to feelings of being overwhelmed, stress, panic, pressure and whatnot! And this is where, the new mindset of being process oriented comes in!

A major part of my last year went in preparing for MBA. And just to give you an idea, admission process, for B-school programs which are mainly for people with work experience, consists of multiple essays that require crystal clarity from candidate’s end. Examples shared below :

1. What are your short term and long term career goals? How will our MBA program assist you in achieving your goals?
   
2. What are your personal qualities which you think make you suitable to be a part of the Class of 2023?
   
3. Is there anything else about you that is not covered in the application that you would like to share with us?

Just like any other candidate, I too spent a good amount of time thinking about my journey so far and aspirations, to figure out what I want out of my MBA. And this entire process of writing essays made me realize that it is possible that we might not get admit from our desired college for xyz reason but that does not mean our efforts went in vain. And before you think, this is some philosophical / motivational conclusion, let me tell you this is not the case at all!

When I was writing my desired professional & personal outcomes out of MBA, I realized that even if I don’t get admit from this college, I now know of other ways which can help me reach where I want to be. We often think that there exists only one way to reach our destination and while that maybe true to some extent but definitely not completely true at all. This is the beauty of the entire admission process of writing essays. They make you think, they make you go deep, they make you introspect and during that moment, you realize that this is not the end.

If I get this admit, great! If not, there are other ways by which I can reach my destination. Key thing to realize is this is not about the destination at all. We are living in dynamic times where change is the only constant thing. It’s more about the process. If you are really interested in reaching your destination, there will be times when you won’t even feel this process as a burden. You will actually enjoy it because you are not attached to the outcome, you just know that following this process will help you gain clarity and that clarity will help you in infinite ways irrespective of the fact whether you receive an admit or not.

Another example. Let’s say you want to write a short book of 30 pages or so. Now you can either focus on end result all the time and that is probably going to create a lot of stress as you’ll keep repeating “I need to write 30 pages” or you can decide that you will write one page on daily basis. And you just focus on that one page daily without thinking of the end goal. What do you think? Which method has higher chances of success? And importantly, which method is least likely to create stress and pressure of reaching the end goal? You know the answer!

I am still learning to be more process oriented at least where I can be. There are already great books and articles on internet in which people have shared their success and failures based on this mindset change. Do give it a read and try implementing the same in your life!

Thank you for reading!

In case you liked this post, do share it with your friends and family and don’t forget to share your views in comments below.

Image Credits : Google Images