Lessons from MS Dhoni: Mastering the Process Over Results

There are a couple of ideas I was having one was character related, take a character and talk about their quotes. Next was take a book and summarise them, since book summaries are also available on YouTube, I think a character summary would be a good way to start this new thread. The first character that I am going to talk about is one of my favourite sport icons, MS Dhoni. I personally feel like I have learnt so many things from him, in fact there are certain mindsets I got from Ms Dhoni that I applied in my life and got successful as well. So why not just start with Ms Dhoni?

Purpose First: 

One of the first things out there about him is this. When a reporter asked Msd about whether he'll be able to play when his daughter Ziva was born. He said that he's on national duty and everything else can wait. That's a big statement to make. This shows his mindset was totally about nation first and everything else later. He thought about playing cricket is what I get from this quote. What we can learn is that it's about commitment to the game and the nation that was first and everything else in his life was secondary.

Give it all : 

Read the statement again, "I believe in giving more than 100% on the field, and I don't really worry about the result , if there's great commitment on the field. That's victory for me. " Imagine how important is this attitude, he says that he does not really worry about the result and if there's great commitment on the field that's victory for me. This shows that he is outcome independent and carries himself the same way in victory and in defeat. As he says, it's the commitment on the field that matters more and we should give it all. 

Process is more important than results:

This is always his statement. Probably the most famous of his statements is this, that he believes that the process is more important than the results. I am sure in the back of his mind as well, he knows that the results are equally important but what he means out here is that it's the process that generates the result and not the other way around. If you focus on the process the result will naturally come, so what he means to say is that focus on the controllables, win or loss is not in your hands, but hitting runs, watching the ball, or just hitting the right lengths and line is still in your hands. So focus on the process. If you are studying don't think about the marks and study. If you are working don't think about the promotion and work. Yes do talk to your managers about your growth plans, but make sure that it's the process of work that's you keep checked and that's more important than the results for sure. 

Don't take success or failure too seriously: 

It's very natural in our life that we sometimes take success or failure very seriously. If we fail we take it personally and if we succeed we overjoy ourselves in that. However, what's more important is that we need to take success and failure with the same attitude. If we succeed we succeed and if we fail we learn and improve the process. Moreover, we should not let success get to our head and failure get to our heart. It's all about keeping the simple things, simple. Success and failure does not matter if you work hard, follow the process and maintain your composure at crucial times. Focus on the process and the rest of the things will just follow. 

Don't think about the result so much. Because thinking about the result won't give you results, you need to work at it. You need to follow a continuous process that will eventually give you success, everything else is secondary. I know he's repeating this, but don't think about the result. Imagine where you can apply this. 

At school : Don't think about the marks. Focus on learning

At work: Don't think about the promotion or the money. Focus on what value you can contribute.

Fitness: Don't focus on weight gain or weight loss so much. Focus on exercising regularly and eating healthy. 

Relationships: Don't focus on end goals like marriage or kids or anything like that. Focus on communication, trusting each other and loving each other. Let the rest of the things be an outcome of these things. 

Entrepreneurship or business: Don't focus on making millions of dollars, rather focus on providing value and solving an important problem that the world needs to solve. 

Financial Management: Don't focus on becoming wealthy, rather focus on budgeting, saving and investing regularly in good assets. Build assets not liabilities. 

Now that we have a way, we need to stop focusing on the results and focus on the process and the outcome will naturally follow. 

At the end of all, remember it's the process that's more important in whatever area of life that you wish to find a result. Think about your goals and then think about the process that you want to cultivate to have those goals reached.