Process Vs Result : Click here to see who wins in the end

Process Vs Result

It was rather a cloudy afternoon and I met my friend at the time. He was my old mate, Ms Dhoni. Yes, I usually have imaginary conversations with him. During my school days, I would watch the IPL, and also follow the cricket team very obsessively. I was loving the Kohli-Dhoni bond at the time. Still do. A few days before the exam I was nervous. Wondering if I would score well or not and there was Mahi bhai in front of the tv. He went on to say, "It's the process that gets us the result, and if we take care of the process, the result will take care of itself." Quite the thing I wanted to hear at the point. I was a thorough thorough fan. I took out my notebook, and started understanding the process part. For me, process was to study and understand the concepts and not worry about the marks. I decided that I want to do really well in the exams but really understand the concepts well. I had a goal in my mind. But when I studied, I just studied. It was a revealing thing. Interestingly, Mahi bhai never got to know the influence he had on this young kid growing up. It's still the same. I like thinking about the process of improving. 

Process does not change

The thing that's interesting about the process is that it does not change when the result comes or not. In sports, it's quite normal to lose a game. There might be days where your team just does not perform as well. That's when the emotional stability of process kicks in. You win or lose, you practice the same way. Your self-esteem is not dependent on the win or the loss. You prepare for the match the same way. That is beautiful. Process is more defining in terms of one's emotional state. 

Process is continuous improvement

When we have a goal and say we get there. We are now chasing the next thing. We forget to enjoy the process of getting better. We are now not motivated to work that hard anymore. Isn't that limiting your potential? Moreover, when you are chasing the goal, you come from a place of lack all the time. You are like, "Oh I don't have this oh I need to get there oh I need to do this to get there". Remember there is nothing wrong in having a goal, but always feeling inadequate because you have not reached there is suffocating. It's important you enjoy the process of growth itself because inherently it is beautiful. Not externally. 

A legend once said

Haha on a lighter note, I have a friend, Ariz Ahmad who said, "You don't rise to the level of your goals, you fall to the level of your systems". We are talking here about systems and not goals. System is doing things at a particular time at a particular place in a particular way. You can laugh, you can have fun in the process by itself. System can be reading 10 pages a day. System can be talking to 10 people a day. System can be learning one chapter per day. It's all about improving one percent per day. 

You want to look at the exponential growth. To simplify this, imagine you start with 1. 1% improvement for the next day is 1.01. Now you increase 1% of 1.01, which would be 1.01/100 = 0.0101 add this to the total -> 1.01 + 0.0101 =  1.0201 and now you take 1% of  1.0201 and then increase the amount. 

If you were to calculate 1% every day for 365 days your growth would have been 1 + 0.01 * 365.

However, since you are compounding the growth, it's basically, 1(1 + 0.01)^365 . Now that gives you a value of 37.38. That's how compounding really works. Now this is the type of exponential growth that happens when you grow by 1% everyday. 

Are results not important then? 

Absolutely not. The results are important as well. In fact, the results give you feedback about whether you are doing something right or not. If not for the result, you will never know the process. Think backward. Let's start with the result or the goal we want. 

Goal : Scoring 95% in board exams.

Process: Studying everyday for 2 hrs. Learning from YouTube videos. Asking questions to peers and teachers for doubt solving. Mock tests. 

All of that is the process. Suppose you did poorly in an exam in the mock test. You know the topic. You review the topic. You ask questions to your teachers again and then learn again. I believe critical feedback is the fastest way to learn. During exams, it was easier as the feedback was marks. But in real life, feedback are the people. 

Don't look at the scoreboard: 

We wanted 30 runs in 15 balls, I know it was challenging. I looked at the scoreboard, and felt like hitting every ball for a six. However, that is the wrong the method. My batting partner at the time came to me and said, "Don't look for hitting all the balls for a six, make sure you watch the ball and connect it in the gaps". It calmed my nerves. With that level of calmness, my mind was sharp enough to look at the gaps. The options available. I played each ball to its merit. If the ball was bad, I would really hit it for a six. But if the ball was at a great length, I would try to nudge around for a single or a double to keep the scoreboard ticking. But imagine if I lost composure and thought of hitting every ball for a six, I wouldn't have chased the target. It was watching the ball, hitting it through the middle, having a high batswing, that's what helped us chase the total not looking at the scoreboard. 

Conclusion: 

Sometimes, progress is not visible. But I nudge you to keep going. It's the invisible progress that counts and one day it will just show. Imagine a bamboo tree. You plant the tree for years and you would not see any visible progress for 5 years. Suddenly, one day you see the tree growing in a mere 5-6 months so big and huge. The public sees the visible progress but what really happened is the invisible progress was made visible. Never think that your effort is wasted, one day it will come alive.