What is your process?

The processes that you use in life dictate your success or failure. They determine your happiness or unhappiness. They control the direction your life takes.

With this much importance you would think that everyone focuses on processes and routines. But this isn’t the case.

Do you think about your daily processes? Do you structure them in deliberate ways, or do you let them form naturally?

There is a tendency to let our lives take shape organically. We feel free when we can do whatever we want, whenever we want. It is easy to just keep going through life doing what most people do.

Most people have never been taught to look at the processes. Instead, we hear that we should dream big. We hear that we should follow those dreams. We should shoot for the stars.

Or we hear a more subdued message. We hear that we have to be realistic. We hear that not everyone can be great. We hear that we should be happy with what we have.

I hate both messages. They play out in our lives so much that to me it becomes that annoying song that gets stuck in your head.

When in reality both sides miss the point. The point isn’t that everything has to be a major goal. But that doesn’t mean that we can’t improve and have to settle for complacency.

There is a very important middle ground. We can start to focus on what we are doing. Then we learn how to slowly improve.

Step-by-step we work at getting better. This allows us to grow. It allows us to expand our reach. It allows us to better the world.

In Living With the Monks by Jesse Itzler, the author talks about his incredible journey to the top. He is an ultra-successful businessman. He started several successful companies throughout his life.

One of those companies created an environment where his customers were some of the most successful people in the world. During his time running this company he would often find himself in long conversation with these individuals.

In the book he explains, “I’d always ask them about their daily routines: 'What do you do first thing in the morning?' or 'How do you manage your time?' I wanted to gain insight into what makes the greatest in their fields tick. It was during these discussions that I uncovered several traits that so many of these industry leaders had in common. For starters, virtually all of them developed a process that works best for them over time. SEAL has a process. Warren Buffett has a process. The Rolling Stones have a process. And the monks definitely have a process similar to all of the other greats I’ve ever interacted with.”

The greatest in their fields all focused on processes. They looked at what they did a regular basis.

Therefore, the message around dreaming big or giving up seems hallow. They sound great, but they don’t have as much meaning within them as it seems. They are missing a crucial piece. That piece is the process.

Instead we should shift to focus on what we are doing on a consistent basis. That is where the opportunity lives. That is where we can start to improve. We can be more successful. We can be healthier. We can be happier. With a focus on the process we are headed there.