Remember That Everything Goes Through a Process
The reality is that everything worthwhile arrives on the other side of the process.
Have you ever tried to bake a cake without following the recipe? Or planted a garden without first preparing the soil? If you have, you know that skipping steps rarely leads to success. Whether we're talking about cooking, gardening, or just about any area of life, everything goes through a process.
I learned this lesson the hard way when I tried to rush an important work project a few years ago. I had a big presentation coming up and left everything to the last minute. Instead of taking the time to research the topic, organise my thoughts, and design effective slides, I just winged it. Let's just say the presentation didn't go very well…
"Lack of preparation is the root of all failure," as the old saying goes. If we try to cut corners or take shortcuts, we usually end up paying the price. The reality is that worthwhile things take time, effort and patience. As my Uncle always told me growing up, "Good things come to those who wait...but only those who persevere while they wait."
So what exactly is "the process", and why is it so important? A process is simply a series of actions or steps taken to achieve a particular outcome.
Baking a cake involves mixing ingredients, baking at the right temperature, letting it cool, and so on. Growing a garden starts with tilling the soil, planting seeds, watering regularly, protecting seedlings, and finally harvesting.
There's an order of operations that needs to be followed.
The process slows us down and imposes discipline. It forces us to take a step back, be intentional in our actions, and resist the urge to take shortcuts.
As the famous inventor Charles Kettering said, "The world hates change, yet it is the only thing that has brought progress."
We're far more likely to get the results we want when we follow a proven process. Consider what happens when a professional chef bakes a delicious cake or a master gardener grows a bountiful garden. They rely on experience, technique and time-tested processes. They know that flawless execution at every stage is essential.
And it's not just baking and gardening - every area of life has processes we need to follow:
Getting physically fit involves progressively increasing exercise intensity, allowing time for recovery, maintaining a balanced diet, etc.
Becoming an expert at a skill takes years of deliberate practice - watching, learning principles, drilling the basics, making mistakes, iterating, and slowly building mastery over time.
Success in a job or career requires defining goals, crafting a plan, consistently taking small steps over the years, finding mentors, and continually re-investing to build skills.
Being a good parent means being extremely patient, managing emotions, instituting routines and structure, giving your kids equal doses of love and discipline, and modelling the behaviour you want to instill.
You get the idea - the process is paramount for just about any meaningful endeavour. Yet, in our increasingly impatient world filled with quick hacks and overnight successes, we often want to defy processes and find shortcuts. Maybe it's human nature to want instant gratification...
The reality is that everything worthwhile arrives on the other side of the process.
As the ancient Chinese text, the Tao Te Ching, states, "Nature doesn't hurry, yet everything is accomplished."
Whenever we try to bypass the process, cut corners, or take a shortcut, problems inevitably arise.
So, if we want to achieve great things in our lives, careers, health, relationships or any important area, we must learn to respect the process. We must embrace patience, avoid shortcuts, and trust that consistent effort over time will ultimately pay off, even if we can't see immediate results.
As Lao Tzu reminds us, "Nature doesn't hurry, yet everything is accomplished."
Sometimes, the process will be arduous, boring or frustrating. That's normal - anything worthwhile requires perseverance through difficulties. But if we can muster the self-discipline to follow the process relentlessly, brick by brick, we'll find ourselves rising higher than if we tried to get there overnight through some fad or quick fix.
So the next time you're tempted to find a shortcut or hack, pause and ask yourself - have you truly respected the process? Have you put in the reps, followed each step carefully, and trusted the journey even when results were slow? When we can learn to do this, incredible things become possible. Everything great emerges gradually through the process.
That's just how life works. Embrace it, and you'll go farther than you ever imagined.
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