Fall in Love With the Process, Not the Outcome

Though we so often are told to write down our goals, even SMART (specific, measurable, attainable relevant, time bound)  goals can be counterproductive and in this article by Brad Stulberg , he lays out why.  As he puts it, “break down your goals and concentrate on the process, the results will speak for themselves.)  And as much as I love visualization,  the best advice is to fall in love with the process, not the outcome to achieve your your best life.

Break down your goals and concentrate on the process, the results will speak for themselves. — https://getpocket.com/explore/item/big-goals-can-backfire-olympians-show-us-what-to-focus-on-instead?utm_source=emailsynd&utm_medium=social

In a Harvard Business School report titled “Goals Gone Wild: The Systematic Side Effects of Over-Prescribing Goal Setting,”a team of researchers from Harvard, Northwestern, and the University of Pennsylvania set out to explore the potential downfalls of goal-setting. They found that overemphasizing goals — and especially those that are based on measurable outcomes — often leads to reduced intrinsic motivation, irrational risk-taking, and unethical behavior.

1. For example,  taking harmful diet pills (need to lose that weight); plagiarizing (have to publish that book); using banned performance-enhancing drugs (must make the Olympic team); or partaking in fraudulent behavior in the workplace (gotta get that promotion). According to the authors of the Harvard Business School report, these are “predictable side effects” of overemphasizing goals, and reasons that “goal setting should be prescribed selectively and presented with a warning label.”
2. For example, a goal of finishing an Ironman triathlon is motivating until you realize how hard it is to do and that you have no idea where to start. And even if you do figure out where to start, you quickly grasp how far you have to go — both figuratively and literally. Any acute progress seems trivial. Ironically, focusing on such a goal can demoralize, demotivate, and, ultimately, detach you from the steps you need to take today to accomplish it. As James Clear brilliantly says in his book, Atomic Habits, the 30 second plank you actually do is 100 times better than the 5 minute one you plan on doing.
3. Even if you complete your goal, if that’s all that you were focusing on, what happens next? Some people feel a void in their life, becoming saddened and even depressed — what marathon runners often experience as the “post-race blues.. Or  once you accomplish your goal, you drop the good habits that got you there. (A common example of this is yo-yo dieting.)
4.  If you judge yourself based on whether or not you accomplished your goal, then, unfortunately, the answer is yes. Becoming a slave to the achievement of a specific goal creates a volatile and fragile sense of self.

Instead But after you set a goal, it’s best to shift your focus from the goal itself to the process that gives you the best chance of achieving it; and to judge yourself based on how well you execute that process.  Focusing on the process means breaking down a goal into its component parts and concentrating on those parts. It’s an incredible focusing mechanism that keeps you in the here and now, even during the pursuit of distant goals.

First, set a goal. Next, figure out the steps to achieving that goal that are within your control. Then — (mostly) forget about the goal, and focus on nailing the steps instead.

process mind-set creates daily opportunities for little victories, which help sustain the motivation required to accomplish long-term goals.

Process promotes progress, and progress, on a neurochemical level, primes us to persist.

what it does for our motivation, focusing on the process cultivates what University of Quebec psychology professor Robert J. Vallerand calls “harmonious passion.” Harmonious passion is characterized by a deep intrinsic motivation, a love for doing the work involved in achieving a goal.  two interesting examples are Federer who had an overriding love for tennis, and Michael Jordan, who actually craved practice more than the games themselves.

nowing you put in the work, that you gave something your all, breeds a special kind of confidence, fullness, and contentment that no one can take away from you. In her book Presence, New York Times–best-selling author andHarvard Business School psychology professor Amy Cuddy writes that focusing on the process “leaves you with a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment, regardless of the measureable outcome.”  (remember in the Bhagavad gita Arjuna is told to let go of the results of his battles.)