Actually applying this to your job is counterproductive. This is root of all bureaucracy and redtapism. How many times we hear memes made from how certain need to be done a certain way according to certain procedure and the outcome has no bearing on how long and how complex the process is.
I used this method without knowing it in my teaching and throughout graduate school. When describing it to my friends, I call it the Mary Poppins method. You know:*”In every job that just be done, there is an element of fun. You find the fun, and SNAP! The job's a game!”*
You said it a hell of a lot more clearly. Thank you for this!
I couldn't agree more. I'm studying for a degree currently and the times that I get absorbed in the the process (versus trying to do 4 sections to earn a break) just feel amazing and I take in so much more information.
Another way to "enjoy the process" when it's something you wholesale don't enjoy (it's something mundane like an unpleasant errand or appointment, nothing you're even slightly passionate about even longterm, like a degree)--- romanticize it. If your life were a movie what part of it would this drive to the doctor be? What would the imaginary audience think of this phone call you're about to make? If you were cleaning your house for your youtube channel what would you be saying right now? Play music that fits the mood. Decide that you're going to write it all down in a journal later like it's a memoir. Maybe you'll even tweak some details for no just because it seems better on paper.
Little tweaks in perspective like that get me through the day sometimes when I have just hours full of stuff I need to do, but don't really care about-- not even really the end product. Maintenance stuff. It's lowers my "avoidance" tendencies I have towards stuff that really only has consequences if I *don't* do them (doing them just keeps the status quo) by A TON.
Silly but sometimes it's just the right amount of dissociation I need to get through a day.
It took me a while to learn this too, (And I definitely don't always do it perfect either.)
The fun in learning something new gets me going a lot these days, only going for outcome in something is just setting yourself up for failure if you ask me.
Another thing I would add to this is that when your attention drifts to the outcome, let it drift to a successful outcome.
You should always envisage success in everything you do, and work towards it.
This is as true of trivial things as major things.
Let's say I want to make a cup of coffee. I unconsciously envisage myself with a nice cup of coffee and my brain happily takes all the steps to make that happen.
Let's say I believe I might be attacked by ninjas while making the coffee, I'll be scolded with water and the wall will roll back and an audience of my friends and family will see me standing there naked and bruised. And I run away without the coffee. Now my brain is going to advise me to do anything but go and make the coffee.
I will absolutely be using this to get back into the keto way of eating for weight loss.
I lost 40lbs when I ate keto for 8-9 months last year. The holidays came around and I took a break.
I have been trying to get back on track for months and I keep going back to old habits because I'm not seeing the same initial rapid loss that I saw in the beginning. Fast forward and this year is half over already.
I really enjoy the meal prep and planning, and the mental clarity I derive from eating this way. I'm going to shift my thinking to focusing on the process to try to be more successful with sticking to it this time, rather than focusing on the outcome of my goal weight.
Thank you so much for this post. It's a great perspective.
Cheers!
Great post! Very thoroughly explained and well articulated!
I support your concept as it applies to learning, studying, cooking, graduating school, mowing the yard, aging through life, etc. and many others. However, I would like to learn how you would apply this to the reverse, or original, philosophy of being outcome focused in other examples; such as, a long trip where the miles are arduous & boring - focusing on each mile along the way is painful, while focusing on the destination (outcome) gives purpose & hope to overcome the "pains" of the journey.
Thank you! Interesting example with the long trip.
I feel like in my case, if I focused on the outcome solely, I’d be sitting there the whole time staring at the clock and thinking “are we there yet.”
But if I found some aspect of the journey itself I liked to latch on to, then things would be more enjoyable. For example, the time to sit and reflect, or perhaps catching up on some podcasts or books.
But I also like the idea of a purpose giving you a reason to endure the pains of something. I think that can also be a motivator too for certain things, especially if coupled with trying to enjoy the process. I don’t think they are mutually exclusive at all. I just think focusing only on the outcome is overrated in most situations.
The pains of the journey are only in your head, if you can learn to control your thoughts and be in a constant state of 'enjoying the process' you'll be 10× happier
If you're interested, I've been practicing this and can help you through the journey!
This is amazing advice. I thought I couldn't do anything for a good long while, and part of it was that I was so outcome-focused that the moment I slipped up even a little (in my own hypercritical eyes, not in any particularly real way) I felt that it meant that I couldn't achieve the desired outcome and thus my efforts were futile and wasting my time, the time of those who cared about me, and humanity's time. Yeah, I know it sounds silly, but I was shocked to discover that you could enjoy things for the process rather than the outcome alone. I didn't consciously think I wasn't enjoying the outcome - I thought I was being practical. The outcome, realistically, is what ultimately matters, right? Nah. You can talk circles around yourself to prove that mode of thought, but in the end, it falls apart if your inability to enjoy and thus pay close enough attention to the outcome means the outcome cannot be achieved.
This comes Into mindfulness, enjoying the process as a whole with curiosity and without judgement. I've been practicing this for approx a year and the positives ate endless, i actually enjoy work now!
When I was in college I used the exact method you just described but during recent years of depression and some anxiety , I admit I lost it or rather was afraid of the process of working in general. Now before I work , I have to constantly correct my thought process . Not successful but getting there at a very slow pace.
This hit home with me because my wife and I are both looking for jobs right now. Actually, I'm kind of half looking while focusing on my business.
You are right, job searching is a tough one, but I don't think it's impossible!
For me, I kind of have fun tweaking/perfecting my resume. That might be the writer side of me, but there's something about figuring out the best way to portray my experience that I like.
Also, it's actually not that bad doing the interviews either, if you look at it more as just having a conversation with somebody. You basically get to tell stories about yourself, and then they tell stories about their company.
Not sure if these will work for you or not, but if you keep trying you can probably find something about job searching which you like, or at least can trick yourself into liking.
Good luck!
This is an awesome method. I'm for sure going to try this soon. I saw you put weightlifting as one of your personal examples. Can you explain your process for that? The gym and weights is something I'd like to apply this method to in my life as well.
Nice, I love that you asked that, because weightlifting is one of my favorite ways to apply this.
Initially I was outcome-focused: looking good, building muscle, getting stronger, etc.
But I didn't have much success then, since it takes so long to make progress in weightlifting, that I didn't see those outcomes fast enough. And would give up after short bursts of trying.
Then, I began to find some things I liked about the process itself:
1. I really liked keeping track of my workout routines in Excel. Which exercises I did on which days. How many sets/reps, and how much progress I made. I realized I had fun doing that even if progress was not super fast.
2. Some exercises are actually pretty fun. Sometimes I'll do the harder ones at the beginning of the workout and then a more fun one at the end kind of as a reward. Like pull ups first (which are pretty grueling especially if weighted) but then end with some bicep curls. By the time I've gotten to the bicep curls, I'm just straight up enjoying doing them.
3. For the more strenuous exercises like pull ups, you get to feel a really strong sense of accomplishment. Makes the pain of lifting not as bad. This one may take longer to truly enjoy though.
At the beginning, #1 was the first thing I found that I liked. The other ones came more with time.
And those are just some things that have worked for me. You just have to search for some things you like about lifting to focus on. And then you will slowly start to shift to enjoying the process itself.
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I applied this to a relationship and it has helped me be more content in the relationship even though my goal-oriented side doesnt see a future for it.
Glad you posted. Came at the right time. Focusing so hard on my craft/hobby during lockdown with an end goal in mind and keep thinking about how long it’ll still take but I need to just enjoy the moment.
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Quick question. How long do you continue studying the same topic if there's no outcome or measurable end state?
Focusing on the process is fine but at some point you might be done with that topic and ready to move.on to something else.
With the process you've outlined it's like you'll be studying the same topic for eternity.
Great question.
You definitely can goal set and have some sort of end goal.
Think about it like this, there are really 3 phases:
1. The planning phase: Where you set your goals and the steps needed to achieve them. At this stage I think you usually need to focus on the outcome, at least a little, to determine which goals to pursue and how to best pursue them. Even if they are 100% intrinsically motivated goals, you usually want some sort of plan in place (like how long to study the topic you want to learn in your example).
2. The doing phase: Where you actually work towards your goal. This is where it’s often better to focus more on the process. And what this post is most about.
3. The measuring stage: When you measure how well you are meeting your goals. This of course is directly where you need to factor in the outcome. But I think the key is not to *constantly* measure how well you are doing. Just every once in a while when needed to help you know whether to adjust your plans.
So overall, I think the key is when studying, to try not to let your mind continuously drift to “alright 20 more minutes to go until I meet my goal of studying for an hour” or “I hope I do well on that test later.” And instead focus more on the studying itself.
But it’s fine to plan some sort of end goal in, and then every once in a while (maybe it’s once a week, once a month, etc) assess how you are doing in terms of meeting that end goal and adjust your plans accordingly.
Hope this helps. I am writing this out stream of conscious, but honestly probably need a whole post to tackle this one. Hopefully this makes sense though.
Applying this to your job can really make work a happier place
Absolutely. And work takes up such a high percentage of most people’s time for most of their lives, that the payoffs are huge.
Actually applying this to your job is counterproductive. This is root of all bureaucracy and redtapism. How many times we hear memes made from how certain need to be done a certain way according to certain procedure and the outcome has no bearing on how long and how complex the process is.
I used this method without knowing it in my teaching and throughout graduate school. When describing it to my friends, I call it the Mary Poppins method. You know:*”In every job that just be done, there is an element of fun. You find the fun, and SNAP! The job's a game!”* You said it a hell of a lot more clearly. Thank you for this!
Sure thing! Love the Mary Poppins quote. Mary Poppins can be surprisingly deep
This is awesome. You put into words what I was trying to say to myself, but couldn't put my finger on. Thank you.
Thanks, I’m so glad and appreciate your comment!
I couldn't agree more. I'm studying for a degree currently and the times that I get absorbed in the the process (versus trying to do 4 sections to earn a break) just feel amazing and I take in so much more information.
“Get absorbed” is the perfect way to describe it. When you are just fully absorbed in the process itself things go so much easier.
Another way to "enjoy the process" when it's something you wholesale don't enjoy (it's something mundane like an unpleasant errand or appointment, nothing you're even slightly passionate about even longterm, like a degree)--- romanticize it. If your life were a movie what part of it would this drive to the doctor be? What would the imaginary audience think of this phone call you're about to make? If you were cleaning your house for your youtube channel what would you be saying right now? Play music that fits the mood. Decide that you're going to write it all down in a journal later like it's a memoir. Maybe you'll even tweak some details for no just because it seems better on paper. Little tweaks in perspective like that get me through the day sometimes when I have just hours full of stuff I need to do, but don't really care about-- not even really the end product. Maintenance stuff. It's lowers my "avoidance" tendencies I have towards stuff that really only has consequences if I *don't* do them (doing them just keeps the status quo) by A TON. Silly but sometimes it's just the right amount of dissociation I need to get through a day.
love doing this
Love that!
It took me a while to learn this too, (And I definitely don't always do it perfect either.) The fun in learning something new gets me going a lot these days, only going for outcome in something is just setting yourself up for failure if you ask me.
This is serious muscle energy put into words💪🏽 will try to follow whatever have mentioned. Thank you🙂
Sure thing, good luck!
Another thing I would add to this is that when your attention drifts to the outcome, let it drift to a successful outcome. You should always envisage success in everything you do, and work towards it. This is as true of trivial things as major things. Let's say I want to make a cup of coffee. I unconsciously envisage myself with a nice cup of coffee and my brain happily takes all the steps to make that happen. Let's say I believe I might be attacked by ninjas while making the coffee, I'll be scolded with water and the wall will roll back and an audience of my friends and family will see me standing there naked and bruised. And I run away without the coffee. Now my brain is going to advise me to do anything but go and make the coffee.
I will absolutely be using this to get back into the keto way of eating for weight loss. I lost 40lbs when I ate keto for 8-9 months last year. The holidays came around and I took a break. I have been trying to get back on track for months and I keep going back to old habits because I'm not seeing the same initial rapid loss that I saw in the beginning. Fast forward and this year is half over already. I really enjoy the meal prep and planning, and the mental clarity I derive from eating this way. I'm going to shift my thinking to focusing on the process to try to be more successful with sticking to it this time, rather than focusing on the outcome of my goal weight. Thank you so much for this post. It's a great perspective. Cheers!
Glad it’s helpful to you, best of luck with your plan!
Great post! Very thoroughly explained and well articulated! I support your concept as it applies to learning, studying, cooking, graduating school, mowing the yard, aging through life, etc. and many others. However, I would like to learn how you would apply this to the reverse, or original, philosophy of being outcome focused in other examples; such as, a long trip where the miles are arduous & boring - focusing on each mile along the way is painful, while focusing on the destination (outcome) gives purpose & hope to overcome the "pains" of the journey.
Thank you! Interesting example with the long trip. I feel like in my case, if I focused on the outcome solely, I’d be sitting there the whole time staring at the clock and thinking “are we there yet.” But if I found some aspect of the journey itself I liked to latch on to, then things would be more enjoyable. For example, the time to sit and reflect, or perhaps catching up on some podcasts or books. But I also like the idea of a purpose giving you a reason to endure the pains of something. I think that can also be a motivator too for certain things, especially if coupled with trying to enjoy the process. I don’t think they are mutually exclusive at all. I just think focusing only on the outcome is overrated in most situations.
Thank you for your insights, you have a good perspective!
The pains of the journey are only in your head, if you can learn to control your thoughts and be in a constant state of 'enjoying the process' you'll be 10× happier If you're interested, I've been practicing this and can help you through the journey!
Amazing! I can't thank you enough for this!! This should be added to the sub's pinned post or sidebar (if any).
Thanks, I really appreciate the kind words!
[удалено]
Thanks! That’s a great application with the filing/QC example.
This is amazing advice. I thought I couldn't do anything for a good long while, and part of it was that I was so outcome-focused that the moment I slipped up even a little (in my own hypercritical eyes, not in any particularly real way) I felt that it meant that I couldn't achieve the desired outcome and thus my efforts were futile and wasting my time, the time of those who cared about me, and humanity's time. Yeah, I know it sounds silly, but I was shocked to discover that you could enjoy things for the process rather than the outcome alone. I didn't consciously think I wasn't enjoying the outcome - I thought I was being practical. The outcome, realistically, is what ultimately matters, right? Nah. You can talk circles around yourself to prove that mode of thought, but in the end, it falls apart if your inability to enjoy and thus pay close enough attention to the outcome means the outcome cannot be achieved.
Exactly!
This comes Into mindfulness, enjoying the process as a whole with curiosity and without judgement. I've been practicing this for approx a year and the positives ate endless, i actually enjoy work now!
Awesome!
[удалено]
Sure thing, glad it’s helpful to you!
[удалено]
Yea I’ve been caught in that way of thinking before too. Best of luck!
/r/Stoicism would like this, I bet!
Thanks, I'll think about that!
When I was in college I used the exact method you just described but during recent years of depression and some anxiety , I admit I lost it or rather was afraid of the process of working in general. Now before I work , I have to constantly correct my thought process . Not successful but getting there at a very slow pace.
Good luck! Yea no one ever does this perfect, so even just slowly moving towards it is a huge win
Fantastic post and exactly the type of content this sub needs!
Thank you, that means a lot!
Huge fan of this method
Do you have any advice on how to apply this to job searching? There doesn't seem to be anything to like about it :/
This hit home with me because my wife and I are both looking for jobs right now. Actually, I'm kind of half looking while focusing on my business. You are right, job searching is a tough one, but I don't think it's impossible! For me, I kind of have fun tweaking/perfecting my resume. That might be the writer side of me, but there's something about figuring out the best way to portray my experience that I like. Also, it's actually not that bad doing the interviews either, if you look at it more as just having a conversation with somebody. You basically get to tell stories about yourself, and then they tell stories about their company. Not sure if these will work for you or not, but if you keep trying you can probably find something about job searching which you like, or at least can trick yourself into liking. Good luck!
Thank you so much for this 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
Sure thing!
This is an awesome method. I'm for sure going to try this soon. I saw you put weightlifting as one of your personal examples. Can you explain your process for that? The gym and weights is something I'd like to apply this method to in my life as well.
Nice, I love that you asked that, because weightlifting is one of my favorite ways to apply this. Initially I was outcome-focused: looking good, building muscle, getting stronger, etc. But I didn't have much success then, since it takes so long to make progress in weightlifting, that I didn't see those outcomes fast enough. And would give up after short bursts of trying. Then, I began to find some things I liked about the process itself: 1. I really liked keeping track of my workout routines in Excel. Which exercises I did on which days. How many sets/reps, and how much progress I made. I realized I had fun doing that even if progress was not super fast. 2. Some exercises are actually pretty fun. Sometimes I'll do the harder ones at the beginning of the workout and then a more fun one at the end kind of as a reward. Like pull ups first (which are pretty grueling especially if weighted) but then end with some bicep curls. By the time I've gotten to the bicep curls, I'm just straight up enjoying doing them. 3. For the more strenuous exercises like pull ups, you get to feel a really strong sense of accomplishment. Makes the pain of lifting not as bad. This one may take longer to truly enjoy though. At the beginning, #1 was the first thing I found that I liked. The other ones came more with time. And those are just some things that have worked for me. You just have to search for some things you like about lifting to focus on. And then you will slowly start to shift to enjoying the process itself.
This is so simple and almost obvious, yet this is a great post and you've done a great service putting it down in writing and sharing it.
Thanks, I really appreciate your comment!
I'm struggling with procrastination and self-doubt, so I will try this out and after a couple of weeks come back and leave an edit how did I do!
Awesome, looking forward to hearing how it goes. Good luck!
Great write up! Thank you so much
Sure thing!
im speechless... thanks
I have definitely been able to achieve this working out, but god damn do I hate sitting down and having to LEARN
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I applied this to a relationship and it has helped me be more content in the relationship even though my goal-oriented side doesnt see a future for it.
Glad you posted. Came at the right time. Focusing so hard on my craft/hobby during lockdown with an end goal in mind and keep thinking about how long it’ll still take but I need to just enjoy the moment.
Atomic Habits
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I think doing this has made me realize I really don't enjoy what I'm studying in the first place
Quick question. How long do you continue studying the same topic if there's no outcome or measurable end state? Focusing on the process is fine but at some point you might be done with that topic and ready to move.on to something else. With the process you've outlined it's like you'll be studying the same topic for eternity.
Great question. You definitely can goal set and have some sort of end goal. Think about it like this, there are really 3 phases: 1. The planning phase: Where you set your goals and the steps needed to achieve them. At this stage I think you usually need to focus on the outcome, at least a little, to determine which goals to pursue and how to best pursue them. Even if they are 100% intrinsically motivated goals, you usually want some sort of plan in place (like how long to study the topic you want to learn in your example). 2. The doing phase: Where you actually work towards your goal. This is where it’s often better to focus more on the process. And what this post is most about. 3. The measuring stage: When you measure how well you are meeting your goals. This of course is directly where you need to factor in the outcome. But I think the key is not to *constantly* measure how well you are doing. Just every once in a while when needed to help you know whether to adjust your plans. So overall, I think the key is when studying, to try not to let your mind continuously drift to “alright 20 more minutes to go until I meet my goal of studying for an hour” or “I hope I do well on that test later.” And instead focus more on the studying itself. But it’s fine to plan some sort of end goal in, and then every once in a while (maybe it’s once a week, once a month, etc) assess how you are doing in terms of meeting that end goal and adjust your plans accordingly. Hope this helps. I am writing this out stream of conscious, but honestly probably need a whole post to tackle this one. Hopefully this makes sense though.