The simple truth which will change how you approach any task. 🏄
Understanding the process in a goal-oriented community
“Hey! Vineeth, what’s the point of a surfer in the title?”, hmm, there are two reasons for that, I love the way the emoticon looks, and second, and the most important reason, once you realize the power of this truth, you will be surfing your way through all of your task’s.
Few day’s back, I was watching Space Force, a new comedy series on Netflix. The lead in the series is Steve Carrell, who plays the role of a General and the head of the United States Space Force. The series is fun. At least, I found it funny, though not “The Office” level; the expectation with which I started, considering Greg Daniels was also involved, but it was overall good. One Honest confession: after watching 3 episodes, I found it exaggerated, as in, where there are still lots of countries in the world, who are trying to develop their Army, Navy and Air Force, how can some country come up with Space force. But it turns out, I was wrong. And it blew my mind. The United States does have a Space Force for real.
This is their purpose:
A space force is a military branch that conducts space warfare and space operations.
Because land, air, and water were not enough to fight. Who knew Star Wars would be taken so seriously?
Anyway, coming back to my reason for this article. In one of the episodes, Steve Carrel’s character says this :
“The way a person does one thing is the way they do everything”
I did not pay much heed to the quote at the time of watching. But once the episode was completed, and as my habit is, I tried remembering the funny part, quotes, and other things which I saw earlier. Just to make a mental note of how good or bad the episode was. As soon as I came to this quote I paused. I am not sure how many of you have seen this quote before but I haven’t. And I am pretty sure many of us who might not have seen this, or even if seen, would not have paid much attention to the power and truth it contains.
We set goals, our aspirations, dreams, and visualize that we already have achieved it. Say it out loud to reinforce the feeling in our head and whatnot. But the problem with a goal-based approach is the question which comes, “What next?”. I know I am stressing out points which thousands of other people have stressed multiple times this month itself on this same topic. But it’s still pertinent and ever-present, hence writing about it makes me feel like I can still make an impact. The goal-based approach is always temporary, but the process to reach it is a skill which can always be developed, and that remains with you forever. I know getting there is good enough, but how efficiently you get it, is equally important. The process. Completing a marathon is good enough, it’s a good goal to achieve, but completing it in the shortest time is the process, dedication to work every day, and being the best. We can keep on meeting our goals but that will never satisfy us, we will keep having new goals and aspirations, hence destination was never important, its the focus on the training, hard work, and journey to reach which equipped you with lifelong learning’s and skills which can take any challenge in front of you to face.
There is a Japanese philosophy called, “Kaizen”. The Japanese word kaizen means “change for better”. The word refers to any improvement, continuous or one time, small or large. It mainly refers to the process. Improving the process and making it better every single day. And how can that be achieved? It’s when we focus more on the process than on the goal. Based on the Kaizen, Toyota came up with, “The Toyota Way”, which also can be attributed to Toyota’s big success in American Markets. Now, the Toyota way is a set of principles and behaviours that underlie the Toyota Motor Corporation’s managerial approach and production system. There are 14 such principle’s, but I will focus on just principle 2 :
The Right Process Will Produce the Right Results
Design your work process in such a way that it eliminates waste, which in the Japanese language is Muda. And they have identified 7 such “Muda”, which again I think listing won’t be helpful for this article as it deals more with the companies flow of the process, and you can have defects or Muda of your own in the workflow you follow. One such thing can be, “Waiting”, if your work depends a lot on a third party, then you need to find a better way to manage that. If the majority of the time you end up reaching your goal but find some silly mistake at the end, very small though, then incorrect processing can be an issue with your flow.
Now, coming to the thought we started this discussion with, you will only find your Muda’s, when you focus on the process, do it with full awareness, full attention not on the goal, but how you do it. Figure out the imperfections, and do it 1000 times to improve the flow, so the goal not only becomes easier, but you keep beating your high score again and again. You move from good to great.
Always do things to the best of your ability which will in-turn help you develop solid work ethics.
Let’s take my example, when I used to clean my room, the result would always be a clean room, everything in its place. Everything is arranged to perfection. Except when you open the closet, there is a chance you might get hit by a pile of books, clothes and many other things. Though I achieved my goal, it was a matter of a few hours where I will again have this task on my to-do list. When I wash utensils, I wash them quickly with soap, and the bubbles are sometimes left, but they look clean, which was the goal anyway. But when I use the same plate during lunch, I wash it again, because of the soap bubble marks. Doing the same process twice. My laziness in the small task, magnified to increase my work. And it’s not only that, these simple tasks can be applied to work as well. If I did this task with laziness, there is a full proof chance that I do other tasks equally lazily, thus creating a never-ending chain of process linked with pure assured mediocrity.
I am far from perfect. And I never will be, as long as I keep raising my standards, by keep raising my goals, by improving the process on how I achieve them. It’s all about the process, how you do one thing will always end up proving how you do everything. If you are saying you are doing easier stuff hastily and with enough interest just to get by, to save energy for the harder stuff, then get this straight, the harder stuff will also be impacted with the same mediocrity and drawbacks.
Goals and Tasks may be different, but the mindset with which you do the process to achieve anything always remains the same.
I am not asking for perfectionism, but also not mediocrity, there is a thin line on which success operates without burning up. I am asking, find faults in the process, be process-oriented, and goal will be easier to achieve. Be your best version, do smallest things with complete interest, engrossed in the activity, with 100% focus on what’s being done, how it is being done, and moreover why it’s being done. Answering all three questions with details will help you suit the process and goal according to and greater than your capability holds for you. All the best.
