What Matters: Process or Outcomes?

Let’s find out

In the last 6–7 months, I devoted my life to social media because I wanted to build an audience for the first book that I had finished. This devotion deviated me from my enjoyable trance of writing. I was so wrapped up in the follower count, the number of likes, or comments I was getting that I forgot the bigger picture.

I forgot that I am a writer who enjoys writing. I was writing micro-content for social media but didn’t find satisfaction because my eyes kept glancing at the numbers and analytics.

I pondered over my decisions and decided to take action to better them. One day, I was going through Medium’s home page when I came across a challenge.

I recognized the opportunity in front of me. I leaped on it with the hopes of falling in love with writing once again.

This article that you are reading right now is my 12th article. I haven’t looked at the stats for how my pieces are performing. I check notifications to see if any publication left any private note for me or if any of my articles is published.

I am posting content on social media when I feel like it, but I have not looked at the insights in the last two weeks. I haven’t been happier in a long while. Writing without thinking about the numbers is giving me immense joy.

Coincidentally I stumbled upon an article by Jessica Lynn. This article came at the right time to strengthen my belief in focusing on the process rather than the outcomes.

“Choose a job you love and you’ll never have to work a day in your life” — Confucius.

The above quote is taken in the wrong context by almost everybody starting on their journey to success.

The quote mentioned above gets taken out in the wrong context because of the metric you select for measuring progress and success. If you look inherently inside your mind and analyze how you measure your success, you will see that you let the numbers define your progress.

However, this approach couldn't have been more lethal to your art. Yes, I am calling your work art because everything you do that takes birth from your mind is creative and hence is art.

Focusing on results or numbers can make you lose sight of why you started doing it in the first place. I have faced that, and I can honestly tell you that it is not a place that you would want your enemy to be in.

You falter by focusing on numbers because of the numbers you see in others’ work.

Remember doing any creative work is a marathon, not a sprint.

So, what is the solution? The solution, in simplest terms, is to focus on the process rather than the numbers or results.

As humans, we are almost always dissatisfied with our present situations. Hence, we have needs and desires that are endless, which motivate us to ponder over results all the time.

Why Focus on the Process?

Learning

If you focus on the process and not the numbers, you will discover that you learn faster and are happier with the outcomes.

Focusing on the process rather than the results will allow you to be consistent in your work. Gradually, you will refine your strategy so that your efficiency and productivity also increase.

Mistakes

Mistakes are meant to be made but not to be repeated. Everyone, including you, is prone to making mistakes. Mistakes are necessary as they help you learn and grow in life. When you are focused on the process, you are much more willing to make mistakes, take risks, and experiment.

There is no universal formula for success. If something worked for someone, there is no guarantee that it will work for you. The truth about success is that you have to forge your path. And developing your way includes taking risks, doing experiments to determine what works for you. Experimentation, risks, and mistakes will propel you towards a better outcome in the long term.

Satisfaction

If you think of success as some destination, then you are looking at it incorrectly. Success is a journey. When focused on the process rather than the outcomes, you look forward to what you are pursuing in the present and enjoy them much more comprehensively. You are satisfied by doing the work that you are doing.

Fewer Distractions

When focused on the process, you are pressurizing yourself into delivering results. You are on the journey to creating something. The creation provides your sense of achievement. You are not dependent on any external validation to make you feel happy. The work makes you feel satisfied.

When you are entirely focused on the process, you remove or reduce external noises such as the pressure of results or numbers. It is not about winning and losing; it is about showing up. You don’t get disturbed by how the world is perceiving your work.

Writing without the pressure of outcomes has allowed me:

• To learn by exploring new ways of writing.
• To learn by trying to write in genres I haven’t written before.
• To make more mistakes that the incredible editors on publications are making me aware of to learn and improve.
• To find satisfaction in my heart. I have had a happy aura all around me since I started focusing on the process.
• To get rid of distractions of numbers imposed by myself. I write freely without worrying about any external validation.

Thank you for reading. Mention in the responses how will you start focusing on the process rather than the outcomes?

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Hi, I am Tarun Gupta, and I write about many things, but I enjoy writing poetry, life lessons, and fiction the most. You can find all my posts here in this index.