We Repeat This Process Over and Over Again
Nosotros are what we repeat: the ability of procedure over outcome
When I was a kid, I was obsessed with the idea of being able to practice things one time and finish worrying about them for the rest of the life. Eating or sleeping collection me nuts. Why do we have to do it every twenty-four hour period? When are nosotros going to exist washed?
I remember my grandma explaining to me patiently: "I sympathise that you ate yesterday, but yous still take to consume today. It'southward not possible to swallow one time and for all." And I repeated after her: "It's not possible to consume once and for all," slightly disappointed.
Subsequently I figured that most of our deportment fall into the repetitive category. Near of our actions cannot be performed once and for all, but mean solar day after a twenty-four hours, once more and again. We brush our teeth, we practice, we meditate, nosotros write, we create, nosotros show upwards at our workplaces, nosotros cook, we make clean, nosotros consume, we shower, we sleep, nosotros wake up and repeat. Every day we outset the new cycle again. Every day we echo our actions, habits, and rituals.
Most of the states don't fantasize about not having to eat or sleep anymore, it'due south pretty obvious that we tin can't exist done with that. Only other like fantasies proceed us up at night.
I am dreaming nearly arriving at some magical identify where I figured everything out, mastered life in general and I don't have to search for answers or exist uncomfortable anymore. For others, this fantasy is their "ideal weight", or a certain corporeality of coin in a bank account, or Prince Charming in whatever shape or course. We all dream about destinations. Magic bullets. Things that will finally fix our lives, and so that nosotros can stop searching, struggling and repeating over and over. Because repetitions are and then… repetitive. We beloved to bank check things off our to-do lists. Non to be on a thread mill forever.
Here's the (annoying) truth:
As presently equally we go to the mythical place, reach our ambitious goal, we volition realize that on the very the next day the sun will rise once again, and nosotros will have to (or desire to) go along our petty game of repetitions. We will take to brush our teeth, swallow our breakfast, and show up again and reply a new prepare of questions.
Destinations are illusions, merely the journeying is real.
Yes, there are milestones, achieved goals, successes, and I encourage you to stop and celebrate small victories. Just don't wait that you are done. Because you are non. Get dorsum on the rail and go along.
In The War of Fine art, exhilarated Steven Pressfield told his neighbor Paul (a boyfriend writer) over the morn coffee that he'southward finished his first novel after years of struggling. Paul said:
"Good for you, get-go the new one today."
For many of us, this notion of going and never getting to the destination may be depressing. Life may seem futile, like the hamster's wheel. The problem is that nosotros are taught to focus on the goal and the outcome. We have a taught "bottom line mentality" as Tom Sterner put information technology. We want the goal, the victory, the shiny new thing. The process of getting in that location seems to be yet another frog we have to swallow.
If we understand that journey, the process, the practise is the only thing that'south real, nosotros can relax and disassemble from the outcome. We can effort new things we are not practiced at. Nosotros can fifty-fifty beginning enjoying the process of repetitions. We will recollect that every new twenty-four hours is a gift, an opportunity to try again. We will keep showing up.
Examples of practise and the ability of repetitions are everywhere.
In a higher place mentioned Steven Pressfield says about his daily writing practice:
"How many pages I have produced? I don't intendance. Are they any good? I don't even remember well-nigh it. All that matters is I've put in my time and hitting information technology with all I've got. All that counts is that for this day, for this session, I take overcome Resistance."
"I fear non the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, I fearfulness the human who has skillful 1 kick ten,000 times," famously said Bruce Lee.
Malcolm Gladwell's "Outliers" offers myriad examples of how prolonged deliberate practise (read: thoughtful repetitions) creates miracles and outliers. Probably my favorite is the Beatles playing in Hamburg. They were jamming in 8-hour sessions every day in a row for several months, which is the time on the stage they could never ever get in London. When they got dorsum they were ready to become a worldwide success.
Twyla Tharp, a famous choreographer and the author of "Artistic Habit", gets up at the same fourth dimension, has the same breakfast and the aforementioned workout with the same personal trainer for the last several decades! She claims that this type of routine gives her a solid foundation for the creative piece of work.
Jonathan Fields, the author of The Good Life Projection, had a terrific short podcast episode Here, where he argued how rituals are precious because, in the volatile and uncertain life, they requite united states of america the sense of command and stability.
The Bhagavad Gita tells us that we have the right to our labor simply not to the fruit of our labor. So what should we focus on then? Repetitions or the fruit of our repetitions?
"Eighty pct of success is showing up, " claims Woody Allen.
Benjamin P. Hardy wrote a terrific post on this topic HERE.
In conclusion
We are obsessed with the lesser line, the goals, the magic solutions, with our to-do lists. We want to be done. But the most actions in life require repetition. We have to wake up, get ready, show upward, do the thing, rinse and repeat. We are never done. We have the right to our labor but non to the fruit of our labor. And so let's embrace the labor, the process, the repetitions. We cannot control outcomes, anyway.
And most importantly, in the process of repetitions, nosotros volition become stronger, wiser, more mindful, more empathetic, good, better than before. Gradually, without much drama, we will achieve our destinations, our meliorate selves.
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Source: https://milenarangelov.medium.com/we-are-what-we-repeat-the-power-of-process-over-outcome-1010e3f51c37
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