Processes are more important than outcomes

If there's one piece of advice I could give my younger self, it would be to focus much, much more on processes and less on outcomes.

For example, when I was in college, I was very proud of what a fast runner I was.

I didn't run consistently. I would go for 9 months without running, then take a running elective. When I did run, I'd run sub-6-minute miles.

I was really proud of this. In fact, I was almost more proud of it given that I wasn't consistent. "Imagine," I'd think, "how fast I could get if I ran all the time!"

Over the years, I've learned to take pride in the processes that I'm running, rather than the outcomes that those processes lead to.

Processes happen today, outcomes happen tomorrow

Commonly we imagine that happiness is waiting somewhere for us. In the future, we'll find it: once we learn to fly, once we're a successful author, once we're backpacking the PCT, once we've switched careers, once we've made it - then we'll be happy. Once our young kids have gotten a little older and we have time to do things again. Once this bad patch is over. Once we've -

In reality, no matter how successful you may be, the future will be made of mundane activities just like today was. That's what mundane means! It's the stuff that life is made out of.

So we can either learn to find satisfaction in the "daily grind" of existence, or just yearn for an imagined future in which that daily grind fades away.

When I was proud of being a fast runner, I was focused on an outcome. It was easy to imagine that someday I would get my stuff together, run every day, and be truly exceptional. But what I needed was to focus on the process and find enjoyment and satisfaction in the act of running itself.

Goals happen in the imagined future: we've won the race. We've created a tool that thousands of people use. We've created a successful product.

Processes happen today. You can't sit around and daydream about the process. You're either doing it or not.

Focus on inputs promotes an internal locus of control

Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way.

– Victor Frankl

I believe focusing on processes rather than outcomes promotes the habit of keeping an internal locus of control.

An internal locus of control means that we think of ourselves as in control of our destinies. An external locus of control means that we think of ourselves like storm-tossed sailors, at the mercy of fate.

One might object that this is an empirical question. You have more control over your destiny when playing chess than when playing poker, for example. To what extent are we in control of our lives? The question can only be answered with respect to reality.

And yet: no matter how unlucky the hand we're dealt, we have control over our response to the situation. An internal locus of control is important even - perhaps especially - in a world of unfairness. An internal locus of control is not about resignation in the face of injustice - it's about recognizing what exactly we do have the power to change. Consider the conditions under which Frankl first conceived of the words above: in a Nazi concentration camp.

On the spectrum of "totally within my control" to "totally out of my control," processes are much closer to the former side while outcomes are much closer to the latter.

If you focus on outcomes, a million things might derail you.

But if you focus on processes, your own decisions almost certainly determine success or failure. In fact, the difference between processes and outcomes is largely that processes are in your control and outcomes are not.

Processes are important for outputs

If you care about outputs, you should stop caring about outputs and only care about processes.

If you're focused on outcomes, consistency is hard.

Your brain will rationally point out: why should I go to the gym today? It's hard, and if I miss this workout, there's always tomorrow. Is missing a single workout really going to set back progress any appreciable amount? No. So why bother?

If you're focused on inputs, your brain has no defense. If I don't go to the gym today, then I'm not executing the process. I'm not doing the program. It doesn't matter if it doesn't matter. I need to execute the process.

And in life, you can almost always outcompete 90% of participants simply by showing up and putting in the work consistently.

This is why one of my favorite books is Daily Rituals: How Artists Work.

It discusses how various famous artists worked. The striking thing is how almost every one maintains a quite strict, consistent regimen. There's no "waiting for the muse to hit" here: it's all about putting in the work. Waking up early or staying up late. Writing 3000 words before work.

If you want to achieve greatness, focus on today. Focus on processes.