What No One Tells You About the Process

How often have you heard the saying, “You just have to fall in love with the process”?The saying aims to convey instead of focusing on the goal or outcome and the promised happiness that comes with it, learn to find the happiness on the way to get there.

I believe in it 100%.

Here was my only problem with it: it doesn't explain how to actually do that. How can we actually shift our mindset to enjoy the maze and not the prize at the end?

Let’s use marathon training as an example. We sign up for a marathon because we imagine ourselves and how good we will feel crossing that finish line—but never the weeks and months of hard workouts that actually gets us there.

The truth is, regardless of whether it’s a fitness goal, wanting to grow your business, or learning a new skill, we spend so much more time in the process of achieving that goal rather than the achieving of it.

So how do we learn to enjoy the non-exciting, tedious, and challenging portions of the process—because we spend so much more time there?

I’ve had a ton of time to sit with this question and think through how to actually implement it while I was navigating life in an ultra-marathon training block.

Seriously, the amount of time I had to think while I was running was crazy.

So instead of spending four months just dreading every single workout and early morning three-hour run, I was determined to learn how to actually love the process.

Here’s what finally worked for me—and it is surprisingly very simple:

Turn it into a video game: create checkpoints.

During my ultra-marathon block, I started to create mini goals for myself to accomplish while in the training block itself.

These little wins gave me positive affirmation that I was going in the right direction, that the work was working, and I was inching closer to the end goal.

If I had a long run, I would make the goal that I would get the nutrition portion 100% right so I felt fueled for the entirety of the run. When I would make a mistake, I would commit to just improving that aspect until I got it right.

Small win – learned how to fuel my body correctly (check).

This was just one of so many small wins or checkpoints I created during my ultra block.

They don't have to be huge—we want them small, attainable, and in the direction of our goal. It simulates the dopamine hit we get when we finally accomplish what we've set out to do.

If you’ve ever played any sort of video game, as you go through the game you level up or gain a new ability that you can unlock. I quite literally just implemented this system into my training process.

It builds confidence, gives us the small dopamine hit to keep us going, and proves to ourselves that we are inching closer and closer to our goal.

Visualize (I know, hear me out)

The more you do something, the more comfortable you get at it. When we get really comfortable at something our brain can almost go into autopilot while doing it (think driving your usual commute).

So quite often during these 3+ hour long runs, I tend to go into my mind and almost go on autopilot while I'm running—usually thinking about something else while my body is just moving. I’ve said before, it is so important and therapeutic for me—the time to think.

On these runs, I had plenty of time to think. So instead of dreading the run itself, I would put myself at the finish line of the race. Even if I was still months out, I would visualize how I would feel.

What would I be thinking? Who would be there cheering me on? How would I feel at that moment?

So while I was on these harder speed workouts, I would put myself at the end of the race. If I did it well enough, my body would have a physical reaction—my skin would get goosebumps, my legs would feel lighter, and I would be ripping through the reps.

The only way I could describe this is what athletes call the “flow state.” Your mind and body are truly operating as one. You feel weightless, and every movement is effortless.

It’s also what some runners call the “runner's high.” For me, it was a tool I could tap into to make the harder workouts more enjoyable and push farther than my mind wanted to.

And when I hit all of the paces, it would be completing a checkpoint (see what I did there?).

Whatever goal you have right now, put yourself in the moment you complete it and feel what it would feel like. Really try to visualize that moment as if you are standing there.

It takes some practice, but like all things, you will get better at it over time.

Learning to fall in love with the process is one of the most important skills we can have—yes, I believe it is a skill that can be learned.

But it is so important because we spend the vast majority of our lives in the process of something. Our brains are wired that way. Years of evolution have taught us that we are at our most happy and fulfilled while working towards something.

Don’t make the agreement that we will be happy “when.” “When we get the job.” “When we cross the finish line.” Don’t wait to be happy. Start now.

Have a great week!

Sean - GTY