It's About The Process

Life is no dress rehearsal. We are all raw material, a work in progress of sorts. constantly being prepared for and transformed into a new being. Like grapes that go through a process of ripening on the vine and then being transformed and fermented into fine wine, we are always somewhere along the continuing process of life.

We all want to celebrate events that make us happy and that’s a good thing, but we should enjoy the process that gets us to those great events.

I was fourteen and was playing on on all star filled with players who were all over than me. I don't remember the score of the game, but I remember it was late in the game and I hit a fly ball to left center that seemed to be a home run, but wound up bouncing over the fence. A home run would have taken the lead in this, the state championship. Of course that would have fulfilled all of my and any boy's childhood dreams of hitting a dinger to win it all. So I found myself on second base with no outs. I was a catcher on the team, which was a but of a fete given I was the youngest on the team, because Mark Frey, one of the best catchers I had ever seen, had moved up to the play with older players still on the Legion team. Catchers run defenses and controlled pitching staffs. We had such a great pitching staff too. So there I was, living a dream.

One of our team leaders and best best hitter sacrifice bunted me over to third. So here I was the winning run and all of sixty feet from any young player's dream.

Like any other over-zealous fourteen year old MLB wannabe, I was dancing back and forth on third before each pitch. The coach for the opposing team must have been anticipating a squeeze play, but not me, I wasn't paying too much attention to our coach. I drew a couple of throws from the pitcher trying to pick me off. I even drew a throw from their catcher. I was paying attention to coach now as he was concerned my antics would get me kicked off.

And then it happened. Whether it was my dancing off the bag antics or the nervous pitcher trying to over-cook a curve ball, the next pitch hit the dirt and bounced behind the catcher. The bouncing ball didn't make it all the way to the backstop, but I was committed and had already taken off for home. It was do or die and there was going to be a play at the plate.

With dust flying everywhere like an Oklahoma tornado suffocating everyone near home plate at Ashley Park in Grand Island, Nebraska, I was laying facedown. I remember looking up still laying there in the dirt with a player laying on my back and seeing the crowd that was standing room only, going nuts. Hats were flying like a bull fight. Everyone was hugging the person next to them. Bedlam. I watched and enjoyed that for a moment that seemed to go on forever. It was moments later that I somehow came back to the moment and I recall hearing the umpire was screaming at the top of his lungs even louder than the fans in the stands, "SAFE! SAFE! SAFE!"

As the dust began to settle, the hugging began on the field as my teammates came out to celebrate winning the state championship.

I learned a lot about life in that moment. I earned that a lot went into me being able to be in that moment. I learned that to get good at something, you need to love the process. I always dreamed about winning a championship in the last at bat. I always dreamed of winning a basketball game by making the last second shot with time running out. After decades of thinking about this moment, I realize that it was everything that led up to that moment that mattered.

Those who get good at singing are those enjoy practicing scales and always doing warmup exercises. Those who get really good at baseball are those who enjoy batting practice and shagging all the baseballs when others are hitting. Success doesn't just come to a business owner; that business owner doesn't just enjoy making money; they enjoy doing creating the business and marketing the business and networking.

Success is a process and never a just a moment. I was state champion after stealing home, but it was took hard work to make the team in the first place. It's easy to remember stealing home, but I have to remember that I got to third, because I led off the inning with a double to get in that position. One of our best hitters laid down a perfect bunt to get em to third. I couldn't hit against state caliber itching unless we faced hard batting practice pitching every day. The whole moment was due to a series of processes.

Everyone wants the outcome, but in order to be motivated to work towards it, day in and day out, you have to learn to enjoy the process. Kobe Bryant has been quoted in his interviews that the only reason he won so many championships wasn't because of any one game or any specific last second shot; it was him showing up to practice two hours before anyone else and leaving hours after practice ended. You won’t always enjoy things when you first start out. Building the habit of loving the process and let the enjoyment grow over time is the only way to enjoy a moment of success.

Remember the beautiful moments and cherish those moments, but enjoy what it took to get there too.