You Can’t Get Around the Need for a Process
Sports teams are notorious for trying to recruit superstar players with the notion that doing so will bring them championships. It rarely works that way.
Teams like the New Jersey Devils and the Houston Astros put a process in place first and then added the pieces later. You could argue that the process of these teams essentially created the superstar players on them. Martin Brodeur is widely considered to be the best goalie of his generation, if not the best goalie of all time. Would that be the case if the process of the Devils team didn’t provide him with the environment to craft such a great body of work in the crease?
Jose Altuve of the Astros was the American League MVP in 2017. But the process the Astros had in place certainly put him in the position to showcase his skills consistently at such a high level. Sure, the team had other great players. Yet Altuve stood out in 2017. Furthermore, Alex Bergman thrived in the next year, garnering consideration for the MVP title as well. Surely to have TWO players on the same team over a two-year period find themselves in conversations for MVP says something about the process just as much as it does for the players – if not more.
Another team I enjoy watching, the San Antonio Spurs, has had tremendous success since the late 80s. Even with superstars like David Robinson, Tim Duncan, Kawhi Leonard, Tony Parker, Manu Ginóbili, and more, the success of the Spurs lies more in the process (that the organization has trusted for over two decades) than those who have worn the silver and black. Both the Spurs and the Astros even made t-shirts highlighting their trust in the “system” (the Spurs) and the “Process” (the Astros when they were wallowing in the basement of the American League standings).
The late Bill Walsh understood the importance of process. The former head coach of the San Francisco 49ers wrote a great deal about this in his phenomenal book The Score Takes Care of Itself. From top to bottom, he instilled the process in the 49ers organization. It worked. The process he put in place transformed the team from perennial loser to football dynasty in just a few short years.
I have a process that I’ve put in place. It serves me in all areas of my life. I trust the process. I especially trust it over the whims that may come to mind on a daily basis. The process is simple enough to scale as well. Recently, my wife asked if we could start doing more outdoor family activities on the weekends. I was on board with that. But, as life can get chaotic, I didn’t trust that I’ll help with the plans. So I added a task to my to-do list that ensures I ask my wife every week what activities she might want to do as a family that weekend. Perhaps one day I won’t need that task in there – but for now, I do. It’s in there because that’s a part of my process.
No to-do list application or paper planner can replace a process. Those things are simply tools to help the process take hold and prosper. Again, without a trusted process in place, even elite apps and paper planners can’t help you win the day – let alone the week or longer. You may be able to stay in the game, but you won’t be able to play at a high level.
And a winning life is meant to be played at the highest level possible.
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Mike Vardy is a writer, productivity strategist, and the creator of TimeCrafting. He is the author of the upcoming book TimeCrafting: A Better Way to Get The Right Things Done. Mike is also renowned speaker and has taught productivity on CreativeLive, Skillshare, and LinkedIn Learning where his courses are among the most popular in the business category.
