What Having Trust In A Process Can Give You

When I started exercising, I said to myself that I’d do one push-up for two weeks.  That was my process.

If you think about it, what’s one push-up done everyday for two weeks going to do to me?  Will I be able to see any progress and build any real strength from that?

Well, yes and no.

The results are not achieved instantly.

The intention here is not to go for instant results.  It’s to go for sustainable, consistent, repeatable results.

Doing one push-up everyday for two weeks wasn’t supposed to build me the body and strength that I wanted.  It was to get me used to doing the push-ups, and making it a part of my routine for the day.

There was an earlier time that I tried to make doing push-ups a habit.  I set a goal of 15 push-ups everyday.  I was coming from zero.  That was hard.

And when challenges arose, like schedule, work, laziness, and not seeing instant results, I gave up and stopped.  It was too hard.

It was too hard because I hadn’t made the 15 push-ups a routine, a habit.  I was going after the result, not knowing the time and effort to get that result.

You’ve got to be in it for the long haul.

 

You’ve got to build.

For the first month, I just made sure to do the push-ups daily.  I started with one, and by the end of the month, I was doing ten, daily.

What was most important there, wasn’t the number of push-ups, but the fact that I had made it a habit to do the push-ups.  There was a point in my routine where I was already thinking: “time to do the push-ups.”

You build the skill.  Over time, with the repeated actions, you get better and better, and it becomes easier for you.

You’ve got to build the habit.  You’ve got to make it so it’s automatic for you to go ahead and do the action.  You’re almost not thinking about it, and if it’s a habits that’s really set, you don’t go about doubting whether you’ll do it or not.

You just do it.

 

Then you get the results.

There was a time when I was already able to do 15 push-ups easy.  But I realized I only went for the result, without building any process or habit to sustain the results that I got.

So needless to say, when challenges and obstacles came along, I stopped.  I gained back the weight, lost the muscle, and beat myself up for already having a good thing, but losing it.

Trusting in the process, can get you results.  Consistent, sustainable, repeatable results.

I was doing push-ups for several months, along with watching what I ate, before I even saw or felt results.  But even when you don’t see results right away, as long as you stick with what you’re doing, the results will eventually show.

I remember the first time I felt my go-to jeans suddenly feel looser, and I needed to tighten my belt otherwise my jeans would fall off.  That felt great, to eventually see results.

And several months later, to still keep them, because the exercising and watching what I ate has become a habit.

 

A process will guide you.

And a process will get you the results that you want.

Your job is to show up and do the work.

Small actions, compounded and done over time, with purpose and consistency, yields big results.  But more importantly, yields sustainable and repeatable results.

And  a habit, a process, doesn’t require complicated thinking and emotions.  You just go ahead and do it.  This removes the second guessing and self-doubt associated with starting, or sustaining, something new.

Trust in the process.

Show up.

Do the work.

Be faithful.

Get the results.

And keep them.

 

How has trusting in a process gained you results?  Please share in the comments below!