Process vs. Outcome

Many times, we focus too intently on the outcome, rather than process. We have our eyes so set on the destination that we can not see the sights along the road upon which we travel to get to our journey’s end. As children, we desperately want to be adults, not appreciating the advantageousness of our minimal responsibilities during youth. During courtship, we dream about the wedding, not fully appreciating or solidifying the foundation that we are building with our companion. As students, we long for graduation, discounting the education we receive, not only from the classroom but from our peers and personal perseverance.

We live in a world of instant gratification, so we seek that which is quickly obtainable and supposedly satisfying. However, if we look at the most endeared of our attainments, the story and the true reward tend to lie in the voyage, not in the destination. It’s not only that you got “it” (whatever “it” might be); it’s HOW you got it. For one woman, the destination is high school principle. The journey is overcoming dyslexia. For one man, the destination is fatherhood. The journey is growing up in foster care.

As I have trained for this marathon, I have begun to consider the process more so than the outcome which originally caught my eye: finishing a marathon. I could stagger across the finish line without having run another mile between now and February, and I would receive – in some peoples’ minds – the same outcome that I would receive if I finished the training and the marathon. However, I am not focused on the Mercedes medallion that participants receive for finishing the race (though I heard that the medallion is kinda tight). Rather than focus on the medal, I am centered on the mettle – the determination it will take to run 485 training miles through pain, dismal weather, sickness, and fatigue. I am determined to be an inspiration and optimistic that the reflections that I document herein will positively affect but one person.

I am going to enjoy crossing the finish line: the outcome. In the meantime, I am going to appreciate the journey: the process.