This Coach Focuses on The Process Over The Outcome (And So Should You)

At 11 years old, “Little Nick”, as he was known in his hometown of Monongah, West Virginia, was paying his dues, working at his father’s service station.

In between customers, he and “Big Nick”—the newly appointed Pop Warner football team coach—would pass a football to one another in front of the pumps on Route 19 on West Virginia.

When a car pulled up, they would go to work. Little Nick, like his father, would take enormous pride in his work and wouldn’t be content until he’d received his father’s approval.

He commented:

The biggest thing I learned and started to learn at 11 years old was how important it was to do things correctly. There was a standard of excellence, a perfection. If we washed a car and there were any streaks when [my father] came, you had to do it over. [1]

Unbeknownst to him at the time, his father was teaching him an extremely valuable lesson: The importance of only focusing on what you need to do next, and doing it to the best of your ability.

Little Nick, or as he’s now known, Nick Saban, is recognized as recognized greatest coaches in college football history, winning three BCS championships with Alabama in 2009, 2011, and 2012, and another with LSU in 2003.

What’s remarkable about Nick Saban’s approach to American football, isn’t his work ethic, nor is it the standard he holds himself and his players to. It’s what his father imparted with him and that which he now imparts on his players: The importance of Process.

The Process

Well, the process is really what you have to do day in and day out to be successful

– Nick Saban. [2]

What Saban is interested in, is what he refers to as “Process”.

Instead of asking his players to focus on winning the championship or the next big game, he asks them to focus on what the next action is. The next drill. The next play. The next touchdown.

To Saban, it’s not the outcome that’s important, but the process.

In his own words:

We try to define the standard that we want everybody to sort of work toward, adhere to, and do it on a consistent basis. And the things that I talked about before, being responsible for your own self-determination, having a positive attitude, having great work ethic, having discipline to be able to execute on a consistent basis, whatever it is you’re trying to do, those are the things that we try to focus on, and we don’t try to focus as much on the outcomes as we do on being all that you can be. [3]

The Problem with Goals

We all have goals we want to achieve. We want to write and publish the next New York Time’s best-seller; go on a diet and lose 14 pounds; lead our teammates to national championship victory; become an entrepreneur and become financially independent and so on.

And, like most people, you’ve probably been taught to write down your goals, read them aloud daily, visualize them as if they’re already a reality, and put them where you’ll see them daily among other recommendations.

The problem is, goal setting can be problematic for three reasons.

First, you can fall into the trap of only giving yourself permission to feel happy when you’ve achieved your goal. For example, you may write: “My 2014 goal is to find a boyfriend and fall in love. When I have a boyfriend, then I’ll feel like I’m enough”.

Unfortunately, the outcomes we visualize are often outside of our control. And if they aren’t and our outcome doesn’t meet our expectation, we can feel disappointed in ourselves – especially because we’ve been lead to believe it would work. Or worse, we can think we’re the problem and never try again.

Secondly, we’ve been taught to use arbitrary metrics when setting goals. For example, if you’re going on a diet, you may decide: “I’m going to lose 14 pounds in the next 30 days”.

However, again, if you don’t meet the precise metric you outlined for yourself, you can feel like you’ve “failed” and you are the source of the failure. Sentiments such as: “I only lost 7 pounds. I know I couldn’t do it” become all-too-common.

And thirdly, people can become obsessed with their goals which can blind them to what other options could have been available had it not worked out.

If your goal is to become an Olympic athlete but you get injured and forced into early retirement, your tunnel vision may inhibit you from realizing you could become an exceptional trainer, like a Freddie Roach.

Ultimately, it can be difficult to differentiate between what we want and what we think we want. And even if we’re certain about what we want, it may not meet our expectation when we achieve it.

A Shift in Perspective

If you’re committed to behavioral change in the long-term, having goals isn’t enough. You have to be committed to the process of taking action on a consistent daily basis.

In other words, you have to design and commit to a system for change; an efficient process where positive outcomes are an inevitable outcome. Ask yourself: “What could I do daily that would guarantee extraordinary result results?

Maybe that means adhering to The Rule of Five or practicing The Daffodil Principle to move you closer towards your goals. Whatever it is, it has to be an action you can sustain over time.

Let’s be clear here: There’s absolutely nothing wrong with having goals. In the beginning, goals can often be the catalyst for change, but ultimately, in the long-term, it’s an effective process that keeps you moving forward.

When it comes to outcomes vs. processes, processes trump outcomes.

How to Become Process-Orientated

Eliminate the clutter and all the things that are going on outside and focus on the things that you can control with how you sort of go about and take care of your business. That’s something that’s ongoing, and it can never change

– Nick Saban. [3]

If you’re seriously committed to your goals, it isn’t enough to occasionally attempt new behaviors: You have to learn A Tiny, Powerful Idea and internalize it. You need to decide what you want and identify the behaviors of the kind of person who already has it. You must make those behaviors daily habits and a part of your identity.

When you commit to a process over an outcome, you redirect your focus on what is within you inner locus of control; discipline, motivation, and organization to name a few, drive the actions needed to necessitate the outcome you’re moving towards.

If your outcome is to write a book, your process isn’t to write when you feel inspired, it’s to become a writer; the kind of person who writes daily, regardless of their motivation, and is focused on improving their craft.

If your outcome is to quit your job and start your own business, your process isn’t to develop your business when you’re bored, it’s to become an entrepreneur; the kind of person who grows their business every day because that’s what they’re passionate about.

If your outcome is to lose weight, your process isn’t to become a dieter (the word “dieter” implies you’re not in it for the long haul) it’s to become a foodie; the kind of person who loves eating healthy food and doesn’t need to resist the temptation of fatty foods: Given the choice, it’s a no-brainer.

A Final Word

When you’re committed to the process, you always win because you’re improving daily. You’re constantly moving towards what you want because of the tiny actions you’re taking. There is one caveat to this: You have to constantly and never-ending improve the process you’re using.

Galt’s Law argues any complex system evolved from the one that preceded it, so err on the side of simplicity, to begin with. Don’t make it overly complicated by setting yourself unrealistic expectations, you can always improve it.

In other words, if you want to become a writer, don’t decide to write 1,000 words every day if you’ve never done it before. Write 100 and gradually increase it when you feel ready. Don’t burn yourself out, you’re in it for the long-term, remember?

In closing, decide what you want and the kind of person you’re going to have to be. Ask yourself: “What am I going to have to do consistently in order to have what I want” and commit to the process that’ll help you achieve it and refine it along the way. The outcome – or one you haven’t even considered – will inevitably be a positive one. That, you can believe in.

It’s the journey that’s important. You can’t worry about end results. It’s about what you control, every minute of every day. You always have to have a winning attitude and discipline, in practices, weight training, conditioning, in the classroom, in everything. It’s a process.

– Nick Saban. [4]