Are you satisfied with your results? If your answer is no and you want to improve them, then what you must do is this: Change the way you do things.
The fact is, your results come from your processes. They don’t come out of nowhere. Your exam grade, for instance, comes from your study.
So here is the principle: If you want to change your results, change your processes.
I came to realize this when I taught a course called Business Process Modeling at a college. One of the principles there is that a company’s results come from its processes. In fact, the processes can make or break the company. I then realized that the same principle also applies to individuals.
At the individual level, your processes consist of:
- Your habits: the things that you do regularly. For example, your morning routine.
- Your procedures: the steps you take to complete a task. For example, how you handle emails.
- Your responses: the way you handle a certain situation. For example, how you deal with anger.
In this context, optimizing life is about improving your personal processes.
Here is how to do that:
1. Figure out the results you want to improve.
What are the things that you want to improve? They could be in any of the five aspects of life: work, health, learning, social, and spiritual.
For instance, you might want to read more books (learning) or reduce your weight (health).
2. Figure out the processes behind the results.
Once you figure out the results you want to improve, figure out the processes behind them. There could be more than one process for each result.
For instance, if you want to reduce your weight, then the processes could be the way you eat, rest, and exercise.
3. Find out how to improve the processes.
After figuring out the processes to improve, you should find out how to improve them. This might require a lot of research. You might want to read books or ask your friends, for instance.
Then, based on your research, you should choose a new process to follow. With exercise, for example, you might decide to do the 7-minute workout.
4. Implement the process.
This is the most difficult part of all. It’s one thing to figure out what to do; it’s another thing to actually do it. Persistence plays an important role here.
To help yourself, you might want to create a checklist of your new process. It will save your mental energy because then you won’t have to remember the steps.
5. Monitor the results.
After implementing the new process, monitor your results. Does the new process work? If it doesn’t, then find another way to improve it (back to step 3).
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I believe this process-oriented mindset is essential for your self-improvement. It will make you see your life differently. You won’t blame someone else for your bad results. Instead, you will focus on the processes behind them.
Your life will become highly effective.
