Excellence is a matter of steps.
Excelling at this one, then that one and then the one after that. Nick Saban’s
process is exclusively this — existing in the present, taking it one step at
a time, not getting distracted by anything else. Not the other team, not the
scoreboard, or the crowd.
“Don’t think about winning the SEC Championship. Don’t think about the national championship. Think about what you needed to do in this drill, on this play, in this moment. That’s the process: Let’s think about what we can do today, the task at hand.”
Let’s say you’ve got to do
something difficult. Don’t focus on that. Instead break it down into pieces. Simply
do what you need to do right now. And do it well. And then move on to the next
thing. Follow the process and not the prize. As Bill Belichick famously put
it, just do your job.
The process is about finishing.
Finishing games. Finishing workouts. Finishing film sessions. Finishing drives.
Finishing reps. Finishing plays. Finishing blocks. Getting it right from meal to meal, meeting to meeting, project to project, paycheck to paycheck, one day at a time. Finishing the smallest task
you have right in front of you and finishing it well.
H/T Ryan Holiday