When a potter wants to mould his next masterpiece, he doesn’t rush the clay.
He studies it first, taking his time to understand the weight, the texture, and the stubborn spots that could trouble him later.
Then he begins to work, with his hands pressing, folding, breaking, remaking, doing, and undoing again.
It’s very messy work, slow and repetitive in a manner that’s almost frustrating.
However, with each turn of the wheel, and with each layer that is moulded again, something beautiful is being created.
And at the end of the day, when the potter finishes, all the pain and frustration will be forgotten as he stares in awe at his masterpiece.
I could tell you about the farmer and his seeds, or about the slow turning of night to day, or about the manner in which wounds heal, or about the purification of gold through fire, or about the coming to true form of a butterfly, or about the painful strain of labour as a woman pushes to bring a life into life.
I could go on and on just to illustrate one point:
Nature, and the world all around us, is defined by process.
Nothing that is ever just becomes; rather, everything that exists was formed through effort, over a period of time.
The farmer takes the effort to plant his seeds at the right time, he takes the effort to tend to his crops as they grow over time, and when the time is right, he takes the effort to harvest the fruits of all his work.
That period between planting and harvesting is called process, and any farmer who doesn’t have respect for his process by doing the things that need to be done while patiently waiting will never enjoy the bounty of his seeds.
And even if he does harvest crops, it won’t be up to the quality or quantity that he potentially could have.
You can copy-paste this analogy into a thousand other things around you.
I’m very sure you can’t tell me something that’s beautiful or praiseworthy that just popped out into existence.
The world, as big and beautiful as it is, was created by God over the span of 6 days (or millions of years, depending on the theological context you subscribe to.)
All the beautiful houses, cars, cities, relationships, and everything else that people admire from day to day all initially began at zero, and it took process (effort + time) for them to become what they are today.
I’ll give you a simple formula:
Start = To begin.
Result = Your desired outcome.
Effort = Everything you do to get that outcome.
Time = How long it takes for the things you do to pay off.
Now, with this in mind…
Effort + Time = Process.
Start + Process (Effort + Time) = Result.
Don’t forget.
When you start something new, like hitting the gym, you do so with a goal in mind.
That goal is your desired result, and when you clock in your first day at the gym, that counts as your start.
If the outcome you’re aiming for is to lose 20 kg, then every exercise you do and every diet plan you follow can be counted as your effort.
Let’s say it takes 5 to 10 months for you to reach your goal; that is the time.
In life, if you want to get things done well, NO PART of this cycle must be skipped or taken for granted.
You need to start, obviously; if not, your goals will forever remain as dreams.
You need to have a result in mind; if not, you’ll just be putting in a lot of work without knowing where you’re going.
You need to put in some effort because what you want to achieve is not going to achieve itself, and nobody will achieve it for you.
You need to give it time, because there’s a timing required for certain things to happen, and if you try to rush or cut it short, there’s a good chance your results will suffer.
This is the formula for achieving anything in life.
Most people have no problem with setting outcomes or chasing results, and many people don’t have a problem with starting out to get the things they want.
Where way too many people get stuck is in the process.
That little distance between starting out and getting results, that little gap that requires effort and takes time, that period where nothing seems to happen…
Many people hate it.
And I get it, honestly.
Process doesn’t always feel good.
It’s not easy to wake up every day at 5am to take a 5km run, or to lay aside all distractions to study for an upcoming exam, or to sit with a draft to write the next words for your book, or to keep creating and posting content that nobody is reading/watching.
No, it doesn’t feel good, especially when you really desire to see the results.
You want to be in fit shape. You want to get As in your exams. You want to have your book published. You want to have millions of views and thousands of followers.
So, it can be discouraging and frustrating when progress toward the result seems slow or nonexistent.
And yet you have to wake up another day for another run. And you have to read another course. And you have to write another chapter. And you have to post another video/article.
Process can be difficult.
It also doesn’t always look good.
The first time you go on that 5km run, you’ll probably be panting and out of breath before you go far.
The first video you post or the first article you write will probably not be good and will probably get little to no attention.
It’s easy to get discouraged by all this, but you remember that there is a law of process that is in operation, and it must be respected.
You can’t afford to forget that.
When you’re in process, it might not look like you’re doing anything spectacular to anybody that looks from the outside.
It’s the same way we look at buildings under construction, and we find it hard to figure out what they will become at the end.
The only reason we have this struggle is because we have not seen the blueprint for the building; however, for those who have, they know exactly what is coming.
This is one respect I want you to have for your process.
Respect your process by not looking at it from the outside or paying attention to whatever noise is coming from the outside.
If you don’t do this, you’ll be easily swayed by every setback and by comments from people who do not understand your process.
“This your exercise form is terrible.”
“Delete this your ugly TikTok video.”
“You only have 20 subscribers after all these months?”
Shutting everything out doesn’t mean you’re not listening to feedback or giving room for criticism.
It just means that you respect your process enough to protect it from words and actions that could hamper its progress.
This is a very critical step to take.
You can’t get over your fear of something or build anything substantial from the ground up if you’re giving heed to every comment and every opinion.
It just won’t work.
I’ve also observed that many people don’t have too much problem with the effort part of process, they just despise the time part.
I mean, if you enjoy whatever it is that you’re doing, you might not hate having to keep doing it consistently, but you might hate that it’s taking a long time for you to get the results you want.
This is now more amplified because we’re in the age of fast and instant.
Fast life, fast money, instant results, perfect partner, immediate AI prompt results, answer generated in seconds…
Nobody wants to wait for anything again.
And I’m not going to be a hypocrite – I do like fast things, especially fast internet, but not everything in life should be gotten fast.
It seems to me like we’re all in a hurry to get, to finish, to achieve, to receive, to become – and this rush is making us despise process.
But process is a must, and alongside the diligence of effort, time is very critical. They are right when they say that good things come to those who wait.
I’m not advocating for foolish patience.
The patient dog is only eating bone because the impatient dog already ate all the meat, so, in reality, he’s a very foolish dog.
However, I’m positing that if you’re already putting in the required efforts, then it’s only fair that you allow the required time to pass in order for you to receive your results in their complete form.
A foetus needs 9 months to be fully formed in the womb, and then it comes out as a beautiful baby boy or girl.
A mango tree needs about 5 full years to grow, and then it produces fruit every year for as long as it stands.
A man needs 10 to 12 years of training before he can successfully have all the knowledge he requires to be an astronaut.
Each of the above examples involves the natural passing of time before desired results can be achieved.
Sometimes, you’re not stuck in life or falling behind or even stagnated; you’re just in the process of time, and that is not a bad thing.
Not a bad thing at all.
The differences between a person who respected and went through process and a person who did not are always very obvious.
Whether it’s in the way they handle wealth, or the way they treat their partner, or the way they treat people around them, or the way they respond to life’s challenges, or the way they view themselves… there’s always a clear distinction.
And this is because you CANNOT go through process and come out as the same person you were before.
You can’t make regular progress in the gym for 6 months and still think or feel the same way about your body.
You can’t undergo spiritual growth for a year and have the same outlook about people or about life.
You can’t build an empire from scratch for over a decade and have the same perspective about business and money.
It’s just not possible.
Even growing as a person requires procees.
You learn new habits, drop old ones, adapt to different cultures, change your mindset about certain things, and like that, as you grow.
You cannot instantaneously become a good or better person in a day, no, you’ll have to put the effort to learn it, and give yourself the time to grow into it.
Everything in life is process.
This is the reason we’re encouraged to “enjoy the process”, as difficult and as challenging as it can get.
For me, I want us to also respect the process.
I know that it’s a lot of shaping and making and learning and relearning and breaking, and it’s difficult and hard to keep falling and standing back up and trying new things and finding new ways.
However, since the end result is that it makes us a better person, I believe that is enough reason for us to value the process.
After 500 runs, your running form becomes better. After regular hours of studying, you know the best techniques to use. After writing 20 chapters, you’re much better at putting words together effectively. After posting 200 videos or writing 200 articles, you know the things that work and the things that don’t work.
Therefore, you can say that process is absolutely worth it because it also prepares you for the results that you want to get.
Many people have dreams that they have not built the capacity to handle, and many people are chasing ambitions that will crush them once they achieve it, all because they refuse to have respect for their process.
How will you handle hundreds of millions if hundreds of thousands is already making you misbehave?
How will you handle being the president of a nation if the pressure of being a course rep is already making you break down?
How will you build a successful, 30-year marriage if every 2-month talking stage you enter is full of fights and quarrels?
It’s very improbable that a man or woman who can’t handle small things will be able to handle big things.
Process doesn’t only ensure that you get your results in the proper manner; it always ensures that you’re prepared for the results when they come.
It teaches you patience, and it forms you every step of the way.
Process is not delay or stagnation; it’s simply preparation.
Please, I beg you, respect it.
If you’re going through a process of any kind at the moment, I want you to consider it a blessing.
Process is painful, process requires patience, and process might break you – but process is worth it for the person you’ll be when you come out at the other end of it.
There’s a version of you in 10, 15, or 20 years that has gone through process, survived it, and is now a better person as a result of it.
So, take time, enjoy the process, and have maximum respect for it.
It will be worth it; I’m very sure of that.
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Thank you for this, Ebun!
This came at the right time 💞💞