Focusing on the Effort Rather Than the Result

I am in the process of making a huge mindset shift, and I feel like it's something crucial that I share with you. We are living in an increasingly capitalist society, where we are constantly hounded with the idea that we must spend all our time making the most money, and becoming the richest person in the world (all with that, the poor stay poor, and the rich get richer). It is made to feel as though the only way to live is to have lots of money; if someone has less money than you, then more fool them. However, this is not true. We are allowed to do things for the sake of enjoying ourselves. Imagine that.

In recent months (and in the last few blog posts), I have referenced the fact that I am extremely hard on myself. In the background, I have been trying to work on my mindset, in order to be kinder to myself — and part of this is focusing on the effort that I put into things, rather than chasing the overall result. As part of this process, I have been considering my thought patterns and processes. Through this, I have realised that I'm running after the result — determined to achieve what I want to achieve — which, of course, is a great trait of mine. However — once I have reached the result — the bar gets pushed further and further. Ultimately, I know this is pressure that I put on myself, but it gets too much. I think this pressure comes from a fear of if I didn't put pressure on myself, then I would be lazy. Then again, looking at it objectively, I am not used to having no pressure on myself, so I don't know what I would do with myself. So, I feel my mind associates that feeling of not knowing what to do with myself with laziness. Which is, again, not true.

What would happen if I focused on the effort?

So I ask myself, what if I focus on the effort, rather than the result? I ascertained that nothing much would change, apart from I would feel better in myself, and I would feel less hard on myself — because I do the best I can, and I put 100% into everything that I do. So, therefore, if I'm focusing on the effort that I put in, then I can't fail. However, if I am focusing on the result, and the result does not look exactly as I had foreseen, then I have ‘failed’, so to speak. Focusing on the effort that I put in cuts through this.

I have realised that my determination, and strength of character, are extremely important traits of mine; being able to treat everything as a learning experience. It is what keeps me going despite everything that life throws at me. Which further poses the question: If life throws so much at me, why do I feel the need to be so hard on myself?

If I focus on the effort, then the result becomes a byproduct

Naturally, I am going to use writing as an example. Say I spent weeks, months, or even years on a book, and barely a soul picks it up. Does that mean it is a waste of time?

Absolutely not.

It might feel quite soul crushing to begin with, because there is no denying that if we put so much effort into something, we would like somebody to enjoy it — if that is the purpose. That being said, there is more to writing a book than the words themselves.

I have had the discipline to regularly sit down and write this book. I have seen this statistic stating that one in a million people who say they would like to write a book, actually finish writing the book (and that could just be the first draft). So the fact that I have already written two books, and other pieces, suggests that I am ahead of the curve, so to speak.

Not only have I put the time and energy into writing a book, I have also garnered the transferable skills of editing books, time management, and networking with other writers. That, and connecting with readers to expose my work — and, hopefully, come across more people that would enjoy my work. As any writer knows, just because we have written a book, does not mean that anybody has to read it — let alone enjoy it.

The thing is, to be a self-published author in particular, you have to have a business mindset — in terms of knowing where I would like to be in the next year or two. How am I going to get there? How am I going to streamline my process, so that I can achieve the best possible result? What am I going to do if things don't go to plan? Quite frankly, knowing my luck, things won't go to plan. But that does not mean they have gone wrong, it is just that things haven't gone the way I would have preferred.

All this comes together to be a testament to my strong and determined character — in being willing to go through the many hoops that are required to publish a book. Admittedly, people who don't write assume that every writer is either a bestselling writer or not a writer at all. But it is very satisfying to say, ‘oh, I write’ and they ask ‘what do you write?’ ‘Well, I'm actually a published author, and I have published X,Y and Z, if you would like to have a look’.

Not that I like to push my publications onto people. However, if the conversation does go in that direction, I deserve to tell people about it, because I find that my writing is one of my greatest achievements so far in life. Though I have obviously written books for my readers, I do believe that — particularly Prevailed Hope, my first book — was written for my own catharsis. In the process of writing a book, writers do tend to discover a lot about themselves, because — as well as analysing society, psychology, and character, there is also a lot of introspection that goes on. It is all part of attempting to connect these ideas and construct these perhaps abstract ideas into words that are accessible to pretty much everyone. It takes a certain amount of skill and thick skin to be vulnerable, in a way. Like it or not, our personalities and our beliefs will come out into our writing at least somewhere, if not everywhere.

Again, writing a book is so much more than the words themselves: there is the planning, creation, thought, planning, the outlining, and the development of characters and plot. It all goes into creating a masterpiece. Again, I think it's something that both writers and people who don't write alike take for granted: they are working towards a final masterpiece, and get stuck when they realise — or don't realise, for that matter — how much of a process there is that goes into writing a book.

All of that said, if I put one-hundred-percent effort into everything that I do, then focusing on the effort and not the result means that I cannot fail. Instead, each previously perceived failure becomes a stepping stone towards achievement. It is that not being able to fail sentiment that really strikes me, because, often in the past I've set the bar so high for myself that the overall goal becomes unattainable, and therefore I felt like a failure. In doing so, I simply disregard all that I've achieved in the process of trying to reach the goal that is far too high.