I’m part of the Marcelia Anderson Ministries Mentorship Network and as part of this cycle’s classes we focused on our careers and businesses. We had several classes throughout the cycle each with homework and thought-provoking assignments. One of our last class assignments was to create a 90-day goal that we would diligently follow up on and take consistent action towards. Well as an entrepreneur, this is a concept I am very familiar with, however, due to where I am in my business journey executing a 90-day goal was very challenging. See in April, I celebrated 9 years as a business owner and the journey from year 8 to 9 was very distressing. So setting a 90-day goal that would really stretch me was kinda scary. I was bearly re-building my business confidence and gaining momentum and I didn’t want to take a self-inflicted, unnecessary, setback. Throughout my years as an entrepreneur, I’ve set goals and have felt absolutely crushed when I didn’t meet them. I even changed how I set my goals, but I still went through the cycle of disappointment when they weren’t met. So this go around I decided to take a big leap of faith and make a big goal and try again. I followed the instructions of our guest lecturer and was very intentional.
Well, we set our goals on February 10, 2020, a month before the country started to take the Coronavirus seriously enough to institute state lockdowns… Part of my steps to achieve my goal included going to a testing facility to gain an additional certification, so having all businesses around the world closed, there was nothing I could do. Thankfully I kept going and worked on what I actually could control but in the middle of a global pandemic grace is necessary. In actuality, all of our goals were unexpectedly impacted and delayed due to the global pandemic and the external restrictions that it imposed. But instead of the cycle of disappointment, I was actually fine. Instead of beating myself up, I was very proud of myself for all the actions and steps that I took towards the goal and the momentum I gained from the intentional focus on my business. I finally learned to appreciate the journey whether or not I reached the end goal.
Here’s what I learned about enjoying the process:
The process is where you learn the lessons to even reach the end goal so don’t disregard the little nuggets because they are what assemble the whole loaf.
Going through a process helps you build momentum, endurance, and strength for the long-term journey versus what a quick win deprives you of.
On the journey, you learn and discover things that you didn’t see at the beginning and can use moving forward.
The process is where you learn life-lessons that give you the wisdom to make better decisions. Don’t be ashamed to learn what you didn’t know.
There will be unexpected external challenges and constraints. That’s life and learning how to navigate and overcome is the definition of resiliency and resiliency is essential for success.
The end is a culmination of all that you learned not a validation of what you’ve been through.