The Process is the Prize: What I know by 40...

...is the measure of a life.

I grew up thinking that how much money we make, or who we marry, or if we have kids and what they do, or our careers will be the ultimate measure of a life.  I feel differently now.  

I measure my life in work, distance and time.  As much as I demand good outcomes from my effort, I've learned that the process is the prize.  It's in the process that you build the will and muscle needed to accomplish anything.  It's in the process that you learn how to handle failure, and how to handle success.

There's always going to be a new goal to reach for.  The process is the ultimate prize.  The best analogy for this is working out.

I've spent the last 39 days working out more consistently than I have since high school football.  It was hard.  The only way I could keep it up was to play math games to push myself.  And the measures were calories, distance, and time.  Why?

Calories are two units of energy, the approximate amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of one gram of water by one degree Celsius at a pressure of one atmosphere.  Long story short, a calorie is a measure of work.

Distance is an amount of space between two things.  

Time is the indefinite continued progress of existence and events in the past, present, and future regarded as a whole.

So what?

By constantly focusing on how much work I was doing, the distance I was traveling, or the amount of time I was spending working, I felt like I am constantly achieving my goal.  It feels like the achievement of the goal at the end of my session was only a continuation of all of the goals I attained in the process of working out.  Ultimately the end of the session felt like just another goal towards another goal.  It kept me going.

Here's how:

First, I set the intention to measure everything in multiples of 15 because I want to spend the next 15 years till I turn 55 grinding to spend the 15 years after that reaping rewards.  To keep my mind on that big life goal, I created a measure of it (multiples of 15) and built it in to every part of my work out.  It not only felt good to pound that intention into my every step while running and every push while lifting, but it literally kept me going.  

Part of why I picked 15 is because the last 15 years have been tough.  I lost both my parents, lost my childhood home to Katrina, and took some serious financial hits.  I also got married, had two children, bought my first home and self-published several books.  It's been a period of contraction in which I've turned internal and focused on family, home, and creative vision.

Now I'm like a rubber band that's been pulled as far as it can pull.  I'm ready to spring out like potential released.  And the next 15 years will be all about expansion.  That's why I'm getting mind, body, and soul ready.

Here's how it has worked more specifically:

While running or doing elliptical or rowing or biking, I'd alternate goal setting between calories burned, distance and time.  Let's say I wanted to run 3.30 miles.  As I approached that distance, I'd look at my calories and go past 3.30 miles if it got me to an even number of calories burned (say 450 - a multiple of 15) or a whole number of minutes run (say 30 minutes - a multiple of 15).  Then I'd say well now that I'm at 3.38 miles I have to get to 3.45 miles.   But now I'm at 480 calories and I have to get to 490 (a multiple of 15) and on and on.  And even thought I knew I was playing a game with myself, it also felt like a serious commitment to this big goal of 15 years of expansion.

Long story short, now, 1 day before 40, I don't feel like tomorrow is the finish line, but just another step in the process.  Perfect way to start the next chapter of life.  And more importantly, a great lesson in how the process is the prize!