The point is process

The point is process

Last weekend, I partook in an adventure.

Ten gents, on six boats, rowing 120km on the Bergriver over two days and one night, camping in the middle of nowhere. It might not be as epic as climbing Everest or destroying the One Ring in the fires of Mount Doom, but it is still pretty challenging. Everything you need, you have to carry in your boat. There are no facilities along the way. No shops. No shortcuts. Just a lot of water, farms, fish eagles, bugs and nature.

It is one of the very few things I’ve done over the past year (we did the same trip a year ago) where technology is of zero help. No Google Maps. No motors on the boats. No help from an AI platform to make the trip easier. The only thing you can do with your phone is take photos. On the second morning, we started rowing in the dark, but due to the mist on the water, our headlamps were of little use. We had to switch them off to have any sense of where to go. It is a very unsettling couple of hours in the dark for someone like me who likes clarity and certainty. And not going overboard in the pitch dark.

It’s just you and your partner, with a plastic boat and two oars, on a river.

Listening to a podcast discussion between Simon Sinek and Arthur Brooks this morning, they discussed how we use devices and technology to be more efficient and save time, which we then spend (often mindlessly) on our devices and technology. Brooks refers to this phenomenon as “a self-licking ice cream”, which I thought was funny. They share the opinion, with many others, that the benefits of these wonderful tools have made us overly focused on the outcomes – the “getting things done” part of life – to the point that we want to blow right past the process of getting there. But it is actually in the process of completing the task that the learning, growth, change and adventure happen.

The reason for us going on this trip was not just to finish the trip. Rather, the goal was to experience nature, good company, outside of our comfort zones, in a way that is removed from what we consider the norm. The point of the trip was to participate fully in the process of rowing down that river. For my sins, I was partnered with a first-time participant who had done zero preparation. He completely underestimated the challenge and thought we would be floating down the river with relative ease. One of the funniest moments happened when he tipped our boat over within the first 10 meters of starting, and seeing his GoPro floating downstream into the reeds. This was not going to be an Instagram content shoot. He struggled a lot throughout both days, but you could see the sense of satisfaction on his face when we reached our destination. Not because we were done, but because he had done it – by far the most physically challenging task he had ever completed.

My point is this (Sinek and Brooks would agree): The satisfaction and meaning of life lie in the process. Not in arriving at the finish line. It is this over-amplification of “once I get there or make my first million or sell my first company or lose the 15 kilograms THEN life will be good” that trips us up. There are too many examples of Olympic gold medalists who fall into deep depression mere weeks after winning to ignore this fact.

These gentleman summarise their conversation by saying that success, happiness, and wisdom come from learning to find joy in the process, in the doing of life.

As Sinek says:

• Learn to write your own blog (or to row your own boat), don’t prompt a machine to do it.
• Learn the skill of having difficult conversations without memorising a script from ChatGPT.
• Learn to sit in discomfort, like we did on the boats for 23 hours, without immediately looking for the easy way out.

As we floated down the river, hanging onto the side of the boat for the 9th time, I remembered that the process of life, work, and learning is messy, ugly and very imperfect.

The point is process. Experiencing and doing life here and now and not waiting for the “one day when I get there” to arrive. Or as Brooks puts it: Be alive now.

If you are having a difficult time focusing on the moment, get in touch. You can reach us at info@purposeworks.co.za.

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