Rick and Keith discuss the journey, the process that makes up most of life. Most people are fixated on the outcome or the goal. Being consumed with the latter offers only temporary bliss if the goal is realized and disappointment and suffering if it’s not. Be present to the journey and you will find joy every day of your life. And if there is an outcome to your liking along the way, that’s a bonus. It’s really all about the journey. Embrace this truth and live life like it’s what really matters. Doing so sets you up for a peaceful and joyful life.

Zen, a school of Mahayana Buddhism, is full of practical wisdom. Legendary basketball coach Phil Jackson is into Zen and used the concepts to coach Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant. See, Eleven Rings, about the championship runs of the Chicago Bulls and LA Lakers. Zen Masters don’t care about results. They focus on habits, rituals, and processes that support the Zen way of living. When we focus on the process, the outcome will follow automatically.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines detachment as a “state of being objective or aloof.” Osho, Buddhist poet, says that being objective is important but detachment—not aloofness– is key. True detachment as Zen Buddhism defines it means deep involvement in life, not aloofness. Lack of attachment to the outcome means we are fully engaged in the moment, but give up the idea that we “must have” or “rightfully expect” a certain pleasing outcome because of our effort, or just because it is what we want.

As spiritual author Ron W. Rathbun wrote, “True detachment isn’t a separation from life but the absolute freedom within your mind to explore living.”

“Ordinary people focus on the outcome. Extraordinary people focus on the process,” says actor Bryan Cranston in his autobiography. Cranston, who played Walter White in the TV series “Breaking Bad,” explains his enlightenment:
Pressure is imagined. Pressure isn’t real — it’s just the stress you put on yourself. It exists nowhere else in the world except in your head. Pressure is the result of “shoulds” we put on ourselves to produce outcomes we have no control over. When we focus on outcome, we begin to foolishly expect things that are truly out of our control, which sets us up for failure, disappointment, suffering.

You don’t need to pressure yourself to compete, to win, to come out on top. Because the truth is, you don’t control the outcome. You don’t control anything — except yourself. Circumstances come from the entire matrix of life and you truly have no control over what shows up. But you do have choices. You choose your attitude, your mindset and your actions. The rest is out of your control.

The true mark of a champion is a commitment to the craft. Anyone who relies solely on luck, talent, or prestige doesn’t understand this lesson, and will suffer for it. The best professionals were, at one point, pretty bad. Everything is difficult before it becomes easy. Process is the way.

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