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June    8th

BRICK   BY  BORING  BRICK

“You    must    build   up  your    life    action  by  action, and be  content if  each    one achieves    its goal    as  far

as  possible—and    no  one can keep    you from    this.   But there   will    be  some    external    obstacle!

Perhaps,    but no  obstacle    to  acting  with    justice,    self-control,   and wisdom. But what    if  some    other

area    of  my  action  is  thwarted?   Well,   gladly  accept  the obstacle    for what    it  is  and shift   your

attention   to  what    is  given,  and another action  will    immediately take    its place,  one that    better  fits

the life    you are building.”

—MARCUS AURELIUS,   MEDITATIONS,    8.32

lite athletes in collegiate and professional sports increasingly follow a philosophy known as “The
Process.” It’s a philosophy created by University of Alabama coach Nick Saban, who taught his
players to ignore the big picture—important games, winning championships, the opponent’s enormous
lead—and focus instead on doing the absolutely smallest things well—practicing with full effort, finishing
a specific play, converting on a single possession. A season lasts months, a game lasts hours, catching up
might be four touchdowns away, but a single play is only a few seconds. And games and seasons are
constituted by seconds.
If teams follow The Process, they tend to win. They overcome obstacles and eventually make their
way to the top without ever having focused on the obstacles directly. If you follow The Process in your
life—assembling the right actions in the right order, one right after another—you too will do well. Not
only that, you will be better equipped to make quick work of the obstacles along that path. You’ll be too
busy putting one foot in front of the next to even notice the obstacles were there.