Results versus Process

My dog is a good example of valuing process over results. Every morning I take her out to "relieve herself" as they say, and even though she really needs the relief, she will sniff and sniff and sniff until she finds just the perfect spot. I'm not really in a position to judge the priorities of other species, but in lousy weather this can be kind of infuriating. But for the dog, finding the right spot is what rules, not what happens once she finds the spot.

One of the consequences of our "hurry up and get it done so we can get on to the next thing" culture is that we often lose sight of the process when we put a singular focus on results. I see it all the time with students of all levels. The idea of math class is to learn math, not to do well on math tests. The learning is all the stuff that leads up to the test. The test is just to make sure the learning took place. So what happens in school turns the whole thing inside out.

I was thinking about this because of something I heard, Mike Krzyzewski say on the radio. I'm not a huge Coach K fan. Not for any major reason, I just think he's kind of full of himself (although after listening to Bono on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame concert I think the idea of 'full of yourself' has been taken) and his players are floppers and whiners. But what he said in this instance was pretty interesting. He was talking about several basketball greats, Larry Bird and LeBron James and some others, and said that what allowed them to elevate themselves to a championship level was that they learned to love the process. They learned to love going to the gym and taking 100 shots from the same place, love lifting weights, love running sprints, love all that practice stuff that lies behind being a great ballplayer.

So I ask myself if I love the process of what I do. It's kind of a funny question for me, because what I do is process. Teachers don't actually accomplish anything for themselves, they are there to help the students accomplish something. But the answer is yes anyway, because I love the process of being a process, the reading, the lesson planning, the getting up in front of the class, the one-on-one work. I have nothing tangible to show at the end of the day, but if I edged my students toward their goals, I've been a successful process. What other jobs are like that?