It’s human nature – or at least human habit – to try to predict future results based on present performance. But that’s not a resourceful habit to live by!

We all want to succeed in what we do, especially when we do it in public. So we check in with a picture of where we want to be in the future, and measure it against where we are, now. We want reassurance now that we’ll be okay then.

No wonder we’re so often wildly disappointed when we judge today’s results by tomorrow’s standards! You can’t pack the product of many hours, days, or even weeks of practice or rehearsal into a condensed period. You can’t master the shot just by wanting to.

If you don’t value the process of rehearsal and practice, you don’t GET the value of rehearsal and practice.

Practice for the game, the concert, and the speech matters. It is where you experiment with all the components that will allow you to deliver your best. Yet many people see the practice period as a referendum on personal perfection. When they do that, they miss the entire point of practicing.

I see it in the business executives I coach. They start criticizing themselves and each other in the first rehearsal. Instead of focusing on completing the next steps toward a brilliant result, they leap to the end, with the goal of avoiding ultimate disaster. They leave practice sessions demoralized and scared, rather than open to real opportunities to connect with their message and their audience.

It’s resourceful to want to succeed. It’s useful to make a goal, and aim toward success. It’s just that you can’t get there from here unless you respect all of the steps along the way.

Harness the Energy Around You!

Allowing ourselves to live in the energy of the “end before the middle” does more than just disappoint us along the way. It makes the final product less than it might have been. We beat ourselves up over the false belief that we are supposed to be able to arrive fully baked without practice.

You need the entire trajectory of the journey to arrive where you intend. The steps along the way aren’t barriers to the end result – they are how you arrive at the end result.

If we expect the results that come at the end of the process before we’ve lived the middle, we only validate the fear that “this time, I really won’t measure up.” What we create comes out of the same fearful energy. And we’re wasting precious time and creative energy along the way.

Don’t hold yourself to the standard of having completed the process while you’re smack in the middle of it. We can choose a more resourceful habit simply by choosing these three ideas:

REMEMBER where you are in the process. Are you still learning your words? Are you working on a new mechanics to shoot the puck or deliver the ball? Then let yourself be in the place where you really are: still building something new.

HONOR that all creative endeavors have a process.  The seed of any idea (even if it’s not your own) sprouts into something wonderful only after it gets cultivated.

SHARE this idea with others who are engaged in the creative process with you. Set expectations for where you all are, in that moment. Ask that feedback be provided in a way that honors where you should be in the process now.

If that fails, TUNE OUT the energy of those who mis-use their creative energy. Arrive at all the stops along the way, and you will enjoy the middle as much as the end of the journey.

Not to mention that the final destination will be better if you make every stop along the way!