I'll be honest, an all-day meeting isn't usually how I picture a great day.
If the sun is shining and the temperature is somewhere north of 80 degrees, there are probably a hundred places I'd rather be than sitting in a boardroom where the air conditioning seems to be set somewhere between "meat locker" and "Arctic expedition."
Don't get me wrong. I enjoy the people. I don't mind the work. But if someone gave me a free pass to spend the day outside instead, I probably wouldn't hesitate very long.
Still, life has a funny way of teaching us through the things we'd never choose for ourselves.
Yesterday was one of those days.
We were discussing change within an organization. Smart people. Good conversation. The kind of meeting where everyone is engaged... but after forty minutes of PowerPoint slides and consultant-speak, even the best of us start wondering how long until lunch.
Then one sentence snapped me right back into the conversation.
"Remember, this is a process, not a project."
My head actually tilted.
That's interesting.
The more I thought about it, the more I realized how often we confuse those two ideas.
When something isn't working, our instinct is to create a project. We form a committee. We hold meetings. We make a checklist. We assign responsibilities. Maybe we even build a spreadsheet with color-coded boxes.
Eventually we declare victory.
Problem solved.
Project complete.
Check the box.
But what if the problem was never supposed to be a project?
What if it required a process?
Projects have finish lines.
Processes become part of who you are.
A project is something you complete. A process is something you live.
That's a very different mindset.
Whether it's in business, your family, your finances, your health, or your relationships, lasting change rarely comes because we held one really productive meeting. It happens because we consistently change the way we do things.
Day after day.
Decision after decision.
Little by little.
That's what struck me yesterday.
In our office, we've spent years building processes. Some work incredibly well. Others have become a little stale over time. Every once in a while, we have to step back, dust them off, and ask, "is this still the best way to do this?"
Not because something is broken.
Because improvement isn't an event.
It's a habit.
That's true for organizations, but it's probably even more true for people.
Most of us have projects we'd like to finish.
Lose twenty pounds.
Get financially organized.
Spend more time with family.
Communicate better.
Exercise more.
Read more.
The problem is we often approach those goals like home improvement projects. We work incredibly hard for a few weeks, congratulate ourselves, and then we’re done and move on.
The project ends.
The process never changed.
Maybe that's why so many New Year's resolutions disappear by February.
As yesterday's meeting wrapped up, I couldn't tell you everything that was said. If I'm being truthful, I probably couldn't even summarize every agenda item.
But I remembered that sentence.
It's a process, not a project.
Sometimes the simplest ideas are the ones that stay with us.
So, here's the question I've been asking myself since:
What in your life are you trying to finish that really needs to become part of who you are?
Because the things that change us the most usually aren't the projects we complete.
They're the processes we commit to.