Process is power. It is a divine human power.
Unfortunately, most humans neglect this power and seek events—essentially running their lives like animals.
No animal can rise to 1000X their personal power.
Only humans can.
What separates humans from the animal kingdom is our ability to engage in a concerted, conscious process that can last weeks, months, and even years. Animals cannot engage in processes outside of their hard-coded instincts. A beaver builds a dam because it’s programmed to. A bird constructs a nest because genetics demand it.
Humans, however, hold the power of choice, which can be part of a systematic process that compounds into a force far greater than its parts.
Embrace the process, and it becomes a human superpower.
Think about the Amazon empire. It’s a product of Jeff Bezos’ process.
Elon Musk—love or hate him—his rockets, EV, and robot ventures are monuments to his process, surpassing the singular power of one individual.
No animal can rise to 1000X their personal power.
Only humans can.
And the process is the key.
But few ever use the process to build a great life.
Instead, they let their feral brains run the show, chasing an easy dopamine hit. They chase the event.
This refusal to engage in process is why mediocrity is the norm and excellence is the outlier. Process is what creates outlier success. Process is 99% thinking.
So, let me ask you a question, and I want you to be honest:
What have you worked on for months? For years?
What have you trained on?
What have you learned?
What forces have you compounded?
Is the answer—NOTHING?
If so, that means you are not process-driven. It means you are abandoning a human superpower to engage life like a common house pet, reacting to stimuli rather than creating your future.
Events Are Visible, Process is Hidden
I’ve been talking about Event vs. Process for years.
It is the fundamental divide that separates the winners from the losers.
Winners understand that process is the keystone; losers worship the event.
- The Process is the invisible backstory that no one sees, acknowledges, or applauds.
- The Event is the trophy and headlines that makes the normies salivate.
The process is the three grueling years spent writing that book you’ve dreamed of; the event is having a best-seller that makes people envious of your “luck.”
The process is the 18 years of blood, sweat, and torn ligaments the pro athlete endures; the event is the $100M contract that hits the headlines.
How does this divergence and disrespect happen?
The problem is visibility.
Events are visible. Process is invisible.
Because the process is invisible, society ignores it. We only see the flashbulb moments.
In fact, it is virtually IMPOSSIBLE to witness a process, because it involves hundreds, sometimes thousands, of microscopic decisions. How can you “see” a process?
You can’t… except in one unique, rare case.
You can only see a guy sitting at a desk. You can only see a woman lifting a weight. Fact: Most of my decisions are part of a process. For example, TODAY ONLY here are some of my decisions.
- Practice Piano — PROCESS.
- Jump Rope and Lift Weights — PROCESS
- HBOT 90-minute sessions — PROCESS.
- Edit final rough draft of new book — PROCESS
Solitary choices? Nope, they are part of a process. How many decisions are you making daily, that are part of a process?
Events are visible.
Process is invisible.
Confessions of a “Cart Snoop”
Here’s an unique exception: Process can be witnessed by proxy. This why I’m the consummate “Cart Snoop.” When I’m at the grocery store, I’m always snooping in other people’s shopping carts. I’m judging what’s on the belt.
Why? Because the shopping cart is one of the few places on earth where a process can be witnessed as an event.
99% of the time, the contents of the cart match the person buying it.
If the cart is loaded with processed food, frozen junk, sugary sodas, and pastries, the person pushing it is obese and likely two Ding-Dongs away from diabetes.
If the cart is stacked with fruits, veggies, lean meats, and unprocessed fuel, the person is fit and trim.
Think about that. The shopping cart is the ONLY place a lifestyle process is laid bare for the world to see.
Buying groceries? Nope, you bought your process.
Pay Attention to Process Proxies
You need to apply this “Cart Snoop” mentality to the rest of your life. You need to spot the “Process Proxies” for the processes you are signing up for.
- The Video Game: When you buy the latest game, you’re buying a process of sitting on your ass for 50 hours in front of a TV.
- The 72-Month Car Loan: When you sign for that luxury car you can’t afford, you just bought a process of stress, servitude, and financial tightness for the next six years.
- The Costco Crate of Oreos: Buying them isn’t an event. You just bought a process of eating 200 cookies over 20 days.
This is why New Year’s Resolutions turn my gym into a joke. Joining a gym is an event. Working out 5x a week when you’re tired and it’s raining is the process.
People love the event (signing up, buying the Nike Pro gear), but they hate the process (the sweat). They deny their human potential. They deny their power.
Embrace the Process
Stop with the mental trigonometry. Stop thinking the event will save you.
1. Pay attention to your purchases.
Are you buying an inadvertent process? When you swipe that card, ask yourself: What process am I actually resigning to?
2. Identify process decisions.
Joining the gym is not a win. It’s an admin task. Going is the process. Writing one page is the process. Coding one line is the process. Celebrate the process decisions, not the events that make the process possible. Buying a keyboard: Event. Practicing: Process.
3. Mind your shopping cart.
Your life is a shopping cart. What you put in it today—whether it’s junk food, junk content, or junk debt—determines who you become tomorrow.
Process is power. Use it to build, or use it to destroy. Or deny it altogether.
MJ DeMarco, Entrepreneur and Author
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