Fixer Upper quickly turned into a favorite show of mine when it first aired in 2013, and stayed at the top of the list throughout every season. It seemed like every time it was on Molly and I would have to stop what we were doing and watch it. We turned into somewhat of superfans and embraced that title by visiting Waco this past year.
We would dive deep into episode after episode, falling in love with the vision for reimagining new life in a house that needed revitalized. Add in a ton of humor and all the shiplap—game over. It’s just good television!
I remember we would get so excited towards the end of each show, sometimes fast forwarding to see the final product. I would always hear oohs and ahs off to the side coming from Molly while we watched the new homeowners take the tour around the house. Everything would be immaculately done, perfect, clean. Every episode Chip and Jo (yep, first name basis) made it uniquely theirs with built in character and creative surprises that fit the guests personality.
But as amazing as each house looked at the end, and even with the habit for trying to fast forward to get there, it wasn’t my favorite part. I never liked the finished product as much as I did the process of creating the finished product. I enjoyed the purpose of the process, the story, the obstacles, the moments of shock and levity.
PURPOSEFULLY ENJOY THE PROCESS
My life sometimes feels like this show, take out the houses and throw in any vision, goal, or dream I have had. I have this ideal image of my life. Now think about yours.
Sometimes I want so badly to fast forward, to get to the end, to reach the finish line, to bypass all the struggles, and fears, and doubts, and disappointments. Sometimes I want character to be built in to my life without experiencing the lesson or hardship. Sometimes I want the skill without the practice of craftsmanship beforehand. I want to hear the oohs and ahs in the final scene without the grunt work and grit.
But I would get there to only realize that I took my eye off my why, and missed out on the enjoyment of real growth and progress.
TRUST AND ENJOY THE PROCESS
In Fixer Upper I absolutely love #demoday. Here I am trying to adopt that same mindset, demoing my limiting beliefs with the journey of becoming the person God created me to be, my ideal image, my end result—a better person, a better husband, a better coach, a better leader in all aspects of my life.
From there we can begin to remodel. Embracing the moments that build character in our lives, designing it in a way that makes it uniquely ours, and creating a blueprint that creates purpose. We’re all a bunch of fixer uppers. It’s time we started purposefully enjoying the process.
CENTERED LEADERSHIP
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Process over product is very applicable when thinking about procrastination and the daily grind. If you focus on the outcome, you can easily convince yourself out of starting the effort. If you focus on the process and set aside time to get into the flow of work, it’s easier to do the meaningful work.
This is a good reminder to enjoy the journey.
Love it man! Yeah I’ve found it way more motivating to break down each end result into a bunch of tiny end results to help out with making progress within the process.