Hey there,

 

This one is about process.

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I got called out by my 12-year-old cousin once. What I thought was an interesting conversation, turned out to be a frustrating interrogation for him and his position seemed justified in that situation. This is how the conversation went. Just for context, he is the most interesting 12-year-old I’ve ever met.

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Cousin: You don’t know how to ask questions…
Me: You know I ask questions for a living, right?
Cousin: No… but then, why are you asking me questions like that?
Me: Like what?
Cousin: Like you want me to give you an answer that suits your needs.
Me: (How are you 12?) I don’t expect any specific type of answer… plus I’m just asking you follow-up questions on what you said.
Cousin: No, you’re not asking me direct questions. You asked me ‘Do you really think automobile engineering is the way to go?’ Instead of ‘Why do you want to do automobile engineering?’
Me: Yeah, I wanted your opinion on the subject.
Cousin: I’m 12. Am I not allowed to like things and see myself doing something without having an opinion on it?
Me: And look at what you just did.
Cousin: But that’s exactly what you did!
Me: You cannot be 12.

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And that’s when I realised I had to change. There is this unknowing requirement for ambition over process and I’ll explain how.

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Automobile engineering has a very bright future, no doubt about that but when I look back at the conversation, I really did want to him to answer in a certain manner. I was expecting a goal when he smartly defined the path. I was expecting ambition when he was looking at process.

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And history has its own stories on process over goals, because goals can change but if you’re rooted to the process, you ought to reach somewhere you were meant to be anyway.

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