Take Pride in the Process

The saying "Take Pride in the Process” has always resonated with me, ever since first seeing it on the wall at Stanford 20 years ago.

 Learning new skills, whether they be a handstand, muscle up or something very advanced in the gymnastics world take time to develop.  As an athlete you can look at this journey to completion and eventual mastery as a daunting one or you can embarrass the step by step process that goes along with incremental gains.  

For me, one of the skill that comes to mind is learning a Kazamatsu full on vault. Vault had never been one of my strong events.  Couple that with a torn ACL my first day in college and I had a long way to go to get to a point where this event was on par with the others.  This skill was incredibly challenging for me to learn. In fact, I would say it took me the longest to learn.  It probably took around four years to finally get it to a level where I could compete it confidently.  The process was slow and had a lot of moments where I had to regress to make sure my basics were fully intact.  This process was something I grew to embrace and really appreciate.  With the help of my coaches and teammates I came to learn that the process was the most important part of the journey.  The end result will most of the time figure itself out if you put in the time and are conscious of the small steps along the way.  I’ve tried to "take pride in the process" with all phases of my life ever since seeing it up in the gym at Stanford all those years ago.

-Dave Durante