One lesson I’ve learned time and again in my life is that what you go through (and learn) matters more than what you get. The idea that what you go through every day, the ups, the downs, the unexpected mishaps, the surprises, the doubting, the growing, all of it, is where you define yourself. In other words – process over outcome.

This idea is interwoven throughout my experiences as an elite rower, recruiting for two of the largest tech companies in the world, and in my personal life as a parent and wife. When I focus on the outcome it usually doesn’t end the way I want it to.

But when I focus on the process – what happens between the start of something and it’s conclusion – that is where I have learned the most about myself and how to live a good life.

The process of starting and maintaining this blog has been a case study in this idea, that what I do every day matters more than what I get at the end.

Before I started this blog I was searching for a way to write but didn’t know how to do it. A friend encouraged me to start a blog. Who will read that? I thought to myself. Self-doubt crept in and for months I delayed. Meanwhile, I wasn’t writing.

Eventually, I realized I was never going to become a writer unless I actually wrote. The destination didn’t matter. I just needed to start. Again this idea of what you do and how you do it matters more than what you get in the end. You’ll never get what you want unless you get going.

In life, we are given only so many opportunities to immerse ourselves in experiences and to live them fully. Whether it’s competing at the highest levels, making a career change, or being humbled by parenting our kids, we all have the chance to learn and evolve and to continually hone who we are.

In this blog I have shared with you some of my insights from being a competitive rower and from dealing with the best and worst coaches in the world. I’ve also shared observations of my daily life with three kids, a homemade garden, and all of the other wonderful things in my life. I also share some of my weirdest most stream of conscious thoughts.

If it’s in my head I try to get it out. It’s why my mom used to call me “motor mouth.” I don’t have any viral blog posts, or a massive following, but what I do have is a collection of my work over the past five years. I own this process and that has ended up becoming the product as well.

When we do life right, we can align the process with the outcomes we want. I hope you find something here that helps you do just that.

Thanks for reading and hugs.

Margot