Why I’m Finally Learning to "Trust the Process"
I recorded a podcast episode today with the brilliantly creative Omar O’Connor. The episode itself is currently entering the somewhat glacial phase of post-production and won’t be out for some time, but our conversation sparked a realisation that I simply couldn’t wait to write down.
During our chat, we landed on a phrase that has historically made me want to roll my eyes and walk into the sea: “Trust the process.”
The Myth of the Sleek Machine
Before today, I had a very specific, rather cynical view of what “the process” meant. I pictured something streamlined, sleek, and entirely faultless. I imagined a corporate assembly line where ideas went in one end and perfect, polished strategies popped out the other.
Naturally, as someone whose brain does not operate on a predictable, linear track, this concept felt entirely alien. If that was the process, I wanted absolutely nothing to do with it. My own creative journey usually involves pacing, getting distracted, making mistakes, and occasionally forgetting what day it is.
The Messy Reality of Human Creation
But speaking with Omar made me realise I was framing the concept entirely wrong.
The human process is not a faultless machine. It involves bumping into things. It involves getting things horribly wrong and failing. The process is, by its very nature, incredibly messy. This is especially true for neurodivergent thinkers; our paths from A to B often involve meandering through the rest of the alphabet first.
Finding Faith in the Stumble
If we view the process as a pristine, error-free system, we will always feel like we are failing it. But if we reframe it to match reality, the phrase suddenly makes sense.
Trusting the process does not mean trusting a flawless system. It means putting our faith in our ability to learn from our mistakes. It means trusting that the stumbling, the messy drafts, and the wrong turns are actually the work happening in real-time. Above all, it means trusting that by learning as individuals and collaborating with others, the messy human process can actually yield something amazing.
I will be sure to let you know when the full episode with Omar is finally edited and released. Until then, I am going to try my best to embrace the mess.
