Woorkeri Raman, a former Indian cricketer and former coach of the India women’s national cricket team, has two non-negotiables. As an offspinner, you must never get cut, and you must never get driven through the covers. Even when Ravichandran Ashwin takes five wickets, Raman will still point out if he got cut or driven off a particular ball.Raman insists on these two non-negotiables for a simple reason: you can set fielders for good balls, but not for bad balls or extraordinary shots. Fielders are there to create pressure by denying batters risk-free runs. A batter can only drive an offspinner through the covers or cut without risk if they bowl too short or too full.As an offspinner, your primary responsibility is to provide control. A bowler’s performance can’t be measured just by wickets because there are only 10 in an innings, and you can’t take a five-wicket haul every day. The true yardstick is whether you’ve been able to control the game by consistently bowling the right line and length over extended periods.Reading about Raman’s two non-negotiables in Ashwin’s excellent book, I Have the Streets – A Kutti Cricket Story, reminded me of the importance of focusing on the process (providing control) and letting the outcome (taking wickets) take care of itself.Let me explain how adopting this process-oriented mindset has not only reduced my anxiety but also allowed me to enjoy the learning process much more. Whenever I sit down to read a book or learn a new concept, the inner voice in my head automatically sets a goal like reading 50 pages in a day or mastering the concept in a day. This outcome-oriented approach has a significant problem.Understanding concepts doesn’t happen on a fixed timetable. It can take hours, days, weeks, or even years to master a particular topic depending on its complexity and my readiness to understand it. You have to spend a lot of time reflecting on that concept until it yields its insights to you. Charlie Munger has a term for this: “rag the problem.”For some odd reason, I had an early and extreme multidisciplinary cast of mind. I couldn’t stand reaching for a small idea in my own discipline when there was a big idea right over the fence in somebody else’s discipline. So I just grabbed in all directions for the big ideas that would really work. Nobody taught me to do that; I was just born with that yen. I also was born with a huge craving for synthesis. And when it didn’t come easily, which was often, I would rag the problem, and then when I failed I would put it aside and I’d come back to it and rag it again. It took me 20 years to figure out how and why the Reverend Moon’s conversion methods worked. But the psychology departments haven’t figured it out yet, so I’m ahead of them. — Charlie MungerNow, I tell myself to spend a set number of hours daily on learning with 100% intent and dedication. I focus on putting in the time (process) and let the outcome (mastering the topic) take care of itself over time. This approach has made me less anxious and has allowed me to enjoy the learning process much more.I’ve reread The Practicing Mind several times. Each time, it leaves me feeling calm and relaxed. The book introduces a simple yet powerful 4S framework for developing a process-oriented mindset: simplify, small, short, and slow.Simplify: Break large projects into manageable chunks. Completing each chunk builds motivation, propelling you towards project completion.Small: Keep tasks small to maintain focus and simplify your approach.Short: Work in brief intervals, like 30-minute sessions. This Pomodoro technique makes tasks less daunting than facing hours of unbroken work.Slow: Do the task slowly by working at a pace that allows full attention to the task at hand.I applied this framework to the everyday task of brushing my teeth, with surprising results. Usually, I spend about 5 minutes brushing mindlessly. However, by applying the 4S method by dividing my mouth into four quadrants and focusing on each for 30 seconds, I finish in just 2 minutes. Not only is the process more efficient, but my teeth are cleaned more thoroughly, and I feel more relaxed throughout.Life is a long process filled with numerous outcomes, yet the time we spend ruminating on these outcomes is just a tiny fraction compared to the total time we spend living. Dedicating our entire life to focusing on this small fraction of outcomes is shallow. Instead, we should embrace and enjoy the process itself, which represents the larger part of our existence. Vishal’s (Safal Niveshak) stunning illustration perfectly captures the essence of process-oriented mindset.