“Nothing in life is given to you. You get in where you fit in. Or, you make room.”
          --from the Kanye West documentary.

It took Tim Leatherman eight years to build momentum behind his invention: a multi-purpose tool that combined a knife and a set of pliers, and folded together in pocket-sized harmony. A 1970s creation, the Leatherman is everywhere. Probably in my dad’s pocket right now.

Because it found its place.

Author Barbara Lockhart estimates that it takes nine years for a novel to make its way from her brain to the bookstore shelves. Idea, research, drafting, pitching, editing, redrafting, fine tuning. Published.

The process of making room for new ideas is an underdog story. An unsung hero, process inches along, devoting hours that may not yield on the investment.

One step up and two steps back.

I’m someone who focuses on the duration of time it takes to accomplish a particular thing. I’m not unique, most humans tend to measure both the tangible and intangible within the framework of time.

And because of that tendency, we confuse outcome with reward.

I want to eat dinner. So, I mix these ingredients in a bowl. I transfer the mixture into a casserole dish, turn on the oven, set a timer. I wait as the clock ticks down. Ding! I am rewarded with something to eat. An outcome made possible by the process.
 
And when we think this way, it becomes easy to dismiss “process” as that pesky thing standing in the way of getting what we want. A hurdle we need to clear, a countdown we need to endure.

But let's go back to the podcast interview with Tim Leatherman.

Listening to Mr. Leatherman discuss his decades-long journey, he didn’t strike me as a frustrated entrepreneur worn down by a half century of swatting away challenges. He was lighthearted as he reminisced about his endless tinkering, countless obstacles, and rejections. He sounded like a happy man preoccupied with a task. Working through a process that brought him joy.

His wasn’t a concept that fit the norm, so he had to spend years carving away resistance, making room for his new creation. 

I wonder how easily we give up because we undervalue process. Not understanding that's how we create room for our new ideas. Ideas that grow into the little lots and spaces we're responsible for tending in life. Plots that bring us joy as we caretake them well.