Sometimes action is spontaneous.

But action that is meaningful and leads to positive results will, in all likelihood, be based on a process where the action is the final flourish. The cherry on top of the icing on the cake.

Think of a football team winning 5-0. The action is the players on the pitch scoring the five goals at one end or the brilliant defending stopping the other team scoring at the other.

The process will be the drills and practice on the training pitch which help the winning team act as one – a well-oiled frictionless machine - when the time to perform on matchday arrives.

Two recent examples from my work also help to bring this to life.

The first is a coaching client who delivered an important presentation to senior leaders in their business. With this presentation they raised their performance to a new level and really did themselves, and their team, justice after many months of hard work on a complicated and difficult to execute project.

To do this, they committed to following a process that ended in positive action (the powerful, focussed and well delivered presentation). The process itself was hours of drafting and designing a great presentation document followed by hours more practice refining the content, language and delivery.

As my client commented to me with a smile on their face, “once I focussed on my preparation it made the meeting in the boardroom pretty easy.”

The second example is this blog that you are reading. I have wanted to share tips I provide on a daily basis to my clients more broadly for years. I’ve talked about it and procrastinated but never taken the action.

Last summer I committed to redesigning my website and taking the time, energy and resource to get this right. That process has resulted in me writing these regular pieces and taking the action that eluded me for too long.

Investing in the process was the catalyst or trigger to the meaningful action.

Top performers in sports, the arts and business don’t just hope that they will perform when it matters. They set up processes that help them work toward their big moment.

What action do you want to take? What performance do you want to deliver in the future? What will the process be to help you achieve this?