"It is the time you have spent with your rose that makes your rose so important."

So said Antoine de Saint-Exupery, in his timeless book The Little Prince, and it is a reminder that we benefit not just from the outcome of our efforts but also from the process of them. 

It is an act of faith to tend a flower. The rewards are not immediate. We have to persevere and be patient. We have to continue to spend time on doing something that isn't immediately rewarding. Only when a flower blooms do we see the full extent of our investment.

It is sometimes an act of faith to concentrate on something that requires commitment and input before immediately yielding a result... and this applies to many things we do from learning a foreign language to a new physical activity.

What is true, however, is that by concentrating on what we do, we can make it relevant and important to us. And this supports the process.

Then the process becomes as rewarding as the goal, and the goal is the successful outcome of the process.