Goals: It's the Journey That Makes the Difference

Have you ever wondered what is more valuable?  Is it reaching your goals or your journey to get there? 

I have pondered this question and here is what I think:  It is the journey that holds the greater value.  Let’s take the journey out of the equation.  Let’s say you desire something and it just manifests itself in your life.  What kind of a person would you be?  What kind of world would we live in?  I dread to think of it.  I guess that’s why most lottery winners end up with tragic lives.  They missed the journey and it is the journey that would have made the difference in the outcome of their lives.

It is the journey that makes the person.  It is the journey that changes lives.  It is the journey that transforms a person from being average to enjoy stratospheric success. 

What is a goal?  It’s the termination point; it’s the end toward which effort is directed.  One may have a goal for total financial freedom and the time to enjoy the things in life that he or she desires.  However, it’s the struggle along the way that makes it possible to achieve those goals.  It’s the person you BECOME that makes it possible to live a successful life. 

None of us start out successful, living the dream.  Success requires a price and one must be willing to pay that price to achieve the reality of their dreams.  If this were not so, everyone would be totally successful and living awesome lives. 

We were all given a mind, will, feelings, spirit, and a body to use during our earthly journey.  It is what we do with these assets that counts.  Most people just go through their entire lives like ships without a rudder.  They are totally affected by the stimuli in their environment and that’s what shapes their lives.  They don’t shape their lives; they allow others to determine their outcome.

However, the ones who refuse to let others tell them what to think and go against the tide toward a worthwhile goal; these encounter all kinds of obstacles.  It’s almost as though invisible forces where doing their best to block the path of success.  Are these “forces” blocking the path or are they “testing” ones worthiness.  I believe it is the later.

We have a dream, begin advancing toward its reality; then it happens; family, friends, and the environment rise up to frustrate, depress, and rob us of the mindset to achieve our desires.  We labor so hard and nothing SEEMS to happen.  We sow, but where is the reaping?  We labor, but where is the fruit?  Those around us laugh saying, “He will never make it; he is a dreamer!”  “That won’t work!”  “You are wasting your time, just come with us and have some fun.”  At times, the “dreamer” just wants to quit.  However, they remember that seeds only produce harvest in due TIME.  They remember the great ones like Thomas Edison, Napoleon Hill, Abraham Lincoln, Henry Ford, Jim Rohn, Zig Zigar, Tom Hopkins, Tony Robbins, and others. They remember that reaping will come to the one who does not faint in his or her efforts.   Based on what others have done, they realize that they must press on regardless of the ILLUSION of defeat around them.

Where does all this realization come from?  It comes from reading excellent books about success and successful people.  It comes by listening to CD’s and watching DVD’s on self improvement.  It comes through prayer and fellowship with God, the creator of all.  It comes through working toward your goal when others are watching TV, playing video games, window shopping, and other wastes of time.  While others are having “fun” you are doing the greatest work:  Working on YOU.  You are learning, changing, growing and advancing toward something others only wish they could have or do.

It is during this PROCESS that things happen.  They don’t happen all at once, they are not big happenings, but small ones.  However, all these small things add up over time and before you know it, you changed, you are different, you are better, and you have become something that you were not before.  You find yourself filled with wisdom and are source of blessing to others.  Eventually you experience little successes that lead to bigger successes.  Then one day, it happens, you look around and you are there.  You have reached your goal only to decide to reach for further goals.  And guess what?  The new goals that you set seem to come easier and faster.  You found the secret to success and success seems to cascade toward you in expected and unexpected ways. 

What made you successful?  Reaching the goal or the journey toward that goal?  I think that it was the journey.  It’s the journey that made all the difference.  Press on, dear friend; press on!  The reality of your dreams could be just around the corner.  I believe in you!