One of the great ironies of life is that we place destination over journey. We think about the money, the reward, or the recognition. We justify in terms of worth, cost, and sacrifice. It’s all about the ends and not the means. And, yet, it’s in the journey we find experience. That’s where we learn and grow. In the journey, there are no errors. There are no mistakes. There is only trying. Destination, on the other hand, is evidence of our existence. Something to let us know where we’ve been. It’s great on paper, it’s great as a shorthand, but what really matters is how we got there.
At its best, destination provides the motivation to create journey. It gets us off the couch. But journey needs to do the rest. We think of journey as something to take us to destination, but in reality, it should be the other way around. Instead of life as a series of destinations interspersed by journeys, life should be a series of journeys interspersed by destinations.
In business you need to be willing to cannibalize yourself – there will always be a better product or service eventually, so why not be the one to offer it? The same could be said of living. Be willing to give up yesterday. Let go of the pictures you took. Stay out of your comfort zone. Make room for tomorrow’s you. Opportunity is limitless, but time is preciously limited. Don’t rest on laurels and past achievement. Let every day be its own. Because if it is all about journey, there really is no point of arrival, and there is no place to be. There is just getting up and giving it a go.
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