Accept and Appreciate Your Journey Toward Success
Everyone wants to be successful in all areas of life. But as you’re working toward your goals, you’ll be living in time known as the “not yet” and that’s okay. You’re taking steps forward and that’s what counts.
It’s Okay If You’re Not Where You Want to Be
You might be like countless others, living your life a certain way when all of a sudden, you’re hit with the desire to change your life. Or maybe it’s something that you’ve been thinking about for quite awhile and you’re anxious to get where you want to be in life.
What you have to realize is that when you have the desire to change your life, it’s going to take some time. Whether it’s a personal or a professional change, it doesn’t happen in the blink of an eye.
When you want to move forward or in a different direction with your life, you’re going to have to be patient and you’re going to have to put some effort into it. There’s no such thing as instant success and you can’t change where you’re meant to be instantly.
Don’t try to take shortcuts on your journey. Just be present in the time that you’re currently in because these are the moments that you’ll look back on and realize they were important pieces of a whole.
You might be in a place right this second where you know exactly what it is that you want from life. You might have even mapped out what you need to do to reach your end goal.
Having the patience to get from where you are to where you want to be can sometimes be frustrating – especially if you want something so badly that just thinking about it fills you with longing.
You have to recognize that the position you’re at right now is where you’re supposed to be. While that might not be thrilling to realize, no one goes from start to finish without needing to work toward that finish line.
There’s a purpose for that, whether you realize it or not. While you’re busy longing for the end result and you might wish that it would happen overnight, there’s something important that you have to realize.
The wisdom that you’ll gain as you move forward is part of the life plan. You’ll have learned things along the way. You’ll be wiser down the road than you are at the moment.
The journey will have taught you things that will help you to not only achieve your goals but know how to do them better and easier, too. What you have to focus on right now while you’re living in the “not yet” is the fact that just because your goals haven’t materialized, it doesn’t mean that you haven’t arrived.
You have arrived, but just not at the end yet. You’ve arrived at the point where you need to be to grow. So take the moments that lead up to the goal and look for what it is that you’re supposed to learn from them.
Keep in mind that because you have made the decision to move forward toward what you want, that’s a huge step in itself.
Are You Moving in the Right Direction?
Sometimes when people have a goal, they slip up and start thinking things like, “If only I was already there.” Or they look at other people who are where they want to be and they compare themselves.
They feel like they’re coming up short in the comparison. But what you have to remember is that you are not one anyone else’s journey. The steps that they had to take to get there aren’t the same as the ones you’ll have to take.
You don’t want to compare where someone else is ending with the place that you are regardless of whether you’ve achieved what you want or not. What you have to focus on is the fact that you’re moving in the right direction.
If you’re heading toward what it is that you want to do with your life, you deserve some self-congratulations. Give yourself a hand that you’ve made choices that are impacting your life, that are making you happier, that will make your life the one that you want.
Look at where you are and think about all that you’ve done. There’s a good reason that you want to focus on the fact that you’re moving in the right direction. You have dreams and you have goals.
You’ve taken steps to move toward that. You’re putting things in place for your success. It might not surprise you to learn that there are a lot of people in the world who never implement their dreams.
They dream, and they want. Some might even feel that ache for what they want. They might feel wistful about ‘what could have been’ and they might daydream about the life that they want.
They think about goals and all the stuff they’d like to do but they never take a single step to make anything happen. Day after day nothing ever changes. That’s because most people who have dreams or goals spend more time wishing and thinking about that than they do actually coming up with an action plan and following that through.
So don’t waste precious time thinking about where you could be. Don’t let your emotions get tied up in the drama of wanting immediate results. Instead, look at what you’re doing right now.
Sure, you may not be exactly in the right spot, but who cares? You’re on the way. And that point right there deserves some excitement. Maybe your dream is to find a special someone – but you’re not there yet.
But you have joined some dating sites and you’re interreacting with some people that you really like. That’s a start. Think about the people who want but never put wheels on the want.
Those are the dreams that gather dust on the shelf and never find completion. You deserve a big pat on the back that you had the guts to turn wishful thinking into action.
It’s Not All About the Destination
The sweet smell of success is powerful. You can sense it even if you haven’t quite reached it. You might have seen articles that tell you to keep your eye on the prize. Stay firmly fixed on the goal and you’ll achieve what you want.
That’s true. If you keep in mind why you’re doing what you’re doing and you have a clear picture of what you want, you will find the success that you’re looking for. But the success is only the end game.
It’s the destination. It’s that point in your life when you can realize that you have arrived at the destination exactly where you charted your course. Most people celebrate that. And you should always celebrate those achievements.
But if you’re not appreciating the journey you’re missing out. You’re cutting short the victory you’ll have when you do reach your goals. Because while the destination is important, the journey to get there is actually more important.
That might surprise you. But it’s true. When you achieve success, you’ve reached the end. You’ve satisfied that longing, that hunger, that drive within you that pushed you forward and wouldn’t let you give up.
But while the end is great, it’s reaching the smaller goals first, and learning new experiences that end up mattering more than the result. When you get success vision, it’s kind of like having tunnel vision.
All you can see is what’s in front of you and nothing all around you. So what happens then is you overlook important lessons that you need to learn. Lessons that will enrich your life.
These lessons teach you and they equip you for that end goal. If you’re blind to them, you will miss learning experiences that could help you. The journey is where you acquire beliefs and skills that can create greater success down the line.
You can liken it to someone who wants to lose weight but they skip learning how to eat better and how exercise can help them reach and maintain their goals. They lose weight quickly through some fad diet because all that’s important to them is the goal.
So then they reach it but they end up right back at the beginning when they gain that weight back. That’s because they didn’t take the time to realize the weight loss was about more than the final destination.
It was about changing their lifestyle and their belief about food. Your goal might not be weight loss, but you’ll still have some habits, some beliefs or strengths that you need to develop.
You may even have some things you need to get rid of along the journey. The journey is the refining fire that leads you to the power you’ll need to reach success after success.
Relish All of the Moments You Overcome Unexpected Obstacles
Journeying toward success means that you’re going to encounter obstacles. Every single dream has something that stands in the way. Many dreams have a lot of things that stand in the way.
But these conflicts are simply issues that can be used to strengthen your resolve as you work to reach your goal. Obstacles can motivate you if you allow them to. When setting goals and striving for success, many people don’t realize that it’s a given that obstacles will crop up.
No matter how well you plan, no matter what your goal is and no matter what path you choose to take to reach that goal. When unexpected obstacles occur, they throw most people for a loop.
Sometimes, they can even cause some momentary discouragement. But what you have to keep in mind is that even obstacles are part of the journey. Sure, they can seem huge and sometimes even insurmountable, but you must realize that this is only a moment in time.
Those daunting obstacles will not last. While obstacles can be difficult and can make you feel burdened or worried about how to figure them out so you can move forward, they’re necessary.
That’s because obstacles teach you. They force you to stretch your ingenuity and creativity to come up with the steps you need to take to get through them. Rather than dreading or shying away from the times when obstacles appear, embrace all of them.
The obstacles are moments that you need to accept and relish. The reason for this is because someday, you’ll reach the place where you’ll see all of your goals achieved. At that point, you might forget just what you went through to get where you are.
Those obstacles need to be kept as part of your journey so that when you look back, you can see how far you’ve actually come. You can realize what you’ve had to conquer to be successful.
This will make you appreciate the end result and as you move forward, you’ll carry that with you. Looking back and thinking about the obstacles will make you smile. Allow those obstacles, all those trying times to sink into your mind because they help you to understand the depth of your accomplishments.
When you’re thinking about where you’ve been and how much you’ve done it will help to inspire you. You’ll realize that you were capable of anything and you’ll see that your determination kept you on the path you chose despite those obstacles.
Looking back can help you to understand the depths of your accomplishments and your bravery. It’ll give you a can-do attitude that you can use to further your success. Not only will looking back inspire you but you’ll be able to use the memories of those moments to inspire others who are just beginning their own journey.
Look Forward to the Secrets That Will Be Revealed to You on Your Journey
When it comes to striving for goals, no one arrives at a destination the same person that they were when the journey began. It’s impossible because the journey itself acts as a catalyst for change.
Those changes might be physical, they might be emotional, or they might be intellectual. The journey is filled with surprise caused by things that you learn. This might be a skill or a new habit, or a changed belief.
But it could also be in the form of lessons that you learn about yourself.
While you do want to keep your eyes on your goal, you don’t want to let that be all that you have. You don’t want to be so impatient that you miss what you’re supposed to learn and you don’t want to get bored thinking that you know exactly what’s in store for you.
Because you don’t. While you’re walking the steps to reach your destination, you don’t know how everything is going to fall into place. It might take a completely different path than the one that you originally planned out.
What you end up with could turn out to exceed all your hopes and dreams. You might end up with a success that’s wildly bigger and better than what you dreamed could happen.
That’s why you need to pay attention to the journey.
As you move forward, you learn so much about yourself. One of the things that undergoes a change on the way to success is the very character of a person. You become a stronger, better person.
This happens because of the obstacles and the value that those obstacles teach you. You also become better because the journey teaches you to take your time, to think things through.
It allows you to experience and grow so that you have the stamina and skills to make it. What’s so surprising about the journey to those undertaking it is that the journey trains you.
It conditions you into your success level. You’ll gain knowledge that you won’t even know you have or need until you arrive at your goal. That knowledge and the strength you’ll gain will make you more flexible in certain areas.
You’ll learn how to adapt when a change comes. You’ll also learn that success comes to those who are determined, to those who know to let the journey as well as the success reached be part of the reward.
If it helps, give yourself a constant reminder that you could have stayed stuck in a place you never wanted to be – but you didn’t. You found the courage and passion to pursue something better – a feat most individuals never manage to muster.
Be proud of that fact. Accept and appreciate your journey and let it be the cleansing path toward success that removes all doubt about your abilities to overcome any circumstances you’re not pleased with in life.
You’ll be a role model for others on how to live life to the fullest – whether you’re looking at bettering your personal circumstances or your professional career. Others will turn to you as a beacon of light in their otherwise dreary and hopeless situation.
