It is always an opinion that gets you in trouble but here I am getting ready to give you a few opinions that resonate with me. First off I believe that life is a journey and not a destination. I could give you my theological opinion and that is that eternity with Christ is my destination and this life is just my journey to get to know Christ. But today I am just going to give a psychological opinion on why this perspective is better than thinking everything you do is about a goal rather than a journey.
If everything I do is about the goal then I would believe that every time I miss the goal I would have some sort of depression or feeling of failure and when I achieve it the only satisfaction would be of some superiority complex. Now don't get me wrong as I am passionate about my goals just like every time I played a game in sports I desperately wanted to win. Every time I went to bat in baseball all I could think about was getting a hit. My anxiety would sky rocket as in getting the butterflies before a game. I was intense and wanted to win with a passion. I was always disappointed when I struck out or missed a tackle or heaven forbid that I would fumble the ball when I was full back in football (the oblong ball). Now think on this for a while if I just hit 30% of the time in baseball I could be in the hall of fame! WOW! That sounds like a pretty high failure rate. In basketball is you make over 50% of your shots in the field you are great and if you make over 90% of the free throws you are in the very elite in America. Keep in mind that the basketball court and free throw lines are the same in grade school as in the pros.
Back to my point, goals are great but GROWTH is greater. Let me say it another way. If each time I lose I get a little better meaning that my lows are always a little higher than my previous lows isn't that a much better measure of success? Another way to say it is: if I was really good in the beginning and the end I was the same place I was when I began, can I say I was successful? Which do you admire most the person who was the smartest or fastest or the person who overcame some difficulty and became the best? Wes Welker (football player just traded to Denver from New England Patriots) from Oklahoma was too small to be recruited by any college in Division One and in fact was a walk on and the last person accepted to Texas Tech scholarship but they had one left he showed heart. When the pro draft was open he was not much to consider and most teams did not even give a minimal consideration to draft him. He has become one of the greatest receivers in the NFL and not for one year but for many years. What gets you more motivated, a genius who went to Harvard and developed Facebook or the son of an English teacher who took his uncle's BBQ sauce recipe and made it one of the best know BBQ sauce brands in America. How about the son of a big time movie star who becomes a drug attic or alcoholic (happens all the time) or the small town boy who follows his passion and becomes a movie start who happens to have a son who does well and the son maintains his family image and does well like Ben Johnson or Lance Howard both parents of famous Hollywood actors. Do I need to tell you the names and where they came from?
If everything I do is about the goal then I would believe that every time I miss the goal I would have some sort of depression or feeling of failure and when I achieve it the only satisfaction would be of some superiority complex. Now don't get me wrong as I am passionate about my goals just like every time I played a game in sports I desperately wanted to win. Every time I went to bat in baseball all I could think about was getting a hit. My anxiety would sky rocket as in getting the butterflies before a game. I was intense and wanted to win with a passion. I was always disappointed when I struck out or missed a tackle or heaven forbid that I would fumble the ball when I was full back in football (the oblong ball). Now think on this for a while if I just hit 30% of the time in baseball I could be in the hall of fame! WOW! That sounds like a pretty high failure rate. In basketball is you make over 50% of your shots in the field you are great and if you make over 90% of the free throws you are in the very elite in America. Keep in mind that the basketball court and free throw lines are the same in grade school as in the pros.
Back to my point, goals are great but GROWTH is greater. Let me say it another way. If each time I lose I get a little better meaning that my lows are always a little higher than my previous lows isn't that a much better measure of success? Another way to say it is: if I was really good in the beginning and the end I was the same place I was when I began, can I say I was successful? Which do you admire most the person who was the smartest or fastest or the person who overcame some difficulty and became the best? Wes Welker (football player just traded to Denver from New England Patriots) from Oklahoma was too small to be recruited by any college in Division One and in fact was a walk on and the last person accepted to Texas Tech scholarship but they had one left he showed heart. When the pro draft was open he was not much to consider and most teams did not even give a minimal consideration to draft him. He has become one of the greatest receivers in the NFL and not for one year but for many years. What gets you more motivated, a genius who went to Harvard and developed Facebook or the son of an English teacher who took his uncle's BBQ sauce recipe and made it one of the best know BBQ sauce brands in America. How about the son of a big time movie star who becomes a drug attic or alcoholic (happens all the time) or the small town boy who follows his passion and becomes a movie start who happens to have a son who does well and the son maintains his family image and does well like Ben Johnson or Lance Howard both parents of famous Hollywood actors. Do I need to tell you the names and where they came from?
- Danny Head son of the marvelous English teacher Helen Head
- Ben Johnson Jr. son of Ben Johnson Sr.
- Ron Howard son of Lance Howard
All of Osage Country fame. The list can be very long but I would bet you that everyone of these folks are thankful for the ones who built and protected this country not the politicians or government bureaucrats who risk nothing, STOP. I was regressing into my feelings toward big government. But I do think everyone of us should be thankful for those who went before us that upheld HONOR, INTEGRITY, LOYALTY TO COUNTRY, HONOR TO GOD and risked their lives for us so that we may experience the journey of freedom in America.
Back to the beginning. Isn't the trip the most fun not the destination? To make my point one last time think about when you have invested your time and energy in being with your family and in particular your children and the joy of that time together knowing that they are going to have a better life because you experienced the journey together. Memories are best shared.
Thanks for your time,
gary@thepioneerman.com
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