If you were going to take a family vacation, you would never just get in the car and start driving, picking random turns at intersections. If you did, you would be lucky to end up anywhere meaningful. The chances of stumbling upon a Disneyland or New York would be remotely small.
Instead, you decide where you want to go and you calculate the best route to get there (whether you want speed, even if the drive is a little less pleasant – or enjoyable scenery, even if it takes a bit longer to arrive).
Success in life is no different. The best way to end up where you want to be is to figure out where you want to go. Find the people, the places, and the institutions that can help you get there and then make them part of your life. Every day, make progress, travel a little more distance, and enjoy yourself. Things will never end up as you planned, but they can be better if you open yourself up to life and remain flexible.
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Reader Comments
(2)
Comments are presented chronologically, with replies indented beneath
the comments to which they respond.
T
Tricia Drake
June 7, 2012
Nothing against you, since this advice is generally accepted to be true - and I see it EVERYWHERE. Looking around at extraordinarily successful people, it seems obvious that it must be true . . . but looking at unsuccessful people it is obvious that it's not true since you will find many frustrated people who can articulate exactly what they want. I also see plenty of successful people who did not have an end game in mind when they started.
A more accurate description that I read was that the success of an individual was at the intersection of 1. what they liked to do, 2. their abilities, 3. opportunities available.
Here's my explanation: knowing what you want is an ability (not some secret success formula) - and it is both not enough to obtain success (although helpful), and also unnecessary for success.
J
Joshua Kennon
June 7, 2012
Replying to Tricia Drake
I think of it this way: Knowing what you want is necessary to success but it alone is not sufficient to attain it. It merely improves your odds of going in the right direction.
Tricia Drake
June 7, 2012
Nothing against you, since this advice is generally accepted to be true - and I see it EVERYWHERE. Looking around at extraordinarily successful people, it seems obvious that it must be true . . . but looking at unsuccessful people it is obvious that it's not true since you will find many frustrated people who can articulate exactly what they want. I also see plenty of successful people who did not have an end game in mind when they started.
A more accurate description that I read was that the success of an individual was at the intersection of 1. what they liked to do, 2. their abilities, 3. opportunities available.
Here's my explanation: knowing what you want is an ability (not some secret success formula) - and it is both not enough to obtain success (although helpful), and also unnecessary for success.
Joshua Kennon
June 7, 2012
Replying to Tricia Drake
I think of it this way: Knowing what you want is necessary to success but it alone is not sufficient to attain it. It merely improves your odds of going in the right direction.