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6 Dec 2006 Know your path and enjoy it; a different kind of self-help
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If you ever have a spare half an hour or so I'd recommend having a read through Scott Young's articles:
When to Quit
When to Quit continued
Scott Young is a self taught self-help guru (or so it would appear) and he has written many self-help articles for all to read and they are rather different. Rather than shoving down our throats the "happy-happy, blindly 100% positive not matter how meaningless it sounds" mythical approach to self-improvement, he questions the conventional wisdom and offers an alternative approach which is refreshing. The "When to Quit" articles he wrote caught my eye in particular.
These articles in a nutshell describe how one should take a look at his or her goals/dreams/current direction/etc in life and decided whether it is worth continuing to do them. In a sense it's giving you permission to say "It's not worth doing this anymore" rather than stubbornly saying "I mustn't give up. I've got to keep going no matter what!" Scott also makes a bold claim that reaching your goals in the end is not the way to ultimate happiness:
"There is an implied assumption when you are pursuing your dream. That assumption is that reaching your outcome is the only valuable part of the process. Being the famous actor, owning the billion dollar empire, selling the best-selling novel. Realizing the dream is what matters most.
There is only one problem with outcome-based thinking. It doesn't work! When you ask most hugely successful CEO's what the best part of their journey to success was they will tell you it was when they were still young, optimistic and struggling. Achieving goals doesn't make you happy because achievements on their own hold no lasting emotional value. Only growth, fullfilment and passion has value."
A bold claim indeed.
After writing the first article various people wrote their comments about it. Some people wrote their own counter-articles on their own sites, including this guy (who basically wrote "You've always got to keep going. Lots of people in history didn't give up, including Spud Webb, and they all did pretty damn good"). The things he wrote are valid and true. Scott followed up with his second article which can be summerised (and indeed was summerised by one of the commenters) by one simple Buddah phrase:
"There is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way"
Enlightening.
I think we've all been in situations where the journey to our dreams itself was much more fulfilling than the end result itself was. I know I have on many occasions. My career choice for one thing. I originally wanted to be a computer games programmer and I dedicated my school and college years toward that goal. Then upon reaching University and realising "Oh bugger, this is actually pretty hard" I diverted my energies towards web developing. I had a blast learning all sorts of new skill, constantly improving and growing with time. That is where a lot of the fun was and it still is.
Ultimately the buzz of reaching your goal is short-lived and is never ever-lasting. Was the journey to it worthwhile?
If you're still in the mood Scott has written various other stuff that may be worth a glance sometime.
Posted at: 21:14 PM
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