Goals, Risks, and Rewards

A goal is more than a plan to reach a stated objective.

A goal is the launching point of a journey.

If you undertake that journey and follow it to its conclusion, you'll gain more than they outcome that you sought initially. 

Follow your goal, and you will become stronger, wiser, more skilled, more experienced, more resourceful, more resilient, more focused, more capable, more content, more fulfilled, and more ALIVE than you would have been if you had decided to take the safe route and do nothing.

Does setting a goal seem frightening or intimidating? Some apprehension is natural. What if you fail? What if you're not up to the task? What if you fall flat on your face and everyone laughs at you?

Criticism is painful, but you can endure it. Missing your expectations and the expectations of others can be devastatingly uncomfortable, but you'll survive and you'll be stronger for the experience.

No one succeeds without failing along the way. No one. The people whom we recognize as great successes didn't magically have all of the right answers when they started their journey. They failed repeatedly, and they were criticized mercilessly every time one of their ideas didn't work. They dealt with it and kept going, just as you will.

Give yourself the freedom to try something that might not work. If the only risk that you're willing to take is a sure bet, you'll never get very far. Sometimes, you have to take a chance on the long shot, the dark horse, the big payoff. If that horse stumbles, jump on another horse, and another. Each time, you'll learn lessons that you could never have learned without taking that risk.

A goal provides us with the opportunity to reap two rewards, our stated objective and the challenging but life affirming journey that leads to it. You might not reach that objective. You might need to reassess and recalibrate your trajectory and set new goals. But you won't know which way to go until you have taken the journey.

Eventually, you'll meet up with the rewards that were meant to come into your life, precious, bountiful treasures that reflect who you are and what you were willing to work for along the way. Everyone's journey is unique, as unique as the rewards that await you if you're willing to take the steps to reach them.

Copyright © 2015 Daniel R. South 

All Rights Reserved