We think that we are progressing by doing something, anything at all, especially if it’s something we don’t really want to be doing. Like you’re wearing a badge of honor knowing you are making your way through a mucky swamp.
But unless the Goal you are trying to achieve is worthy of your time, achieving the goal will not be worth it. For example, one time a Teacher of mine made an assignment, memorize a series of passages from a book and recite it perfectly, and you would be rewarded with a certificate of achievement. So I tried and tried, every morning I’d memorize a bit of the passages and worked on it for months. Eventually we had a new Teacher come into to replace the old one. I wanted to still try for test, and once I was finally done, I asked the New Teacher to Test me.
The New Teacher then told me “You know, I don’t think I like this program, I think we’re just going to cancel it.” I’d been working on these passages for months! I was heartbroken!
The moral of the story here is when you rely on goals set by other people, the internal motivation is never as strong as true goals set by yourself, for yourself. Those are the goals that help you make your life better. Not some outward achievement or your search for a certificate of completion. The act of trying to memorize those passages helped me learn better from then on and the certificate I would have gotten wouldn’t have helped me one bit, maybe it just would’ve given me a temporary morale boost. The journey is the reward, it’s what helps you compound your experiences into success, not some external trophy or reward, like likes or comments on your social media posts.
So do what you can to set worthy goals for yourself. And celebrate them when you reach them, because they are yours and yours alone.
Until Tomorrow,
Jason Ziebarth
JZ#617
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