Not Just the Journey

Your life is something you build every day. You must convince yourself that you have surpassed yesterday. And tomorrow you must feel that you have surpassed today. In this way, there is no end to your mastery.

Bushido: The Way of the Samurai

If this quote sounds exhausting to you, then you are probably not doing things you love every day. Maybe you’re in the wrong career. Maybe you have the wrong friends. Maybe you are spending your free-time in the wrong places. You have built yourself the wrong life.

If you are void of passion about what you are doing, then mastering what you are doing will never be appealing to you. That is your job, your relationships, your hobbies…anything. Start looking for ways to improve them. Or make some big sweeping changes.

Because when you have that passion, when you find what it is that truly makes you tick, when you identify those things that you would put your life on the line for, the work towards mastering them will feel like play. You won’t even have to think about it. Continuous improvement will be something you are internally driven to do. As a result, the journey of the mastery of whatever that is will be fulfilling.

But if another person tells me it’s the journey and not the destination, I’m going to take out my samurai sword and cut their nose off. Because it’s not true. There are winners and losers in life. The winner gets the girl, gets the job, gets the money, gets to stand up on the podium and be recognized. Those are all good things. And the samurai are about winning. So am I.

I think we can all agree, that anyone solely focused on destination will lead an unhappy life. It’s a losing proposition, because anything great in this world takes countless hours to achieve. And all those hours are spent with your head down…are gone. That’s not the answer. And, if you do surround yourself with things and people you are passionate about, the journey can be worth just as much or more than the end result. That is true.

So which is it? Journey or destination?

The answer is that it’s both. There has to be a balance between the journey and the destination. Surpass yesterday, then surpass today, and the journey will be great. Surpass today, then surpass tomorrow, and you will reach any destination that you desire.

Winning, while enjoying how you got there. That’s the urban samurai way.