Staying the Course

My I Ho Chuan team had great discussion yesterday about the difficulties one experiences in trying to stay on the path to mastery. We agreed that there is a lot of faith that goes into staying the course until you have at least one success under your belt. Until that first success, we need to recognize what tools we have in front of us to keep on the path. We already know the path, we just need to stay on it.

A lot has to happen before an abstract dream becomes a tangible goal. Inspiration sparks the dream into existence and continues to sustain it while it remains in the periphery, just out of focus. When motivation and, above all, courage are in sufficient quantity, a plan begins to emerge, bringing the dream into focus with a clarity of purpose. The abstract dream is now a tangible goal.

There is not much that can compare to the excitement that is generated by a goal’s clarity of purpose. The path to success is no longer obscured and there is a direct, clear line connecting where you are to where you want to be. Stay on the path and achieving the goal is a certainty.

Enter life. Plans and goals are irrelevant to life. Inevitable crisis will emerge and priorities will shift in response. It does not take much to knock you off your path, no matter how well you have planned. The longer you stay off the path, the more obscure the end goal becomes. Spend enough time off the path and your goal becomes impossible to envision and devolves into nothing more than an abstract dream. You are back to square one.

Staying the course is not easy. It is human nature to seek the path of least resistance but the easy path is rarely the right path.

• Define your goal. Clarity of purpose is everything. Your path becomes clear when your goal is clear.
• Where am I? What am I doing? It is impossible to stay on the path to mastery if you do not even realize you are off the path. Daily, even hourly assessments will ensure you know exactly where you are and empower you to adjust your path if needed.
• Don't just look where you are going but also remind yourself of where you have been. The path to mastery is long and arduous. Motivation becomes a challenge if you do not acknowledge your progress.
• Be adaptable. The value is in the goal and the path is your way of achieving your goal. Adjust the path to serve the goal.
• Do not lose sight of your goal. There is a reason why you challenged the goal in the first place. Recognize when you are sacrificing the goal to serve your path. The path serves the goal, not the other way around.

“I find it fascinating that most people plan their vacation with better care than they do their lives.Perhaps that is because escape is easier than change.” - Jim Rohn (1930 - 2009)