The destination matters

[00:00:00] Well, hello! This is The Daily Five with Aurooba, that's me, where we reflect on creating our best lives a little bit every day. Here we go.

[00:00:15] I've said this multiple times on this podcast. Journey before destination. The meaning being that the journey matters more than the destination. But don't mistake that for thinking that the destination doesn't matter, it does. It is important to enjoy the journey and to enjoy the process of getting somewhere for its own sake, but where you're going is meaningful and informs your journey.

[00:00:41] You can't know if you're off track or not if you don't know where you're going. If you don't have a destination in mind, then any direction is correct, any decision is fine, any route will get you there. The destination matters so that you can make the right decisions as you go on the journey, and enjoy the journey.

[00:01:00] Before we start, we have to think about the finish. When I think of journeys, I often think about the Lord of the Rings story. One of the most epic journeys, you know, in fiction. Frodo and Sam have a destination, Mount Doom, to destroy the One Ring, and they set off in that direction. Their journey had a million twists and turns, they had many setbacks, and things that tried to derail them.

[00:01:26] And they knew those were derailing them because they knew where they wanted to go. That journey changed them, and it even affected how they achieved their goal. But ultimately, one of the greatest things that gave meaning to that journey was the destination. They endured all that they did, all that suffering, because they had a goal and it meant something to them.

[00:01:51] Then I think about the other part of the Fellowship. Aragorn, Legolas, Merry, and Pippin. What was their goal? Their goal was to clear the path for Frodo and Sam, as best as they could, and to rally the world against Sauron and his armies. And yes, there were other people in the Fellowship too, don't worry, I haven't forgotten them, that was just an example.

[00:02:15] Their goal or destination was more broad, more of a directive than a precise thing they were trying to achieve. However, it still gave them a rubric. Is the path I'm on one that could help clear the path for Frodo and Sam? Or could help rally the world against Sauron? They could test their decisions against that question and get a yes or no answer.

[00:02:37] So while not as precise as the goal that Sam and Frodo had, it was still something of a destination. One could also argue that getting to the city was the destination as well, but, you know, that's a bit of a stretch and a bit of a digression here. This is episode 24. So, we're getting close to the end of the first chapter of this season, The Start.

[00:03:04] As a quick reminder, this season is split roughly into four parts. So, we're going to spend about 25 episodes in each chapter, and those chapters are The Start, which is where we are right now, The Slog, the pump, and the rally. Mind you, we, we start again every day. We begin daily. I sit down every day and stare at yet another blank page as I figure out a few notes for the daily five and hit record again.

[00:03:33] But the start, the first little bit of the journey towards a particular destination is unique. Well, that's a bit of a digression. Let's get back to the topic. The point is, you've started something, yes, this month, a new habit, a new system. And you've been trying to make some progress towards a particular goal.

[00:03:54] Well, as you're figuring this out, as you are still in that starting bit of the journey, take a look at that goal. Make sure it isn't a super duper lofty one. You know, make it real. Make it tangible. Make it achievable. Don't have your goal be something like infinity. You know, something that you can go towards, but you can never achieve.

[00:04:17] Make it a criteria you can test your decisions against and get a yes or no answer. That will make this whole process for the rest of this year a lot easier to handle, maybe. It's still going to be hard. It's still going to be quite the slog. There will be days when you don't want to, but at least you'll have a rubric that will help you make decisions and decide whether something is helping you or is something you should probably not do because it's not in service of your destination. Journey before destination, but the destination still matters. Thanks for listening. Same time tomorrow?