Focus on the Path
It is a fine and necessary thing to have goals. But goals only drive you when you have a path to reach them. Without a path, a way, the greatest goals are useless to us.
Find Your Path
Your path will in some ways be defined by your goal. But once you do identify your goal, immediately set about choosing the path to get there. Do not concern yourself with unrelated, external things. The shortest path between two points is a straight line. Your points are where you are now, and where you want to be.
Determine what choices, steps, and changes will directly lead to the first step towards your goal. This is your path. Focus on this and make everything else secondary.
Follow Your Path
Once you have determined your path, follow it to exclusion of all other pursuits. I'm not saying neglect your health, relationships, or career. You have to live your lives.
But you know exactly what I am saying. Reject tempting leisure and take another step toward your goal before you rest, before you play, before you sleep. You know when you're on the path and when you're not. If you haven't taken at least one step closer to your goal today, you are straying.
Avoid Distractions
Many things conspire to distract us from what you have set out to accomplish. Everything from product advertisements, to well meaning friends who "just want you to relax," to people who are genuinely jealous of what you are accomplishing because it sheds light on their own failures and laziness. Do not let any of these things sway you.
There is no such thing as "just this once." When you allow yourself to become distracted, when you allow yourself to "take it easy," you allow yourself to develop the bad habit of doing so. Stay on the path. Do not divert for anything or anyone.
Likewise do not get so distracted with dreams of victory that you start to think you can get soft or complacent. These are also distractions. Focus on the work, the tasks, and the achievements that lead to your goal. Victory goes to those who stay strong through the very end and beyond. Celebrate your rewards when you have finished, when you have them. Not before.
Don't get Discouraged
When you have grand goals, it can be easy to get discouraged by how far away they are. It can be seem like you will "never get there." It can be hard, even seem impossible, to even get started.
But every day that you delay, that you feel sorry for yourself, the goal, the prize, gets further away from you. Do not allow yourself to be discouraged by the distance of the prize. Focus on the path. Focus on doing what you know you need to do RIGHT NOW, what you have to do TODAY. Focus on the path, and focus on how far you have come. Every day that you take even one step closer is a victory.
Your Path
Everyone has their own unique goals and ways of achieving them. I want to hear from all of you about your own paths and goals. Share your stories about the goals you set, the paths you followed, and what you learned along the way.