Goals - The Journey or the Destination
Posted by Brad Walker at 10/15/2007 12:58 PM and is filed under uncategorized 
The famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright once told a story of an incident that would have seemed insignificant to the casual observer, but which had a profound influence on the rest of his life.The winter when he was nine years old, young Frank went walking across a snow- covered field with his reserved, no-nonsense uncle. As the two of them reached the far end of the field, his uncle stopped and turned around. He pointed to his own tracks in the snow, as straight and true as an arrow's flight from one end of the field to the other. Then he pointed out young Franks tracks meandering all over the field. " Notice how your tracks wander aimlessly from the fence to the cattle to the woods and back again " his uncle said." and see how my tracks aim directly to my goal.
there is an important lesson in that."
Years later when Frank was a world-famous architect, he liked to tell how that experience had greatly contributed to his philosophy in life: "I determined right then," he'd say with a twinkle in his eye," not to miss most things in life, as my uncle had."
So who was the wiser of the two? Was it the uncle who focused on his objective and let nothing take him off course? Or was it young frank, who took the creative and impulsive approach, focusing more on the journey than the destination.?
The answer is Yes -they were both right! the uncle was focused on a goal and was committed to letting nothing get him off track.
He knew the shortest distance between where he was and where he wanted to be was a straight line. Young Frank, on the other hand, loved the journey. He was willing to delay getting to the end of the field as long as possible in order to experience everything along the way. In fact, he might never have made it to the end of the field had he not been keeping up with his uncle.
There is a tension in life we all wrestle with: how to find the middle ground, or balance, between the rigid pursuit of goals and remaining flexible at the same time. How do we know when it's right to delay the goal, or perhaps choose an entirely different destination, in order to take advantage of opportunities we didn't foresee when we began the journey?
there is an important lesson in that."
Years later when Frank was a world-famous architect, he liked to tell how that experience had greatly contributed to his philosophy in life: "I determined right then," he'd say with a twinkle in his eye," not to miss most things in life, as my uncle had."
So who was the wiser of the two? Was it the uncle who focused on his objective and let nothing take him off course? Or was it young frank, who took the creative and impulsive approach, focusing more on the journey than the destination.?
The answer is Yes -they were both right! the uncle was focused on a goal and was committed to letting nothing get him off track.
He knew the shortest distance between where he was and where he wanted to be was a straight line. Young Frank, on the other hand, loved the journey. He was willing to delay getting to the end of the field as long as possible in order to experience everything along the way. In fact, he might never have made it to the end of the field had he not been keeping up with his uncle.
There is a tension in life we all wrestle with: how to find the middle ground, or balance, between the rigid pursuit of goals and remaining flexible at the same time. How do we know when it's right to delay the goal, or perhaps choose an entirely different destination, in order to take advantage of opportunities we didn't foresee when we began the journey?
A PERSONS HEART IS THE SAME AS HEAVEN AND EARTH
THE BLOOD CIRCULATING IS SIMILAR TO THE SUN AND MOON.
THE MANNER OF DRINKING AND SPITTING IS EITHER HARD OR SOFT
A PERSONS UNBALANCE IS THE SAME AS WEIGHT
THE BODY SHOULD BE ABLE TO CHANGE DIRECTIONS AT ANYTIME
THE TIME TO STRIKE IS WHEN THE OPPORTUNITY PRESENTS ITSELF
THE EYES MUST SEE ALL SIDES
THE EARS MUST LISTEN IN ALL DIRECTIONS
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You know... if you're going to present such a "Thought Provoking" dissertation, I would appreciate it if you would also provide the answer... (o;
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Everyone should always set goals. I at one time felt those goals should be set to the point of being impossible to reach. As I've grown older I've seen that when you do that, you not only disappoint yourself but you can hurt others that have put their trust and faith in you.
It's my opinion that it's always the journey because the destination is forever changing. When I started the Martial Arts it was my goal to make yellow belt. When I achieved that it was on to the next belt. When I earned my green belt, it then became brown and from brown it was black.
I used to be a fighter, I lived and breathed fighting in the dojo so that I'd be on top of my game for the weekend tournaments. I did very well winning my division almost every time I fought. Then came the time that I said if I'm going to spend money to enter a tournament then I'm going to run kata and weapons also. Within no time I not only was winning in sparring but in kata and weapons also.
I hated grappling and resisted it for years, until I started actually training and developing skills and now I spend about half of my training doing ground work. I'm either doing exercises, are drills to help my escapes and submissions.
I also now am to the point that at my age and rank that competition in tournaments is a thing of the past. I get the bug when I go to an event but I now have the discipline to let the younger guy's have their time.
My journey now has taken me to the point of teaching, my thrill comes from seeing someone that I've trained reach his or her destination just to see it change on them. Then I get to watch them move on to the next point on their journey.
So I've alway's been on this journey, I;ve just never been able to make it to the end because my destination alway's changes.
Gregg
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