Journey is greater than the destination #49

Hey all,

And happy Friday.

This week I want to talk about something I’ve observed over my career and life, and I’ll try to explain where some happiness comes from.

So, I’ve done a few things over my life which I am proud of.

If you know me, or have at least seen my LinkedIn profile you’ll know I have two masters, a MSc in AI/Machine Learning and a MBA. I also have a PhD too. Now for a chap who walked away from school with poor results, including semi-failing English (my own native language), these are big achievements.

Beyond any academic achievements, I have also done a bunch of personal physical challenges too.

You might not be able to tell from my squidgy, mid-life body - but I did a lot. My first effort was completing a 10k (6 miles) run with less than 6 weeks training. I then went on to do other 10k runs too. Later in life I did the London marathon, a 42.195 km (26 mi 385 yd) run (the last 385 yards is important to highlight).

When you’ve done a marathon there isn’t much more running you can do or want to do, so next I did a couple of triathlons. My first one was the London Triathlon featuring a 1 mile swim in the Royal Victoria Dock, a lovely 40k bike ride, followed by a 10k run.

I won’t bore you with any more, but the story didn’t end there (and hopefully won’t).

Reflection

Imagine you are stood at the bottom of a big hill, imagine it to be a very big hill. You decide to walk up that hill and you tell the people around you. Most of them won’t care, they’ll be too busy in their own heads. Perhaps thinking about themselves and their own limiting beliefs in themselves to climb that hill, or perhaps it’s a simply ‘ok whatever’. Either way, you set off on the climb.

It feels lonely at first, you’ve left everyone you know behind at the bottom of the hill and you’re on this journey alone.

You could feel lonely, but this may also be mixed with excitement as you are doing something outside of your comfort zone and that feels good.

During the early stages of the journey it feels rare, unique, like you’re doing something that very few have done before.

Then, along the journey you meet a few others on their own journey up that hill.

You walk near them, make pleasant conversations but determined with your own journey.

Before you reach the top, some of those people you met along the way changed their minds and abandoned their dream of climbing that hill.

But you persist.

As you get closer to the top a couple of things happen…

1. Climbing the hill has become normal. When you set off it was difficult and very few people you knew were doing it. But as you climb more your strength increases, your tolerance to the challenge increases and you’ve met a bunch of people along the way. The situation has normalised itself out - it isn’t so strange or unique anymore.

2. You start to be able to see the end in sight, you get tunnel vision, fixated on the end. Absolutely determined to make it to the top.

And when you get to the top?

Well, there you are. You sit for a while, you enjoy the view and you take in that sense of achievement.

6 months later you’re reminiscing about the experience and that achievement, but while you’re thinking of the views from the top of that hill, your sense of achievement doesn’t come from the views, it comes from the journey itself.

Let me explain from my own experiences…

I did an MSc in machine learning, part time, evenings and weekends.

I got a distinction on all the modules, all of them.

And when I look back on that achievement I never think of the time I went down to Leicester to walk up on stage and get the certificate.

Instead I think of…

• the cool modules I did, and things I learned

• taking my laptop on holiday and building artificial neural networks when everyone had gone to bed

• how I struggled with the maths parts, but overcame it and aced it

• or the kindness of the teaching assistants helping me get my environment set up

• and during my lunch breaks trying to do as much assignment work as possible

I think of the journey, more than the achievement.

And it is the same for the time I ran the London Marathon.

I often remember getting up at 6am on a Sunday morning to do a 3-4 hour run. I remember the ice cold mornings as I would run from one side of Hull and back, and my father-in-law meeting me half way to supply me with new drinks.

I remember the event itself, the hustle at the start, running through sprays of water to keep cool, passing all the people drinking beer outside the pubs as I ran by, running over Tower Bridge and struggling like crazy during the last 5 or 6 miles.

I even remember the long walk back to the hotel after the race, and the bottle of beer my mother-in-law had ready for me.

I remember the conversations with my old friend Kev, who inspired me to sign up in the first place. And the long training run we did together following the Humber Bridge Half Marathon route.

But until writing this, I had never really thought about the time I crossed the finish line and got the medal. It’s still a blur really.

My medals and certificates? They’re in a box somewhere, I never get them out to look at.

But I often smile when a thought pops into my head reminding me of the journey itself.

You see, it’s all about the journey, the process, to doing of things.

That is where the value is.

So, the challenge we all have… try to enjoy the journey itself.

Want to loose weight? Don’t focus on the number you want to lose, instead enjoy eating better food.

Want to get educated? Don’t focus on the certificate at the end, instead focus on the lessons and the content itself.

Want to run a marathon? Learn to enjoy the training runs.

Fin.

Happy Friday everyone, wishing you much happiness and success.

John