No matter how high one goes in their personal pursuit of success, there is always another level to reach. Any truly motivated person understands this and enjoys the pursuit of a goal rather than the actual achieving of that goal.
Sure, achieving anything is always a wonderful feeling but to a highly motivated goal oriented individual the feeling of euphoria comes knowing that while others celebrate the present victory the real rush comes from having the next goal in sight close on the horizon and that another “process” will begin immediately thereafter.
I think back to my days as a competitive bodybuilder back in the early 1980’s in New York City as a teenager, whenever I would win a trophy, I would immediately feel a little down – not depressed – but down in my spirit if I didn’t have another competition to immediately focus my energies on. You see, I loved not only the process of training, but the entire mindset of sacrificing, focusing and striving toward my physical goals.
And if the truth be told it was always more than a physical thing for me when I was an athlete, because I put my entire mind and soul into my preparations to the point where it was a spiritual experience for me and a beautiful experience at that!
But for the most part how many people do you know actually love the process of what they do to the point of it being a spiritual experience?
So much of what we do today in this greed driven culture is merely to attain the material prizes that come with the measure of success of ones chosen field of excellence. “How much will I get paid?” is the war cry of the day and while money is VERY important as one should never short change themselves, you have to ask yourself how long would a person with the “money driven mindset” last if the financial rewards were to dry up for a time and they were left to operate on the remaining fumes of their passion for the process.
…….not very long is my bet for most.
When looking back on the careers of the top achievers in a wide swatch of the various fields and industries, they all have that common period in their life when they were struggling not making enough money to live up to an acceptable standard but because they were involved in their desired industry, they had no problems with it because deep down they knew that their financial breakthrough would come through eventually.
But we find out quickly if we really love what we do because when the prospect of earning huge money is nowhere to be seen on the horizon, so goes our enthusiasm to indulge in the process. So while we who are on the outside looking in on the recent snippet of someones personal walk through their own journey of self actualization, we cannot get angry at the amount of money that they command for their services because we just don’t know how long it took for them to get where they are now.
So in actuality, they are getting paid for all of the times for which there was no pay nor the guarantee of ever getting paid!
Think about it!
So this is why I feel a little down when I complete a project today if I do not have anything planned to jump right into after it is completed, because I am in love with the process and not the reward for going through the process. The reward is a reward only when it can be reinvested into fueling the continuation of the process toward a new goal or level, but to think of the reward as a thing of getting paid just to go out and purchase these faddish frivolous items does absolutely nothing for my soul whatsoever!
So to go a little deeper, this is why there is a huge difference between the “process lovers” and the “end result of finances earned lovers.” The people who may be great in an endeavor but are money driven will always possess a void that can never be filled when compared to the process lovers who just love what they are doing “just because”.
So when the project is over and finished you can tell the difference between the two because for the money driven achievers the fun is only beginning when the goal is reached and the time for getting paid is here. They have endured the process and the light at the end of the tunnel is the cash while the money is a secondary amenity when compared to the rush that comes when fully engaged in the process. Money driven personalities never get depressed after the goal is reached like the process lovers do. Take a note of this as you work side by side with those who fraudulently claim to love the process but are only there for the money.
Look at the athletes of today that go on strike because of the money, the athletes of yesteryear would never do such a thing because they were more interested in building a solid legacy through their amazing record of achievement and were concerned more about their place in history. These money driven athletes today are only into the end result of what the means can bring them, commercialization of the sport and the mentality of the money driven athletes are to blame.
I think back to a gentleman who was always featured as an explorer of all things nature especially in the deep sea on the Sunday afternoon nature programs back in the 1970’s named Jacques Cousteau, looking back I KNOW that this was a process loving individual. Now, as famous as he was I also know that he earned a ton of money because at that time to be on television so much with such a quality endeavor you had to be generating the funds to subsidize and validate spending that type of money to continue the process. But with that being said, you never saw him do a few episodes and quit pushing himself further and deeper into his exploration of nature in the deep seas because money was never the reason why he possessed his love for the ocean in the first place.
So when thinking of myself I am so grateful to my God that I was made to be one who loves the process of creativity as it doesn’t even matter WHAT type of creative endeavor that one is committed to, it all goes through the same steps of visualization, action, process and fruition. And with each creation rendered the artist now knows a little more about themselves and their capabilities, likes and dislikes, that will catapult them to an even better higher level of excellence for the next creation rendered. Isn’t that a beautiful thing?
So a I said in the first sentence of this article, no matter how high one goes in their personal pursuit of success, there is always another level to reach. I hear that statement in my head with every stroke of the pen/pencil to paper – with every word that I type and with every syllable uttered on video!
Know that everything in this world is a Godly display of living breathing art as you are to righteously lose yourself into the pursuit of your next level of excellence as it is a celebration of life and an appreciation to our Father above who in fact is the ULTIMATE EXPRESSIONIST!
Think not?
Then look around at everything that He has afforded us in this big beautiful world that we are living in and tell me I am wrong!
…….there is NO amount of money that could be offered to me that could EVER replace the “joy of the process!”
Peace & Righteous Love Always,
Your Process Loving Brother,
LanceScurv
407-590-0755
