In my 2nd year at IIT, I started learning Taekwondo. I somehow took fancy to the idea of becoming a black-belt. Maybe, I saw too many martial arts movies.
But when the training started, it was really intense. The warm-up itself used to practically kill us, even before the practice had started.
Anyhow, I stuck around and got my yellow belt, and was on track for the next belt. But I then quit. And that was the end of my black-belt dream.
Why did that happen?
My mind was fixated on the ‘trophy’, i.e., the black belt. But I didn’t care about the training. I did not love the grind.
That is how most of our dreams end. We are so obsessed with the end goal that we don’t fall in love with the journey. And then one day we give up.
Had I learned to relish my Taekwondo training routine instead of being fixated about the black belt, ironically, I would have gotten my black belt a few years later.
There is only one way to achieve any goal – fall in love with the journey. And when you reach the goal, you might realize that the journey was way more fun than winning the trophy.
– Rajan