Enjoy the Ride

So, if you're trying to get rich, and you hate the process. You hate everything about it. And then you don't get any richer. When you've made your attempt, given it all, you end up poor and lonely. You gained nothing. In the aftermath you have less cash, less wealth, less friends, less of everything you want. But if you enjoyed the journey, you would still have that: You would have the experience, and you enjoyed it.

Now, enjoyment can be many things. If you go to Las Vegas, take all the money you've got and give it a go at the casinos. And then just enjoy the ride. You may lose, but at least you enjoyed the process of losing. But that's bad advice. There are even worse ways to part with your money, but casinos is one extremely stupid attempt at getting rich.

Enjoy the ride. That's fine. And if you want to enjoy trying to get rich, technically, this can be done in any casino. But that's nitpicking. It's what we're saying but it's not what we're saying. Get it?

Enjoy the process; Enjoy the outcome. Make losses into victory. Any process will eventually arrive at the moment of truth. You will make it, or you will not make it. Success or failure. The thing to understand is, that you can hack your process, such that failure is not an option. How: Don't make the destination the goal. Now you get it?

The journey is the goal. The ride is the purpose. It's not about the destination.

Back to the get rich example. If you want to get rich, become extremely wealthy, acquire hundreds of millions, or billions, and then you make it. Or you don't. It really does not matter. Your death can arrive at any moment. You may get other ideas, change your priorities. Anything can happen.

But if you enjoy the ride, your undertaking has purpose either way. It's not about failing or winning, it's not about achievement. It's about the effort in itself. The venture is the purpose. Regardless of outcome, the whole it wasn't for nothing. Other people may think you've failed, but in your mind, make it so that even the worst outcome will be a success.

Buy the ticket. Take the ride. Some rides must be taken to the end. Not all rides have emergency exits. But if there is no option to get off along the way, understand what this means and don't buy the ticket if you don't like it.

Ride on your terms. Some journeys can be designed so that there are options along the way. Options where you will be able to change direction, jump off, exit without major losses, and continue as if nothing bad has happened.

Enjoyment

Perhaps this wording, to enjoy something, is a poor choice of words for journey optimalization.

Having a good time, doing fun things, and enjoying yourself is fair enough, but it may not be the thing you're really aiming for. It may not even be happiness or satisfaction. Perhaps look deeper than that. Like, look for fulfillment, purpose, meaning, virtue, excellence. This one is personal, and you'll have to explore this further on your own. For your next journey, and for every drive, what is the motivation for the particular direction?

Different Approaches

It's about the direction, the movement, the process. It's not about the destination, the target. You're oriented towards the process. But that's just one viewpoint. One way of looking at it.

The opposite approach is to make the destination itself the goal.

It's even possible to combine the two approaches, be both process oriented and goal oriented.

The Goal oriented approach. If you're aiming to become the fastest runner in the world, you're aiming for the target, the destination. If the goal is all that matters, and you literally hate the journey, coping with a loss can be difficult, if you spend most of your life trying to achieve something and you didn't make it. This is a gamble, you're going all in on this, and it only makes sense if you win. This is how many people get motivated, failure is not an option. But in real life, failure is always an option, at least when we define failure and success in therms of the attainment of some end goal.

The process oriented approach. If you're aiming at doing everything you can do, in the very moment, to become a faster runner, you're focused on the process. You may take second place at the Olympics, or you may not even qualify at some local running event. But that's okay, you did everything you could withing your power. There are genetic limitations which is outside of your control.