Defining Achievement: Part 1

I felt a pressure on me, a self imposed one, to achieve.

Man, that’s so true. The truth is, I’ve always felt this pressure and even thrived off of it. It allowed me to academically excel through school.  It allowed me to be a leader through performance and example on the softball field. It allowed me to earn several scholarships to attend college.  It allowed me to change the cycle of poverty that I grew up in.  It allowed me to enter leadership positions.

It was my motivation….to jump from achievement to achievement, from “end point to endpoint” and say “what’s next?”  I was always thinking ahead.

I appreciate the role achievement has played in my life.

However, I’m wondering now, if achievement is defined differently, post LifePlan.

This question came to me after an early morning run that lasted 70 minutes.  (It’s been at least three years since I’ve ran that much at one time). What I felt after that run was different than what I used to feel after I “achieved” something.

I think previously I would have made a mental check mark in my head and it literally took pressure off of me. Whereas, if I couldn’t mark something off my achievement list, my emotions, my  mood, my drive suffered and I questioned myself.  Not outwardly, but inwardly, I beat myself up.

My definition of achievement is not yet solidified and perhaps this post will help me navigate that.

So, if I attempt to describe how I felt after running this morning….did I feel a sense of accomplishment?  Sure, but I didn’t bask in it. I felt like I was being a good steward with my body and health.  And because of that, I could then invest in others better. My impact on others would now be more than if I would have slept in and ignored my physical health. I didn’t make a mental checkoff, but instead, I had a sense of a higher purpose, much higher than that one achievement. I was ready to invest in others.

Perhaps, before LifePlan, it was about the achievement itself.  And, now, it’s what the “achievement” allows.

I’ve always believed in serving a higher purpose and that has been a big part of my motivation.  But, now, I’m truly living it. Truly feeling it.  It’s about the journey and the impact, not the achievement.

So maybe achievement defined for me is being a good steward with all that I’ve been blessed with so that I can serve a higher purpose, more than I ever have before. It’s not a destination, a goal, or an endpoint.