Keep Your Eyes on the Prize

This past week was one of the busiest, and craziest weeks of my life.

My book revision was due. I traveled to my state’s capitol.  I worked full time. At one point, I had to take a cab back to a hotel to make it to Wi-Fi for my master’s class.

And I had meetings, blogs, lunch appointments, errands, and a relationship to balance.

And what is my point?

Who hasn’t had a week where things just get real?

 Sometimes, when things get busy I can feel myself threaten to shut down – to just throw my hands up and say “enough already I’m going back to bed!”

But instead, this week turned out to be wonderful and it reminded me of something so easy to forget in my own life – and something I wanted to share with you.

Every little thing in every day is leading us somewhere. Every process, event, errand, homework assignment, or task that sometimes threaten to overwhelm are leading us to something.

The road you are walking is leading you towards a destination. And, often, the harder the road is, the greater the payoff will be at the end.

And sometimes, it’s easy to mistake business for displeasure. 

Because honestly, I love my job, my master’s program, traveling (taking a cab for the first time by myself made me feel like a legit city-girl…even if it was only a 5 minute cab in Tallahassee), lunch appointments, networking, my book, my business, and my relationship.   

But when they all hit at once, stress threatens to make even the greatest things feel like burdens.

So, remember this:

Even when it doesn’t feel like it, working really hard will always pay off. You enrolled in college to get somewhere and it’s how you approach the day-to-day tasks that will determine your success.   

And never forget that everything you do, from the truly enjoyable to the incredible arduous, contributes to your end goal.

The prize.

So take the time to remind yourself of that this week or anytime you start to feel overwhelmed by your life.  It is the greatest form of self-motivation.

Great goals are not reached from attitudes of complaint, apathy, or even stress.

They are achieved by those who push through the toughest obstacles, overcome the greatest barriers, and – more than anything else – accomplish the small, sometimes mundane, tasks with a smile, every.single.day.

The only way to do that? Keep your eyes on the prize.