I saw a beautiful quote the other day from a parent of an athlete who had just won an Olympic medal

🥇 The interviewer asked: “How proud are you of their achievement?”

🗣 And the parent responded: “We’re proud of the person she has become through this journey”

I’ve been thinking and talking about this a lot recently. About how easy it is to become obsessed with the next result, the next target, the next fix of dopamine for our fragile egos

It’s so easy to think the top of the mountain is the destination. And so easy to miss the fact that the magic really happens on the way up

It’s in climbing the mountain that we discover what matters to us, what drives us, how we lead others, how we handle setback and failure. It’s the climbing where you discover who you really are, and who you have the potential to be

It’s easy to overlook this when we live in a world judged almost entirely on outcomes. The journey feels pretty inconsequential when you have gold medals or market shares on the line

Sport is all about the next mountain, so I’ve spent a lot of my life chasing summits. Pride and satisfaction that only feels justified when some tangible ‘result’ has been achieved

But I’m starting to realise that the people who are successful AND happy are those who get excited about mountain tops, but who also fall in love with the adventure they’re on and person they are becoming on the way

I also believe that great leaders (and parents, coaches etc.) invest in helping people become better at the art of climbing, not just at planting flags

That’s why I loved this quote so much. I’m sure these parents were so proud of the medal. But is was secondary to the growth they had seen in the athlete

💡 So, my curiosity for the day..

🏆 Do you see the journey as a ‘means to an end’ to get to the results you want in life?

⛰ Or do you see results as the inevitable wins on the way to becoming the best version of you?