The Trail That Never Ends

My granddaughter, Azaria, recently joined me and my dogs for a 5 mile hike in the North Woods.?About 3 miles in, she asked when we'd get back to the Trailhead and finish the hike. I told her we were on the "trail that never ends" and unless we found the Key Maker who held the key to escape the winding, never-ending trail, we'd be stuck here forever.

Being a good sport, she played along and sure enough, we came across the mysterious Key Maker (another hiker who stopped to say HI) and we eventually made our way back to the Trailhead.?We had a good hike, as did the dogs, and returned a few days later to do it all over again.

Leadership is the same way.

As a Black Belt Leader, you and I are on a quest to become our best, and that's a journey that never ends.

Every day is another opportunity to learn, grow, mature, improve, and get better in some way. The quest to "MASTER Your Life" is one that never ends...it's a perpetual journey.

To become proficient in the martial arts, you practice the same movements over and over again.?As you do, you discover nuances, subtleties, and variants of the movements that allow you to perform the movements to create different outcomes.?This is how you become a MASTER of the Art.

The same is true of any endeavor you undertake or any skill you seek to master.?Proficiency comes from practice, repeatedly doing the same things over and over again until they become an integral part of who you are.

The fool rushes through the journey, wondering how long it will take to reach the fabled "black belt" status.?The wise one wonders how much can be learned along the way, and commits to a lifetime of learning.??

Michael Jordan, Larry Byrd, and Koby Bryant are among the world-class athletes who understood this principle. They showed up early, stayed late, and gave 100% the entire time they were on the floor. They were on a journey of discovery.

These professional athletes learned to love the journey, practice time became their personal "growth zone" where they could get into that uncomfortable place where growth happens and confidence soars.??

They, in turn, inspired those around them to embrace and love the journey, to understand there is NO finish line, and the trail they find themselves walking through life will never truly end.

So, what about you?

Are you acting the part of the fool, doing everything possible to rush through the process of learning, growing, maturing, and improving so you can "arrive"??If so, you're not only limiting yourself, you're making yourself less useful to those around you.?You're limiting your success.

When you think you've "arrived", you've only come to a fork in the road and you must choose which way you will turn, as the journey to "MASTER Your Life" never truly ends.??

Instead, embrace the journey.?Live life intentionally, taking in every lesson it's trying to teach you every single day. This is how you learn, grow, improve, mature, and become a better version of yourself.?And if you do that every day for the rest of your life, you'll not only live a successful, fulfilled life, you'll live a life of significance and leave a lasting legacy.??

It's not how fast can you get there, it's how much you can learn as you navigate through life on the trail that never ends.

If you haven't subscribed to our FREE "MASTER Your Life" podcast, here's your chance to do so. You'll not only get a short, weekly audio insight into leadership, you'll have FREE audio access to some of the MASTER Classes I share so you can listen to them while you're out and about.