If you follow my Instagram, you know that I love goals and highly recommend having them. But probably not for the reasons you might think...

No doubt you've heard the saying "Life is about the journey, not the destination." Yes, I know it's a corny cliché. But for good reason... it has a lot of truth.

For instance, you know that place in life you think you need to reach in order to feel like you've "made it?" Your ideal version of success? Picture it. Visualize it. Feel it. Got it? Good.

I hate to break it to you, but someone, somewhere is already at that place and guess what...they don't feel like they've "made it."

In fact, they're probably looking at the person ahead of them saying, "Hey, why am I not there yet?"

Let me give you an example from my own life that illustrates exactly what I'm talking about.

I was first introduced to the idea of entrepreneurship by my first mentor when I was 18 years old. Since then, it has been my goal to not only work for myself, but do so in a way that gave me freedom of time and location.

I fantasized about this goal for many years, all the while begrudgingly working regular jobs to pay my bills. I thought that if I could only just reach this one goal, my life would be completely worry-free with little to no challenges. It would be the answer to my problems.

Fast forward 10 years later, I reached my goal of working for myself. I figured out how to make money from virtually anywhere in the world and work as much or as little as I wanted to. What’s more is that in doing this, I reached many of my financial goals too!

I’m not going to lie...it felt good to reach these goals. Actually, it felt amazing! But something interesting happened when I did…

The novelty and newness of the accomplishment eventually wore off and I adjusted to a new “normal.”

I still had challenges and obstacles to deal with, they were just of a different kind. Working for myself was great, but it was something I did everyday so I got used to it.

In fact, most of my peers, friends and associates that I had made along the way were doing even BETTER than I was! (Which by the way, was a big reason for my success).

Make no mistake, I was (and still am) extremely grateful for my achievements. But I realized something:

Once the novelty of the achievement wore off, I didn't feel dramatically different after reaching my goals as compared to before reaching them.

In fact, I was more excited while I was in the process of achieving the goal than I was when I actually hit it!

So naturally, I set my sights on new, bigger goals. NOT because I was unhappy with my accomplishments, but because the journey was more exciting than the destination.

Can you relate to this at all? Have you ever achieved a goal you’ve had for a long time and it made you realize you could achieve something bigger and better?

Strive toward what you want. Achieve your goals. Realize your vision. But don’t do it because you think it will solve all your problems or that the achievement in and of itself will make you happy.

If you're constantly thinking that your life will be complete when you reach a particular goal, then you're missing the point and essentially chasing your tail. Trust me, I’ve been there.

Realizing your goals or reaching a certain level of success can and probably will make you happy temporarily but the most exciting part is the process of getting there.

We never fully arrive. We learn and grow every day. So strap in and enjoy the journey.

Cheers to your success,

Ruben