I’ll be happy when I get my first paying client.

I’ll be happy when I reach my first $10K month.

I’ll be happy when I reach 6-figures.

As you achieve each goal and realise it didn’t bring you the happiness you thought, the goalpost moves further and further away. When will you finally be happy?

Truth is, we have it backwards. Building a 6-figures business is a journey that takes months, if not years. The moment you reach 6-figures in your biz, when that last cent finally drops into your bank account, is just that – a fleeting moment.

If you don’t enjoy every second of your journey, you’ll spend the rest of your life hustling and grinding, never feeling the happiness and satisfaction you crave. 😔

I don’t want that for you. I want you to enjoy the amazing journey building your 6-figures business is as much as you enjoy the fleeting moment when you finally achieve your big goal.

Here’s how I learned over the years to enjoy the journey, not just the destination:

The Problem With Focusing On The Outcome Rather Than The Journey

When you’re working towards a goal, it’s totally normal to think of the destination and what will happen once you get there. 

But when that’s all you focus on, bad things start to happen:

1. You can be happy only when you reach your goal: Building your dream business is a process that requires lots of daily mundane activities. If you don’t enjoy them, you’ll spend 99% of your time feeling miserable, resentful, and wondering if it’s all worth it. And what if, once your reach your goal, it doesn’t bring you the happiness you thought it would? 
2. You can’t control the outcome: You can give it your best shot, but there’s no guarantee things will turn out exactly like you planned. They almost surely won’t. Focusing on the things you can’t control only stresses you out and makes the journey less pleasant.
3. You’ll make wrong choices: Focusing on the outcome may lead you to make the wrong decisions just to get there faster. Think of all the influencers who are buying followers so they can be paid the big bucks to work with brands. Or the girls who take dangerous diet pills to shed the pounds faster. Shortcuts aren’t worth it. They’ll only set you back in the long run.

Related: How To Deal With The Uncertainty About The Future

How To Enjoy The Journey, Not Just The Outcome

1. Focus On What You Have

It’s human nature to focus on what you don’t have. 

When I was building my freelance writing business, I’d compare myself with the successful writers I admired. They had written articles for prestigious publications, had beautiful websites to showcase their expertise, and a rolodex full of editors’ contact details…

Meanwhile, I barely had a one page portfolio online and was struggling to get noticed by any editor…

You know what they say, comparison is the thief of joy. It’s also one of the fastest ways to sabotage yourself.

What you focus on, grows. If you focus on all the things you don’t have, that’s all you see. Before you know it, you convince yourself you don’t have what it takes. Better throw in the towel, now.

The opposite is true. If you focus on all the things you have, your confidence will grow. I may not have had a fancy website, but I had writing skills, the creativity to come up with good article pitches, and the determination to keep going. When I focused on these things, I knew it’d be only a matter of time before I got my big break.

You can focus on what you think you lack and become a victim to your surroundings. Or you can focus on everything that you have and start taking charge of your future.

The choice is yours.

Related: Why You Need To Stop Focusing On What You DON’T Want (And What To Do Instead)

2. Be Grateful For Where You Are

It’s not enough to focus on all the things you have. You need to be grateful for them too. Why would the universe send you more if you don’t appreciate what it has given you so far?

Being grateful for what you have isn’t settling. You can still desire more and go for it (I certainly do!), but you’ll enjoy the journey a lot more if you work towards your goals from a place of abundance instead of scarcity.

The power of gratitude is helping you see how abundant you are, so you can attract more of it in your life.

Instead of being miserable that your business isn’t growing fast enough, be grateful that you have the chance to have your own business. You’re living your dream and doing what you want to do – even if you’re having a bad day or a bad week.

If you say you have nothing to be grateful for, then you haven’t searched deep enough. You can be grateful you’re healthy and strong. Have a place to live. Air in your lungs that’s keeping you alive. Your writing skills. Your infectious laughter.

Don’t take anything for granted. Everything is a gift.

3. How Do You Want To Feel?

You think that once you achieve a certain goal or have a certain amount of money in the bank, you’ll be happy.

But it’s not the goal you’re chasing. It’s the way it’ll make you feel. 

You don’t want a lot of money so you can bathe in a sea of coins like Scrooge McDuck. You want money because of the feeling of freedom you believe money will bring you. So start with the feeling. Figure out what activities will make you happy and bring you those joyful feelings. Then, do more of those.

I feel most happy and alive when I write. But the second I hop on social media, I fall into the comparison trap and start to feel inadequate. So I hired a VA to handle Instagram while I spend most of my time writing articles for this blog.

You’ll enjoy the journey more if you spend your time doing the things that make you feel like you want to feel.

4. Detach From The Outcome

I know, easier said than done. If you’re putting in all that effort to scale your business, write that book, start your podcast, you want to know you’ll succeed. 

Problem is, there are no guarantees in life. You can write the best book in the world and only a handful of people will read it. How do you know if all the effort is worth it? Ask yourself this, would you write that book, start that business, pursue that dream even if you failed?

Paulo Coehlo, author of The Alchemist, sold so few copies when the book first came out, his publisher dumped him. But he knew writing was his gift to the world, his calling. And so, he kept going. He found another publisher who believed in the book and, eventually, through word of mouth, The Alchemist, sold more than 70 million copies.

Coehlo could have never engineered the amazing success the book had. He could have never predicted that Madonna would pick up the book and tell Oprah about it. He just kept showing up and doing the work and, eventually, things worked out much better than he could ever have imagined.

Things won’t always go as planned. You won’t always get the outcome you want. Doesn’t mean you failed. It means there’s something better in store for you. Just keep going.

Related: Should You Follow Your Dreams Or Be Realistic?

5. Celebrate Every Part Of The Process

When you have a big goal, it’s easy to think you haven’t succeeded until you’ve reached it. But this completely ignores all the progress and small milestones you’ve achieved along the day.

Let’s say you’re writing a book. Instead of waiting for publication day to celebrate your achievement, break the task down into smaller steps – and celebrate each one of them. Celebrate when you’ve finished each chapter. When you get your cover. When you upload your manuscript on Amazon.

Here’s why: When you celebrate the launch of your book with a dinner and then go back to normal life, your brain will think, “Wait a minute, we did all this work and only got one lousy dinner?! Guess it wasn’t that important then…” and downplay the accomplishment.

Celebrating each milestone and small step helps you realise how much you’ve done already, all the skills you’ve already accumulated, all the progress you’ve made.

That’ll help you build confidence in yourself, give you the motivation to keep going, and enjoy the journey – every part of it.

Related: What To Do When You Feel Discouraged While Chasing Your Dreams

Wrapping It Up

All you have is the present moment. Enjoy the journey while you’re at it. Whatever the outcome, it’ll be a fun adventure. And who knows? It may be bring you to a better destination than you could ever have imagined.

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