How To Enjoy The Ride And Be Open To Opportunities In 5 Simple Steps
Find the gift in the experience. There are always gifts in every task, experience or meeting. Train yourself to look for them.
By 
Lori Brant
It seems like everyone is working towards a goal whether it be to land a particular job, earn a 6 figure income, find the perfect relationship or buy the perfect house.
Goals are great because they give you direction and purpose, but they can also be distracting. If you are too focused on the big goal, you may stop paying attention to the present moment, ignoring pretty much what is going on right in front of you and investing instead, in the big pay off that you expect to get when you finally reach your goal. When that happens, life can start to pass you by, get mundane and you might find yourself just going through the motions instead of embracing and loving what’s happening in the moment.
Are you spending time doing things you don’t enjoy because you have to?
Are you working hard only as a means to an end?
Do you put off being happy now, waiting instead for some future event?
Do you say things like, “I’ll be happy when I earn more money, find that perfect someone or get a new job?”
Are you willing to let your life pass by?
Once you reach your goal, and you look back at the weeks, months, years you spent getting there, how would you have wanted to spend that time?
Start enjoying the ride in 5 easy steps
1. Have a goal or a dream, but focus on the steps you take today to move towards it, not on being happy only when you achieve your goal.
2. Be present with yourself and those you interact with in everything you do.
3. Find the gift in the experience. There are always gifts in every task, experience or meeting. Train yourself to look for them.
4. Take responsibility for how you feel. If you don’t feel happy, motivated or excited, stop doing what you are doing and do something else.
5. Examine why you want that goal? What are you hoping to feel when you achieve that? Can you elicit those feelings in the tasks you want to complete today?
Opening yourself up to something greater
Sometimes the goal can morph and change into something better if we are more present moving forward because we are more able to see, hear and notice opportunities opening up along the way. If we stay focused and stuck on the goal, the end game only, we may miss out on endless opportunities along the way. 
