Choose Your Pursuits Carefully
- Jul 27
- 3 min read
The future is shaped by what you repeatedly pursue.
Long Before You Reach the Goal, the Journey Is Shaping You. Last week I caught a few big bass on Lake Travis. A couple of days later I was standing on the driving range trying to find a better golf swing. This week, while taking a photo with one of the advance copies of The 10-Year Letter, which will be released publicly in just eight days, something occurred to me. Those moments couldn't have looked more different. One involved a fishing rod. Another a golf club. Another a book that has been years in the making. But the more I thought about them, the more I realized they had all been quietly teaching me the same lesson.
Fishing has a way of humbling you. Just when you think you've figured it out, the weather changes, the water changes, the fish change, and you find yourself starting over. Golf isn't much different. One swing feels effortless. The next makes you wonder if you've ever held a club before. Writing this book turned out to be the same experience. I thought I was writing The 10-Year Letter. Looking back, I realize the process was writing me. Every draft demanded more clarity. Every edit exposed another assumption. Every conversation challenged me to become a little more honest than I had been before.
That's when I realized those pursuits all had something in common. None of them can ever truly be mastered. Maybe that's why I keep coming back to them. It also made me wonder how often we choose our pursuits because of what we hope they'll give us instead of considering who they'll ask us to become.
Some pursuits end with an accomplishment. You cross the finish line, celebrate the moment, and move on. Others never really end. They keep asking something of you. They ask you to come back tomorrow. To start over after a bad day. To stay curious after years of experience. To keep growing long after you've become successful. Somewhere along the way, you realize the accomplishment was never the greatest reward. The person you became because you kept showing up was.
The older I get, the more carefully I choose what deserves my attention. Because whatever I pursue long enough eventually begins shaping me. Running has done that for me. Coaching has done that. Marriage has done that. Recovering from cancer has certainly done that. None of those pursuits have been easy, and none of them have ever been finished. They continue inviting me to grow long after the excitement wears off.
Looking back, I don't think fishing was ever just about catching fish. Golf has never really been about golf. Writing this book was never just about writing a book. Every one of those pursuits has quietly been shaping the person I was becoming while I thought I was chasing something else.
Choose your pursuits carefully. They are quietly creating the person you're becoming.
I wonder if that's true of your life too.
What are you pursuing... and who is it helping you become?
Write a future you’re excited to live.
Ready to Go Deeper?
The 10-Year Letter will be released publicly on August 4.
If these weekly letters have encouraged you to think differently about your future, I think you'll enjoy the book.
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