Stairway to Success: The Complete Blueprint for Personal and Professional Achievement

6

PRELUDE TO STEP SIXAFTER THE END, THE BEGINNING

The purpose of life after all is to live it, to taste the experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experiences.

—ELEANOR ROOSEVELT

YOu’ve heard the expression “Getting there is half the fun.” After an exciting trip to your dream vacation site, arrival can sometimes be a letdown.

It’s true of life as well as of vacation trips. Alexander the Great had a vision of world conquest, and he achieved it within his own definition. At the height of his power, his empire extended into three continents. Standing astride the Mediterranean Sea, he controlled the civilized world from the valley of the Nile in Africa to the Hindu Kush on the borders of present-day India. Yet, according to legend, Alexander wept because he had no more worlds to conquer.

Many people feel that way after they’ve achieved their visions. Many couples form a vision of a home, a career, and a family of happy, healthy children. Through hard work and ingenuity, they achieve everything they sought. Then one day they realize that the home is paid for, the children are educated and have successful families of their own, their retirement nest egg is substantial and secure–and they have nothing left to live for.

The tragedy is that many such people equate the achievement of their vision with the end of their life’s mission. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Had Alexander expanded his perspective, he might have realized that ...