Pursuit is the Path to Fulfillment - Grasshopper

Getting what you're going after pales in comparison to the feeling that pursuit delivers. The destination seems anti-climactic when measured against the fulfillment that pursuit brings.

Pursuit is what brings out your passion. When you are pursuing, you feel more alive. You’re on a path, not in a rut.

 

Reminds me of a story . . . In the late 1970s I worked for a radio station in Kansas City and they wanted to do a promotion for me since I was new in town. The objective was to let people know about and form an attachment to the new guy. I came up with the idea of making the listeners members in a special club. You should know it was about this time that the word “Nerd” had worked its way into pop culture. I called this “coveted” club “Morgan’s Nerd Herd.”

 

When you joined, you would get a membership card that not only made you a member, but also got you discounts at certain sponsors and VIP status at specialized station events around town. The coup de grace was a button with my picture on it with an arrow going through my head (ala Steve Martin) that read: “Morgan’s Nerd Herd.”

 

The station program director said he thought we should order a couple of hundred of the buttons and membership cards. I said, “Hundreds? You better order Thousands!!” He said that was too ambitious. I said, “I am really pumped about this and you will have to order more.” His answer was, “We’ll see.”

 

We started the promotion on a Thursday afternoon and by Monday we had mailed in requests for 500. I was thrilled and ready to take it to another level. I couldn’t wait to get on the air and entice people to join the club and “wear the pin proudly.”

 

After 10 days, I was asked to stop promoting it; it was becoming too costly. Thousands had been requested. I felt alive pursuing this silly venture. I felt good when I reached the goal I had stated up front, but it wasn’t the outcome that contained the excitement; it was the pursuit.

 

My program director said something to me a couple of years into my tenure that has always stuck with me. He said to me, “You are at your best when you’re on a mission.”

 

Perhaps your mission is a bit more important than the “Nerd Herd” but know this for sure: Getting what you want is a one-time feeling; pursuing what you want is ongoing fulfillment. Pursuit is its own reward.

 

When I feel most stale in life is when I don’t have a mission. I’ve come to learn that I feel at my best when I’m pursuing something. I don’t think I’m alone. I feel very comfortable in offering this piece of input: Always have a mission, something you’re pursuing.

 

Ralph Waldo Emerson said it this way: “Life is a journey, not a destination.”

 

And the authors of “The Declaration of Independence,” years before, knew this concept well when they wrote these wise words: “The pursuit of happiness.”

 

I hope I’ve accomplished my mission - to get you curious about pursuit. And even if I haven’t gotten you wondering yet, I’ve had a fulfilling time making the effort.

 

All the best,

John