It's not the destination, it's the journey

I discovered the principle behind the philosophy while playing basketball in high school. When we won the state championship,it dawned on me that getting the title and the trophy wasn't the real award. It was the season long experience of being with guys who played well together,improved together,and then celebrated each other's contribution to the winning effort. Realizing that did wonders for my attitude,I always felt that I was working on something. The sense of being in control gave me energy and focus.

When I went to work for IBM,I hadn't taken the time to identify my purpose or my passion. Instead of taking responsibility for my life,I was looking for shelter. I'd just lost my passion for basketball and my purpose, playing in the NBA. I was still recovering from that disappointment.

Some people are fortunate enough to identify a passion early on and then build goals and their lives around pursuing that passion. Often they are people with the most obvious talents:writers, musician,athletes,singers, mechanics,chefs and others whose natural gift are easily channeled through a life's purpose.

When I lost the opportunity to play basketball professionally,I thought I had lost my passion and purpose. I spent several years wandering around with an attitude of disappointment at IBM before I realized that I hadn't lost then,I had only misplaced them.

Looking back,I can see now that I came close to discovering my real passion once or twice. About a year, before I was sent to be a guest trainer,i got a call at work late on a Friday afternoon from an IBM manager. She was frantic. There was a career day for five hundred high achieving minority high seniors-all of them stood out in math and science that weekend. IBM's representative,a systems engineer,had been scheduled to speak but she had to cancel because of a family emergency. They needed someone to replace her. Would I go?

My initial reason was you want me? I didn't major in science or math in college. Then it dawned on me. There were two obvious reasons I had been called:

No 1: It's Friday. Everybody else has probably gone home or made plans for weekend.

No 2: It's a minority Career day.

Based on the two criteria,I was the perfect man for the job. I also didn't have a good excuse for turning them down and I figured it might help raise a profile at IBM and in the community. The career day was to be held the next day from 9am until noon in the university of Washington Campus. The best morning,I woke up at 7.am in a panic. I called my best buddy at IBM Michael,and asked him what u should talk about. He told me to tell the story of how I went from hoping to play pro basketball to not getting drafted snd then to preparing myself for an IBM job." It's a good story about winning and losing and setting yourself up for opportunities. Why don't you talk about attitude? You are always talking about the difference it makes," Michael said.

When I arrived at the career day,I ran into Rasheed T.O my high school math teacher,who was in charge of the event. He was happy to see me. The other speakers were an imposing bunch: local celebrities,public officials and business people from a wide range of professions. Each person was allowed twenty minutes to talk and five minutes to answer questions. I was way down on the schedule so u took a seat at the back in the auditorium. The first few people were so inspiring I began to take notes. I was getting more out of it than most of the kids. I didn't see any one of them taking notes,and most of them looked bored. As I listened,I got excited because nobody was really talking about the things I wanted to cover.

The adrenaline was really starting to flow as my turn drew near. Just before I was supposed to speak, Rasheed T.O made an announcement:" I am sorry,but because our speakers have been so enthusiastic,we have run out of time," he said." We wont be able to get the remaining speakers but we appreciate their coming this morning."

Before I realized what I was doing,I was on my feet. "We can't stop now", I yelled from the back of the room. "You can't wrap it up , Mr Rasheed, I have got some things I want to share."

My old teacher realized that I was on a mission. "It looks like perhaps we have saved our best speaker for last," he told the group.

I talked to thirty minutes non stop. I told the students what I had learnt about self esteem, motivation and the power of attitude. I was in a zone.

When I finished,they gave me a standing ovation. One woman came up and said,"you remind me of some of the motivational speakers at Amway conventions!".

And before I left,then I told the students to remember that it is not the destination that counts but the journey they passed through!

Thanks for reading!