Journey or Destination

Is the end more important than the journey to get there? Or is the journey more important?

At times people focus too much on the goal and forget about the process to get there. It doesn’t matter how they get there, who they hurt or what they miss out on as long as they make the goal.

Others will focus too much on the journey and get stuck meandering around and never reaching the end. They’ll enjoy what they're doing and learn things along the way but never have the satisfaction of bringing something to an end.

I believe they are both important. You have to start with the end in mind. If you don't know where you're going, you won't know how to get there.

My art professors would talk about enjoying the feel of the brush on the canvas or the pencil on the paper. I never really understood this, as I wanted to see the final image as soon as I could. As I started to draw more I found joy in the feel of the different papers under the graphite of the pencils or the feel of clay in my hands as I sculpted. I would have a design in mind and work toward it but noticing the process made the final product much more exciting and the feeling of finishing even better.

In design it is the same. You have to plan what you want but getting to the final product is just as important. As you work to the final product you go through a process of trying and exploring different ideas. As you work through these possible solutions you may find ideas that will work for other projects. You may learn a new technique or use a new tool. But as you move forward you have to keep the end on mind, the goal.

Once you reach the goal the process is worth it. The time you take makes the final solution satisfying.