Here's a short piece of my book, "Facing Reality", chapter 3, "Facing Who You Want To Become". When a goal violates your values; a sacrifice must be made. We can sacrifice the goal or we can sacrifice a few other things. If you decide to keep the goal, here’s four alternative negative sacrifices that are made in its place. 1. Sacrifice Character To Pursue The Goal. If we are pursuing a goal that conflicts with our character it will require us to sacrifice it. We may have the internal conflict of trying to justify to ourselves that this goal is okay and we can pursue it without deteriorating our character, all the while knowing internally that it most likely will. We will justify it to others of lesser character in an attempt to get some support and validation for our character sacrifice. Once we decide to pursue the goal anyways, things only escalate from there as our character becomes more and more susceptible to contorting into this lesser person. 2. Sacrifice Values To Obtain The Goal. The next sacrifice is our values. As we continue in pursuit of our less than honorable goal, we find ourselves in situations where in order to keep moving towards it, we must sacrifice some of our values. Because their character is weakened this becomes the next justification; if any is even needed at this point. We continue grasping for the goal in hopes to obtain it all the while losing ourselves in the process. 3. Sacrifice Others To Claim The Goal. Once we are able to see the goal at arms reach, we then begin to sacrifice those around us in order to claim it for ourselves. We will push others down in the attempt to lift ourselves up. You may be thinking, “no, I wouldn’t do that.” You're right, maybe who you are today wouldn’t do that because your character and values are intact and keep you grounded. But the person you become once you have sacrificed both your character and values does not have the same grounded foundation. That person will sacrifice others for the sake of themselves and their goal. They would sacrifice their loved ones, friends, co-workers, customers, and leaders in order to claim their prize. This may even come out in the form of taking credit for the goal. They may already have the prize in hand, but that’s usually not enough. They also want to take all the credit for the goal too.

“Six months from now, you will either have six months of excuses or six months of progress. Both take time, but only one moves you forward.”

“Your real strength comes from being the best “you” you can be. So who are you? What are you good at? What do you love? What makes you, “YOU”?” - Po, Kung Fu Panda 3 Who Do You Want To Become? Too often, people get overly focused on reaching their goals without addressing their “who”. However, in order to reach our goals, we must become who our goals require us to be. Consider a sports champion: Does the winner become a champion before or after he wins the medal? They were champions before they stepped in the ring to compete. The medal doesn’t make them champions; it simply confirms what they have already been. It’s the same with achieving our goals. Champions don’t wait for the title to land in their lap; they take the necessary steps towards their goals. In order to accomplish our goals, we must become the who that’s capable of achieving them.

https://youtu.be/9J-vV1EKo7k?si=nr59piqIjv6wNlH2

Hilarious video 🤣