No right to the outcome, only a right to the work

Image by The Library of Congress via Flickr

Copying from my urinal journal...

I want to write about not having the right to the desired outcome - only having the right to the requisite work to reasonably expect that outcome.

So if you want to date a supermodel, and you plainly see that earning many millions of dollars per year will allow you to date a supermodel, then you have no right to the *outcome* of dating a supermodel, you only have the right to the *work* required so that you can reasonably expect to earn many millions of dollars per year.  And that is quite a bit of work of very high quality, to earn that much.

The desired outcome is only there to inform your choice and fuel your very early commitment, but after that you must rely on a moral drive that makes the full scope of work its own reward.

Or else you can expect only bitterness at the end, and tears.  Because the world cannot guarantee the outcome - you do not have to travel far to find someone who ran down a path that turned into a dead end pitfall at the very last moment.

The moral emotion that can do this can be developed by acting consistent with its presence.  "Fake it before you make it."  Activating the muscles actually grows the sympathetic thoughts, and then, after training, the thoughts then cause the activity itself.  So, act as if you already believe that the full scope of work is its own reward (and that amount of work may be staggering).  Act in accordance with the idea that the work is its own reward, and the moral emotion will be developed and that moral emotion will then drive the authentic action.