I've found enjoyment in forgetting about the destination

I found enjoyment in forgetting about the destination. Forgetting about the destination, to me, means letting go of what the thing I am partaking in could or should become. It means focusing on the journey and the skills you're acquiring, regardless of whether it will pay off in any tangible way.

I found that when I am hyper‑focused on the outcome of an effort, it stops me from enjoying the process of getting there. Recently, this has looked like trying to become the best engineer, customer‑success, product‑focused engineer, or even game developer. You can insert anything, and it’s applicable.

When I focus on the end goal, I see how far away it is and the effort required, and then I don’t want to pursue it. The goals used to be ones that were easily attainable or within my reach because I didn’t want to go through the effort to actually achieve them.

Learning game development is a long‑term process. If I were to focus on making a game and making a game was all that I cared about and all that I wanted, then I wouldn't care about learning vector math.

I wouldn't care about thinking logically about the problems at hand, as simple as they may be, like moving a rectangle across the screen and shooting at another rectangle. I wouldn't be able to enjoy the steps it takes to get to making a game because of the distance between my current skill set and the skill set required to see that outcome fulfilled.

Letting go of my expectations, forgetting the destination, and enjoying the journey allows me to take pride in the seemingly easy problems that I'm solving at the time.

I've been trying to make this game, and by "game" I mean I'm learning the foundational aspects of making a video game—one that's inspired by the MechWarrior universe. I've been enjoying programming in C#, learning Godot, and solving problems I've never had to solve before.

This video by Healthy Gamers really put it into perspective: the mindset I had was completely toxic and doing more harm than good. It turns out this relates to mindsets in general—fixed mindsets versus growth mindsets. I was heavily in the fixed mindset until the last year or two. Moving away from that and adopting perspectives that allow me to see growth opportunities has shaped my view on many things. I see growth opportunities when learning something new, like game development, making music, trying a new hobby, or doing something unfamiliar. It’s not about succeeding or failing; it’s about learning and growing.

In the mindset Healthy Gamers talks about, you let go of the failure‑versus‑success mindset that treats each outcome as binary.

Instead, you see each outcome as a learning opportunity.

When you view things this way, you can find more enjoyment in hard and challenging tasks. You can enjoy what you’re doing now instead of being hyper‑focused on whether it will pay off, be worth it, or have meaning.

You can let go of that mindset and adopt one that says, “I want to learn how to do X, so I will go through the journey to get there,” and enjoy each moment along the way as it adds new skills to my pouch.

So while learning something like drawing, photography, game development, programming, writing, or hosting a podcast, can be enjoyable because they’re about acquiring a skill. It’s not about avoiding something because you weren’t born an expert.

I often thought, “I don’t want to do that thing because I’m not good at it,” which is complete hogwash. Nobody’s good at anything right off the bat; everything takes time and practice. No one is born a master of a craft.

It’s stupid to say, “I don’t want to learn how to draw because I’m not good at it. My work will be bad,” and then equate my self‑worth with my drawing ability while I’m just learning. We can’t have that; it stops you from doing anything. For many years I avoided learning new things because it made me vulnerable. That has changed.

With this blog, I’m trying to become a better writer. I’m using voice‑to‑text because I’m a slow typer and find it easier to get words onto paper with my voice.

The underlying skill is the same: being able to organize thoughts in a cohesive, easy‑to‑follow way.

Through this blog I want to become a better communicator. While it’s vulnerable, I’m not concerned about whether an article is good or bad; I’m concerned with whether I’m getting better at communicating my thoughts and opinions in a structured, easy‑to‑follow manner.

Thank you for reading, and go learn something new.