Accomplishment vs. Achievement

The words accomplishment and achievement usually signify conspicuous, outwardly-visible gains, often ones that come with status and material rewards. Do an image search for either word and it’s all grad ceremonies, sports medals, boardroom handshakes, and people standing on mountains. But there’s so much more being achieved in the human world.

I’d spent much of the last decade trying as hard as I could to make a positive impact, from teaching English in South America to working in microfinance in Colombia to volunteering in the Peace Corps in Ukraine to starting an education business on the Internet. This endless striving came from an insatiable need to make a difference, to feel like my... See more

But I noticed something else: there was long-term satisfaction to be found in my journey. It wasn’t in the attaining but in the becoming .

The process itself, of becoming the kind of person who could make useful things and earn a living doing so, was a joy. As was the process of deepening the craft of exploring or reading or writing.