Indecision leads to inaction, which leads to low energy, depression, despair.

In a nation obsessed with the achievement of goals (“It doesn’t matter how you score; the score is all that counts.” “Don’t tell me how you are going to sell the ad, just sell it.” “Winning isn’t everything; it’s the only thing.”), devotion to the goalless journey might seem incomprehensible if not bizarre. But behind the slogans you read on the

Winning is an essential element in the journey, but it isn’t the only thing. Winning graciously and losing with equal grace are the marks of a master.

Ultimately, practice is the path of mastery. If you stay on it long enough, you’ll find it to be a vivid place, with its ups and downs, its challenges and comforts, its surprises, disappointments, and unconditional joys. You’ll take your share of bumps and bruises while traveling—bruises of the ego as well as of the body, mind, and spirit—but it

4. Honor but don’t indulge your own dark side.

And you’ll eventually discover, in every significant area of your life, that the most important learning and development takes place during your time on the plateau.

What’s the role of intentionality here? It’s certainly involved in the creation of the structure-as-idea. It’s also involved in the transformation of that structure from one of its forms to another. This sort of transformation, in fact, is what the process of mastery is all about.

7. Injuries.

But we had learned the perils of getting ahead of ourselves, and now were willing to stay on the plateau for as long as was necessary. Ambition still was there, but it was tamed. Once again we enjoyed our training. We loved the plateau. And we made progress.