I'm a goal kind of guy, but I have learned that accomplishments can be stepping stones beyond my goals, and they can supersede my goals. If I went back four decades and looked 
at where I envisioned my life would go, I would be shocked at how far off course I am.
At the ripe old age of 19, I had a great job working for a great company that would have provided me with a great retirement. I was content with where I was, and I had no intention of doing anything else or going to college, but now, I no longer have that job, and I have seven college degrees. It was an odd detour, but each degree has played a role in my life. Interestingly, none are the source of my success today. Why do all of that education if it wasn't a means to an end? They were stepping stones (and I love to learn).
I own two companies, but I never envisioned or planned on owning one. In the first case, I mastered the electrical trade, and my license verifies that for the world to see, but four decades ago, I didn't even want to work for someone else in that trade. The licensure was a stepping stone.
I couldn't have imagined that I would be a real estate broker selling real estate, but a chance meeting with a few attorneys from GA in the mid-80s sparked an idea in my head that turned into a company, that turned into a career, that turned into a completely new profession.
I had goals that I prized, but I realize today they were small-minded and a lot like water passing through a sieve. I didn't know it in those early days, but my goals would have caused me to settle for less than my life could become. I have come to learn that goals are a lot like fire. They can keep you warm, they can light your way, but if you hold them too tightly, they can burn you and destroy your ultimate success.
Each accomplishment in my life has laid a stepping stone to a new destination. Often, I didn't see them, but they were there all along. I won't bore you with my accomplishments between the college years and business ownership. Many of us have been down that path, but suffice to say, that each accomplishment set a stepping stone in front of me that took me in a different direction from my early and mid-life goals.
Ultimately, I've come to realize that my highest aspiration in life really has been to take care of my family at the highest level possible, help as many people as I can with whatever I can and to leave a legacy for others to see that might inspire them to reach beyond their dreams and visions. My family doesn't have a long history of business success or life accomplishments, but I didn't want that to predict my future, and I unconsciously followed the life stepping stones that formed in front of me.
I am a firm believer that the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord (Ps 37.23), and in His sovereign time, He will get me where He wants me to go, goals or not. A client this morning thanked me for being where I am at this time in my life because it caused her life to be better. What greater compliment could I ask for?
I am nowhere near the goals I set as a young man. Those goals, and even the goals decades later would have caused me to settle for far less than life has offered. The accomplishments of my life really were stepping stones that were leading me far beyond my simple goals. I didn't realize it for many years, and now all I can say is, "Thank you."
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