How to Know If You Are On The Right Path

Ask yourself this one question.

The funny thing about us humans is that certainty doesn’t exist and we want it anyway.

We want to know if the path we are taking is the right one.

We want closure.

We want to “see” to “believe”.

We want to be certain.

But “certainty” doesn’t exist. Not really.

The worthwhile things you want answers to don’t have a certain answer. It makes you wonder why we even try.

Why don’t we put our head down and simply do the best we can instead of wasting time trying to find the answers to the unanswerable?

I’ve said this in previous articles: If there is anything that’s certain, it’s that we are capable.

I truly believe that. I believe we are capable and that we have a choice to believe in our capability.

What’s even stranger is that being “capable” isn’t even that “certain” of an idea.

But I don’t think chasing certainty matters.

Time and time again, the successful ones who have achieved their wildest dreams didn’t avoid the path because they had no idea what was on the other side.

They went after it anyway. They pursued their wildest dreams.

That still may not sit well with you, I know, but that’s the way it is.

We always want to “know” before we “do”. But “doing” often leads to us “knowing”.

On the opposite spectrum, “doing” also leads to more uncertain things, things far more uncertain than the simple “Is this the right path?” question.

Yet, you want to “know” so bad:

How do I know I’m on the right path?

Well, here’s your answer:

When you’ve sacrificed and put in the necessary work, when you’ve pursued a goal with everything you’re willing to give, when you’ve cried and cried and failed and failed, when you’ve wondered is it even possible, when you’ve doubted, given up, labored, persevered, challenged, competited, regretted, succeeded, when you’ve done everything and STILL fail to achieve that dream…ask yourself:

Will it have been worth it?

Think about your future.

Think about the pursuit toward your goals. Don’t BS yourself here. Really think.

Think about the work that it will take. Think about it all.

Think about how the path you are taking can very much so lead to failure, to what would have amounted to a seemingly meaningless, time-wasting, unfulfilled pursuit.

Think about the struggles you will go through of having never put in the work necessary.

Think of regret. Think of it all.

The only way to be as certain as you can that you are on the right path is to judge the worth of failing even when you’ve given everything.

Will all that trouble be worth it? Decide now.

If you don’t think it would be worth it to put in all that time, if you don’t think you could live with that regret, then quit.

Remember this, though: That failure in and of itself is uncertain.

You could easily think about the possibility of success. If whether or not you will achieve your goals is uncertain, then the possibility is the only thing you can bank on.

If I sound like I’m contradicting myself every now and then, it’s because I am.

Choice is certain. Possibility is certain. Death is certain (at least from this world).

But you don’t want to hear those answers. You want to know what’s on the other side, but no one can give you a certain answer to that.

You can only be as certain as you can. You can only remember that you have the choice whether or not you will take the path, whether or not you will believe you are capable of pursuing a possibility, while all along being aware that your impending death could snatch you up at any moment.

Will it have been worth it?