New Research Confirms the Cheesiest Cliché About Success
Turns out life truly is about the journey, not the destination
You‘ve seen this chestnut a million times: “Life is about the journey, not the destination.” It’s on inspirational posters in your gym and the hallway of your kid’s school. It’s in an Instagram caption for a photo of an influencer on a beach somewhere. It’s stitched on a pillow at your grandmother’s house.
It’s also — don’t roll your eyes — actually useful advice. That’s the conclusion of a recent study out of Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, in which marketing researchers surveyed more than 1,600 people about the metaphors they used to think about their goals.
Compared to people who used the destination framing or no metaphor at all, the study authors found those who used the journey framing were significantly more likely to continue with the good habits they’d developed — even after meeting their initial goal.
Reaching a goal isn’t just about success; it’s also about process.
“If I think about this as a journey from where I started to where I am today, with all the ups and downs, it can help me see how much I have actually changed,” says Szu-Chi Huang, one of the co-authors of the…
