The space between where you are now and where you want to be is what I call "The Gap."

To me, it's the real reason for a goal—to create the growth and learning that happens between your current circumstances and what you're capable of achieving.

It's the playing field—the space between the goal posts. That's where the real game is played.

The actual achievement of your goal has a very fleeting sense of gratification. Crossing the finish line and the celebration that follows is seldom all that dramatic.

When you're asked to tell your story of how you achieved your success, you'll spend little if any time talking about the actual completion of the goal. You'll mostly talk about your struggles, the challenges, the days when you had doubts or even despair. It's the learning and growing that people want to hear about. The excitement, the drama is what happens in the heat of battle.

It's important to know this for several reasons.

First, we should learn to enjoy the process. We need to recognize that achieving the goal will not make us happy. But what we become in the process, and our attitude about the journey, can indeed bring us happiness.

I also think it helps to view our goals and dreams as games. We can be serious about our goals without being grim. We can lose some games and win others. The important thing is to keep playing.

Play games that inspire you—and hopefully others. Play with passion. Play with consistency. Always look for improvement. Do it with integrity.

And play a game worth playing.

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