Before you chase a goal, ask if you want the thing or just the picture of you holding it.

There is a difference between wanting to play and wanting to have played. One involves a lot of unglamorous hours, the other is mostly an image of yourself being admired. Both feel identical at the start, which is how people end up three years into something they only wanted the photo of. The tell is whether the daily version appeals to you at all.

Picture the ordinary Tuesday inside the goal instead of the finish line: the practice, the reading, the part nobody claps for. If that day sounds bearable or even good, keep going. If only the ending appeals, you learned something cheap.