Reality check: Are you doing what it takes?

I have been thinking about the nature of achievement, and a particular question springs to mind:

"Are you currently doing enough of what it takes to get you where you say you want to be?"

I've noted two sad situations recently. The first is the person who worked all his life to be comfortable - good job, plenty of money, comfort. Then at 46 the guy was lamenting how his life was empty. Sounds like a matter of choosing the wrong goals for himself, achieving them and recognising that there's more to life. A variation on the old "on their death bed, nobody says 'I wish I'd worked harder".

The othre sad situation is when a person sets a goal for themselves, but then they don't do the things required to achieve that goal. So, if you want to be an HD student are you putting in the hours and working with likeminded students? If you want publications in A journals are you really writing, submitting, reworking and resubmitting? If you want to be earning more money are you minimising the amount of unpaid work you're doing and saying 'yes' more often to unpleasant but lucrative offers?

Of the two, I feel the second is the sadder of the two situations, because from the outside it seems so obvious. And it indicates that the person is not being honest with themselves - that they are on a train track just wishing that the train will end up at a different destination.

So at the end of this I have a question for myself - "is where you say you want to be really where you want to be?" and a question for others:

"Are you currently doing enough of what it takes to get you where you say you want to be?"