If Quality is Real, Where Do I Find it?

There are people in the world who live their lives in such a way that everything they do is directed at a goal. These people have goals, evaluate the best way to reach them, study to gain the tools that they need, and then implement for themselves a path to achieve them. There is an unflagging and unwavering direction and effort put into said goals. The effort put forth would be equal to say, 100% of what they can give. The end product? Reaching the goal, with success. I find these people to be amazing. No matter which direction, no matter what goal, this complete approach is admirable, and full of integrity and character.

Then there are the other people that I come into contact with that do not function under this paradigm. These people have goals outlined, but they are just that, outlines. They kind of move toward their goal, using shortcuts, sometimes applying effort, and sometimes not. They sort of hope to achieve what they want, but don't really care if they get all the way to the point they are trying for, or just within close proximity. These people are, to be kind, not amazing to me. I find them to be full of talk, and not action, full of pride and not humility, full of selfishness and a self serving motivation- anything that can help them to look like they are achieving is good enough. They want to win, but the appearance of a win, well that is just as good.

So my question is, where do I find the people I first described? How come so many of the people in the world are willing to settle for second, for less than their best? Is it the ridiculous awards that we pile onto them for things that require no effort at all in an attempt to make sure everyone feels good about themselves? Is it that there are so many loop holes in our society that one need not actually try to be successful, need not make any sacrifice in order to reach an end point? If something is worth dreaming about, worth doing, why is it not worth everything you have to get there? What is it about America that makes us believe that we do not need to strive, that we do not need to do all that we can to reach our goals? Where did the philosophy about being anything you want to be if you work hard enough go?

In a world that is moving so fast that we can literally reach out and touch almost anything that we want to with the stroke of a key, with the limitless possibilities that this century brings, it seems impossible to me that we would not strive to be everything that we possibly could be, that we would not desire to lay down the cheap imitations of life and pick up those that are real, and in so doing, achieve greatness.