Why is it that "striving can be more important than arriving?" What is it about striving that makes it worth the effort, even if you never reach the goal that you were striving for. The answer is simple: Striving makes us stronger.
To illustrate this, let's say there are two people, neither of whom are especially affluent. The first of these two works hard and earns some money, some of which he saves and some of which he invests. However, despite his efforts, he hits some bad luck on the stock market, loses his job and has to live on his savings for a while, and ends up being no richer than he was at the start.
Meanwhile, the second guy hasn't been working very hard, hasn't been earning very much, hasn't been saving what he earned, and for the most part, has neither been growing richer or growing poorer. However, at about the same time the first guy's bad luck begins, the second guy hits some good luck, wins the lottery, and spends a portion of his winnings going on an adventure vacation with his rich uncle. On this adventure, they find an ancient, hidden treasure worth millions, but before they make it back, the second guy's uncle contracts an infection which eventually kills him, and in his will, the late adventurer leaves everything to his nephew, including his entire estate and his share of what they found on their vacation. The second guy ends up with millions upon millions of dollars (even after taxes), but here's the question:
Which of those two people do you think knows more about how to properly manage money? Which of them better understands the principles of how to acquire, maintain, and cultivate wealth? If we were to fast-forward another several decades, which of these two would you expect to grow richer than they are at this point in the story, and which one would you expect to grow poorer?
Naturally, it was the first person who learned more and gained more wisdom, which he could use to make wiser investment decisions, and once again make more money. Meanwhile, the second guy, having arrived at wealth without having to strive for it, wouldn't appreciate the value of what he had, and would likely spend a good deal of his wealth on expensive things he doesn't need.
Fortunately for both of them, I like happy endings, so the first guy ends up at the head of a successful investment company, whom the second guy trusted with what remains of his fortune after he became concerned when he saw it dwindling from year to year. The result was that the second guy's fortune stopped shrinking and started growing again, and the first guy's profits and savings grew tremendously as well. But I'm getting off the subject.
Most of us have goals in life. Some of those have been lifelong goals, and some of them may have been made only about a week ago. Regardless of when we set our goals, striving for them can help us grow into stronger, better people, even if we never actually reach our goals. For example, if you set a goal to lose weight, you could gain greater will-power and personal fitness, even if your weight doesn't change. If you set a goal to improve your relationship with someone, you could learn skills to help you strengthen your other relationships, even if your relationship with that particular person doesn't improve. There are many goals that, even if we don't achieve them, can help us improve by giving us something to strive for.
I have a personal goal that I'm working on, and I hope to reach that goal someday, but this quote reminds me that, even when I suffer setbacks and don't seem to be making any progress toward my goal, as long as I strive for that goal, I'll be making progress in one way or another. And as long as I don't achieve my goal, I'll have something to strive for, which will motivate me to keep becoming better and stronger. I still want to reach my goal as soon as possible, but in light of what I've learned, I'm now okay with it if that takes a while, because now I know that striving to reach a goal can be just as beneficial as actually achieving it.
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