On Strategy, Mission and Purpose (Ithaca — in Greek Mythology the island home of Odysseus).
As you set out for Ithaca
Hope your road is a long one
Full of adventure, full of discovery.
Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt —
Don’t be afraid of them
You’ll not find those on your way
As long as you keep your thoughts raised high
As long as a rare excitement
Stirs your spirit and your body
Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt — you’ll not encounter them
Unless you bring them along inside your soul
Unless your soul puts them in front of you
Hope your road is a long one
May there be many summer mornings when,
with what pleasure, what joy,
you enter harbours you’re seeing for the first time;
may you stop at many trading stations
to buy fine things,
and may you visit many cities
to learn and go on learning from their scholars.
Keep Ithaca always in your mind.
Arriving there is not the goal
So don’t hurry the journey at all.
Better if it lasts for years,
so you’re wealthy with all you’ve gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaca to make you rich.
Ithaca gave you the marvellous journey.
Without her you wouldn’t have set out.
Source: Excerpted and (shamelessly) adapted from: C. P. Cavafy, “The City” from C.P. Cavafy: Collected Poems. Translated by Edmund Keeley and Philip Sherrard. Translation Copyright © 1975, 1992 by Edmund Keeley and Philip Sherrard.
On Strategy, Mission and Purpose (Ithaca — in Greek Mythology the island home of Odysseus). was originally published in On Being Agile on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
