Completely separate planning and action
You can live each moment for itself even in the context of greater progress
This is one possible solution to trying to reconcile the fact that Striving is the source of both suffering and progress and To be moral is to actualize your potential.
Because of the animal that we are, we rely highly on progress and overcoming imaginary obstacles for satisfaction and meaning. We strive, suffer, and succeed and this gives our lives' meaning.
Each moment can truly be enough in and of itself. Think of the monk that spends all day meditating, sitting in the present moment. There is enough here. But we also want to actualize our potential, and strive for greater human flourishing and achievements, in ourselves and in society.
Holding both of these values, we can live each moment entirely present and for itself, while still choosing a series of actions and habits that leads us towards actualizing our potential and goals.
Yes, if I was a perfect monk then walking in circles could be as meaningful as climbing a mountain, but I am a regular dude, and it tends to be more satisfying for me to climb mountains (The Goldilocks Principle), even with the suffering that comes with it. Further, there is real meaning in climbing those mountains if they relate to What matters morally
On the path up the mountain each step can be enough, I can be fully with each one nonjudgementally even as I look to the top of the mountain -- to have progress for my mammalian brain to feel motivated.
**The journey is made up of only single steps, but there does not need to be striving in each moment to reach towards higher goals. We should strive and hope when creating plans, but not when following them through. **
This is exactly what you must do in meditation and yoga.
I come to the mat each day to get better at yoga. But this specific session I will sit with and accept my body exactly as it is.
I want to have a clearer mind years down the line. So today I will sit with my mind exactly as it is.
TLDR:
Striving towards higher goals and being satisfied with this moment are simultaneously possible.
I want to have a clearer mind years down the line, so today I will sit with my mind exactly as it is.
References:
The Almanack of Naval Ravikant
Success is internal and has very little to do with external circumstances. One has to do the external thing anyway. We’re biologically hard-wired. -- Eric Jorgenson, The Almanack of Naval Ravikant: A Guide to Wealth and Happiness, loc. 1469-71
"Stillness [is] available in doing and in non-doing.""