When Edmund Hillary successfully climbed Mount Everest in 1919, he said, “It is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves.” This quote bears significance because Mr. Hillary alludes to the fact that it was not his glory in achieving his accomplishment that he relished in, but the overcoming of an obstacle. If applied to ourselves, this manner of thinking demonstrates that the accomplishing of something noteworthy is in itself a reward. The effort that is applied to the things we work towards is expected to give us physical benefits in return. Nevertheless, striving for wealth and commodities is an empty way to live. While tangible representatives of success are gratifying, one realizes that material things can be taken away and the journey that leads to achievement is just as important as any reward.
	In spite of our efforts, life doesn’t usually turn out how we’d like. It’s difficult to accept the fact that our toiling and diligence may not amount to the realization of the fruits of our labor. A person may accumulate a multiplicity of awards, and still they would mean nothing compared to what has been experienced via the cause for those very honors. It seems that one cannot escape the mindset that success is directly associated with a tangible reward. However, there is a place where the lack of material things causes no empty disappointment. This place is within oneself. If one day, all the rewards that life had bestowed on one were to be stripped away, are not the heart, soul, and mind still left? The passionate fire and impulse to achieve is still within him. There are no evident rewards to show how decorated he is, but his true achievement lies in what he has experienced, learned, and felt throughout his quest for success. We must not take stock in everything we can touch, but we must hold on to what exists within us.
	Moreover, the worth of any reward cannot compare to the magnitude of value of the journey to achievement. Although we work toward something, the prize is not at the end. Through perseverance and hard work, we discover ourselves and attain desirable ideals. By reaching small, humble goals along one’s adventure to success, hasn’t one already succeeded in some way? Achievement does not culminate in illustrious awards but rather the knowledge that one has accomplished more than expected. If one works for wealth and recognition alone, what does he garner from his work? Yes, he is prosperous, but without the knowledge of how his journey toward success has changed him, he remains oblivious to how he has bettered himself. Surely, it is the experiences that we undergo and cling to that allow us to realize our achievement tenfold, not through award, but through ourselves.
	In conclusion, we observe that one’s journey to success does not always include awards but has a deeper meaning. Our experiences through life, the people who we inspire, and the self-development we go through are attributes of achievement. We work diligently to accomplish something great in order to fulfill our dreams of success or changing the world. The serendipitous surprise, although it may be difficult to comprehend at first, is that in the grand scheme of things, the most considerable change turns out to be in ourselves.