achieving, without goals

Check this post achieving, without goals from zen habits:

Post written by Leo Babauta.

It was only a couple years ago that I was completely focused on goals � and I accomplished a lot by setting and working on goals.

I ran several marathons, lost a lot of weight, got out of debt, started a fairly successful blog � the list of goals I achieved is long. These days, for more than a year now, I�ve pretty much given up on goals, though I�m still learning how that works.

The question most people have is: how do you achieve anything without goals? And the short answer is: the same way as you always did � get excited about something and do it!

how we really achieve

Goals take credit for our accomplishments, like a bad boss does in the company�s annual report. But we all know who did the work to get those accomplishments � the workers. The boss just acted as a taskmaster but mostly got in the way with a lot of pressure and asking for time-consuming reports.

Goals are the same: we give them a lot of credit for our accomplishments, but they didn�t do the work. They might have given us a direction, but in the end, the work is done on a daily basis. Goals also require that we do a lot of admin work � assess and report on how we�re doing with our goals, etc.

But remove goals from the picture and look at the gritty details of how work gets done and accomplishments happen:

• You get excited about something. Sometimes that�s through setting goals, but it could be other ways: inspiration from someone else doing something, setting a challenge for yourself, joining a group doing something exciting, or just waking up and wanting to do something great. Or you put on �Hey Mama� by Black Eyed Peas and start shaking your booty and want to get moving.


• You take action.


• Maybe you report your new thing to others � on your blog or Twitter or Facebook or an online forum, or just telling your friends.


• You might make it a part of your life for a little while.


• You take more action.


• You tell people about how you�re doing.


• Pretty soon you�ve done something amazing.

Notice that goals are only one way to do this.

with or without goals

A minimalist blogging friend, whom I respect, said in a little discussion on this yesterday that he accomplished a lot with goals � and that�s true. But I believe he would have accomplished great things even without goals � they just might not have been what he expected.

He also said, without goals, a lot of people wouldn�t do anything � which I don�t believe is true. Freed of goals, I highly doubt that most of us would just sit around doing nothing. That would bore us � interesting, talented people want to do something. So we would � we�d get excited and create. Sure, there would be a few people who sit around doing nothing � but those people are setting goals for themselves and are sitting around not achieving those goals, and feeling guilty about it.

That�s the thing: even with goals, some people aren�t going to achieve anything, because they haven�t figured out how to motivate themselves. Goals don�t do that for you � they just make you feel guilty that you haven�t gotten them done. And even without goals, people who are motivated are people who will get excited and do stuff. They�ll accomplish something great, no matter what.

I�ve done just as much without goals as I did with: I�ve self-published my latest book, moved to a city, given up my car, created bootcamps for bloggers, gotten in better shape than I�ve ever been in, read a ton of books, created another blog, eliminated ads on Zen Habits while making it more profitable than ever, and countless other things I won�t even mention.

life purpose

A few years ago, I did a post talking about your life�s purpose: The Key to Dying Happy.

It�s still a good method, but I don�t do it anymore. That doesn�t mean the things I set out as my purpose aren�t important to me anymore � I just go about doing them differently. Let�s take a quick look at how I do that. From the post:

Leo�s Mission

• He was an amazing dad.


• He made his wife happy.


• He was a good, compassionate person.


• He made the lives others better (especially those in need).


• He was a great writer.


• He was happy.

Here�s the remarkable thing � you could say those things about me right now. I mean, whether I�m a great writer or whether I make the lives of others better � those are debatable, sure. But I definitely try: I�m happy, and I do my best every day to be a good father, husband, writer and compassionate person.

So I�m not so focused on the end of my life � but on right now. Instead of setting these goals for the end of my life (which I did several years ago), I get excited about all these things, right now, and do them every day because I�m excited about them. I love being a dad, a husband, a writer, a friend. I absolutely get up excited about these things every day, and am grateful I have the chance to do them.

get excited and do things

You don�t need goals to tell you what to do. You know what to do (if you don�t, read this). You�re excited about doing it already � you just need to focus, and get to it.

Goals keep you focused on something in the future, instead of being present and enjoying what you�re doing right now. Goals keep you fixed on one path, which might not be the best path in a week or a month or a year. They keep you fixated on one thing, rather than being open to new opportunities, being flexible as the landscape changes, being free to pursue something you�re newly passionate about rather than sticking to something you�re tired of.

Being liberated from goals means you will always be excited about what you�re doing. And yes, you�ll accomplish things. You�ll get somewhere great � you just might not have known you�d ever end up there when you started.

Get excited, and do stuff.

Also: shake yo bambama.

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