Getting rid of goals
I continue a series of translations of articles on minimalism from Leo Babauts.
One of the unshakable foundations of the literature about success and productivity is that we need goals to be successful (read, for example, Seth Godin - by the way, I respect him very much).
And other beliefs are based on this:
I know this because this is what I believed in, lived and wrote about for a long time.
')
Until recently.
Until recently, I always set myself goals - short-term, long-term, with a list of actions. I made progress towards each, and achieved a lot (read, for example, my story ). And, from a traditional point of view, I was successful. So without a doubt, goals work, and you can be successful using them.
But are there any other ways?
Later I moved away from the goals. Freed from their shackles. I did it because the goals are not perfect, in my understanding:
But most importantly, we are never satisfied. Goals say “When I achieve this goal (or all of these goals), I will be happy. And now I am unhappy because I have not reached them. ” It is never said out loud, but that is what the goals really mean. The problem is that when we reach the goal, we do not get happiness. We set new goals, in pursuit of something new.
And although many will say that the pursuit of something new is good, that we always need to strive for something, unfortunately, this means that we will never be satisfied. Never be happy. I think this is sad. We must learn how to be content now with what we have. In fact, this is exactly what minimalism teaches.
And if minimalism means to be happy now with what we have, how do the goals relate to this? This is what I have tried to coordinate with the varying success of the last few years.
So what would a real minimalist do? If we are satisfied with what we have, and if we drop goals, does this mean that we are not doing anything? Sit or sleep all day?
Not really. I definitely do not sit on the spot. We must do what brings happiness. Follow your passion. Do things that delight us. For me and many others, it is the creation of new things, self-expression, the creation of something useful, beautiful or inspiring.
Here is what I do instead of setting and achieving goals:
I do what I admire. Everyday. I get up and work on things that I like, I create things that I like to create.
I do not worry about where I will be (professionally) in 10 years or even half a year. I think about where I am now.
I do not make plans - they are an illusion, you never know what will happen in a year or six months. You can try to control what happens, but you lose. Much happens, sometimes good, sometimes bad, that breaks plans. Instead, I learned to surrender to the flow, not to worry about something that could destroy the plan, but to think about what needs to be done right now. This allows me to take advantage of emerging opportunities that I didn’t plan, to work on things that I couldn’t know, to make decisions that are the best right now, and not a couple of months ago, when I would have planned them.
I do not force events, but do what happens naturally.
And I focus on the present, on being happy right now.
It took time. Leaving goals is scary and uncomfortable. But if you did it, then it’s not difficult anymore. I gradually learned to work the way I do now, at the current moment, and go with the flow of life that surrounds me (online and offline).
This is a great way to work. And it is not by chance that I achieved even more with such an approach, without setting this goal. It is a natural byproduct when you do what you love.
Update: about the author:
Leo Babauta is a blogger and author of several books. One of his blogs, Zen Habits, has become one of the 100 most widely read Technorati versions.
Update 2. Thank you andreycha for translating the epigraph.
“When we do not worry about what is happening, everything falls into place. The world belongs to those who do not experience. If you strain yourself, you won’t win the world. ”- Lao Tzu.
One of the unshakable foundations of the literature about success and productivity is that we need goals to be successful (read, for example, Seth Godin - by the way, I respect him very much).
And other beliefs are based on this:
- You must set the right goals (for example, by SMART).
- You have to break goals into executable actions.
- You must set deadlines and timelines.
- You need to focus on goals throughout the day.
I know this because this is what I believed in, lived and wrote about for a long time.
')
Until recently.
Until recently, I always set myself goals - short-term, long-term, with a list of actions. I made progress towards each, and achieved a lot (read, for example, my story ). And, from a traditional point of view, I was successful. So without a doubt, goals work, and you can be successful using them.
But are there any other ways?
Later I moved away from the goals. Freed from their shackles. I did it because the goals are not perfect, in my understanding:
- They are artificial - you work on them, not because they like them, but because you have installed them.
- They limit. What if you want to work on something that doesn't apply to your goals? Shouldn't you have such freedom?
- They put pressure on us, forcing us to achieve, to do certain things. Pressure is stressful, and not always positive.
- When we fail to reach them (almost always), it is frustrating.
- We always think about the future (goals) and not about the present. I prefer to live in the present.
But most importantly, we are never satisfied. Goals say “When I achieve this goal (or all of these goals), I will be happy. And now I am unhappy because I have not reached them. ” It is never said out loud, but that is what the goals really mean. The problem is that when we reach the goal, we do not get happiness. We set new goals, in pursuit of something new.
And although many will say that the pursuit of something new is good, that we always need to strive for something, unfortunately, this means that we will never be satisfied. Never be happy. I think this is sad. We must learn how to be content now with what we have. In fact, this is exactly what minimalism teaches.
And if minimalism means to be happy now with what we have, how do the goals relate to this? This is what I have tried to coordinate with the varying success of the last few years.
So what would a real minimalist do? If we are satisfied with what we have, and if we drop goals, does this mean that we are not doing anything? Sit or sleep all day?
Not really. I definitely do not sit on the spot. We must do what brings happiness. Follow your passion. Do things that delight us. For me and many others, it is the creation of new things, self-expression, the creation of something useful, beautiful or inspiring.
Here is what I do instead of setting and achieving goals:
I do what I admire. Everyday. I get up and work on things that I like, I create things that I like to create.
I do not worry about where I will be (professionally) in 10 years or even half a year. I think about where I am now.
I do not make plans - they are an illusion, you never know what will happen in a year or six months. You can try to control what happens, but you lose. Much happens, sometimes good, sometimes bad, that breaks plans. Instead, I learned to surrender to the flow, not to worry about something that could destroy the plan, but to think about what needs to be done right now. This allows me to take advantage of emerging opportunities that I didn’t plan, to work on things that I couldn’t know, to make decisions that are the best right now, and not a couple of months ago, when I would have planned them.
I do not force events, but do what happens naturally.
And I focus on the present, on being happy right now.
It took time. Leaving goals is scary and uncomfortable. But if you did it, then it’s not difficult anymore. I gradually learned to work the way I do now, at the current moment, and go with the flow of life that surrounds me (online and offline).
This is a great way to work. And it is not by chance that I achieved even more with such an approach, without setting this goal. It is a natural byproduct when you do what you love.
"A good traveler does not have exact plans and intentions to go somewhere" - Lao Tzu.
Update: about the author:
Leo Babauta is a blogger and author of several books. One of his blogs, Zen Habits, has become one of the 100 most widely read Technorati versions.
Update 2. Thank you andreycha for translating the epigraph.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/97560/
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