Should You Bother Setting Goals?

Because life comprises series of milestones, the achievements of which can lead us either towards blissful fulfillment or agonizing misery, it can be useful to place an inquisitive lens on a concept often heralded as indispensable to reaching milestones: Goal setting. 



It's (arguably) the most important concept in the business of creating alignment between reality (where we are) and possibility (where we want to be). Michael Hyatt calls it the foundation on which a remarkable life is built. Goal setting is what helps us get through school, pick the right romantic partner and secure the dream job which would sustain us as we age. Yet a lot of resistance exists against adopting the concept, so much so that Scott Adams's words as presented in his best-selling book against the goal setting approach to realizing a remarkable life is, "goals are for losers." 

To settle the query about the needfulness of goal setting we must turn to the merits (and limitations) presented by the approach. In a nutshell, goals properly established, as described by Michael Hyatt, lay the foundation of success. They help us with clarifying what we want, overcoming resistance, taking action, filtering other opportunities and seeing progress we've made towards achievement. And they must be SMART. For example, a desire to complete a book is best realized when the desire is written on a piece of paper, say 'complete bestselling book by mid-November', pinned on a toilet mirror and looked at every morning, perhaps as we brush our teeth. However, as pointed out by Scott Adams, the mental orientation the concept of goal setting creates presents limitations: Goals are future oriented and put us in state of near continuous pre-success failure. They require deadlines and the most important projects are resistant to deadlines. Also, goals dismiss the reality that we might be clueless about actions needed to realize their content. 



In efforts to circumvent the limitations presented by goals, thinkers like Adam Adler have proposed abandonment of the approach in favor of a superior approach: System setting. It is a behavior-centric approach to achieving things. In a nutshell, systems properly established, as described by Adam Adler, provide a framework for (ensuring) success. They help us put in actions on a regular basis towards realizing what we want and they do away with deadlines. For example, a desire to complete a book is best realized when a requirement of sitting before a word processor for say one hour everyday is achieved. However, given Scott Adams's description, the mental orientation the concept of system setting creates also presents limitations: Systems sometimes provide difficulty with respect to revealing whether progress is moving in a desired direction. 

It's clear goal setting and system setting hold merits and limitations. Some argue the difference between the concepts lies only in semantics. However, what the existence of both concepts reveal is that methods for achieving things can be considered beyond the matrix of goal setting; there can be numerous ways for thinking about achieving (remarkable) things. When considering this, and the consideration that there are those, like Zen Habits founder Leo Babauta, who opt for having no-goals, it's possible to make the following declaration: It matters little whether one sets goals or one sets systems, what is worthy of interest is the thinking approach brought into the arena of getting things done, achieving (remarkable) things. 

One major problem with the whole practice of setting is that in efforts to devote ourselves to becoming disciples of focus we end up becoming prisoners of fixation. But focus and fixation are different. Focus really is about the narrowing of attention rather than being about the fixating of attention. Narrowing suggests a freedom to move the focal point of attention; fixating suggests a bound to the focal point of attention (the unhinging of which demands achievement). It is only through the narrowing of attention (not the fixation of it) can the useful thinking approach for achieving things be set and the elixir for achieving things be brewed. This elixir is clarity. Narrowing our focus establishes clarity. 

Fortunately Oprah has a thinking approach for achieving things, the kind of which brews clarity in the area where it is most needed. She states it simply: 
Begin from your intention. 
But because "intention" is a word that almost has become synonymous with goals, it's needful to tease out the meaning within Oprah's declaration. To this end we must turn to the man she accredits with introducing her to the concept of intentions. In a book Oprah recommends everyone to read, Gary Zukav writes: 
Every action, thought, and feeling is motivated by an intention, and that intention is a cause that exists as one with an effect. If we participate in the cause, it is not possible for us not to participate in the effect. In this most profound way we are held responsible for every action, thought, and feeling, which is to say, for every intention. 
In other words intention is what seats at the heart of our motive, the reason from which actions emanate. And it can be powerful to navigate through life from the heart of our motive. This is certainly the position of Simon Sinek who proposes that the most meaningful way to live is through beginning our endeavors from our "WHY", the reason from which our actions emanate. 



To set a goal really is about laying the content of intention (on a page), subjecting it to needful definition, clarification. This is worthy of note because it demystifies the conception of achieving thing (particularly as it relates to our understanding of goals) as future concerns, of which we must uproot the current running of our lives to realize. A goal simply is the outpouring of intentions, because as Michael Hyatt describes, "goal setting is fundamentally about what you are going to do." 

In all: Having a formula of life, a universal system of which we can place a problem at one end and be guaranteed a solution at the other, would be a remarkable option. It would allow each of us with ease to steer towards blissful fulfillment and away from agonizing misery. But living life is a complex thing, the running of which is impervious to formulaic treatment. Granted: there are details of living which can be systematized through the approaches like setting goals and systems, but the majority of it is granted to upturn our best laid out set goals and systems. ‎This isn't a suggestion to abandon the approaches, it points to the importance of laying attention where attention is deserved.

Enjoy!


................................................
Post Author: P. W. Uduk 
................................................

Photo Sources: medium.comwyldeandfree.com; momentum.com



Thank you for reading this piece on BasicPulse. Do you have questions, suggestions or  comments? Please, leave them in the comment section below. Remember to leave your email in the subscription box below to get updates straight in your inbox. Be remarkable!

9 comments:

  1. I need to to thank you for this very good read!!
    I definitely loved every bit of it. I have got
    you book marked to look at new stuff you post…

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hello all, here every one is sharing these kinds of know-how, so it's good
    to read this website, and I used to pay a visit this
    website all the time.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi there, just ѡanted to ѕay, I ⅼoved this post.
    It was helpful. Keep on posting!
    bloɡ : Top Encryptiοn Software Reviews! & These 6 Hacks Will Make You How To Encrypt A Password For Free Like A Pro

    ReplyDelete
  4. Pretty! This has been a really wonderful article.
    Thank you for supplying these details.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Very good information. Lucky me I recently found your website by chance (stumbleupon).
    I've bookmarked it for later!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I would like to show some appreciation to this writer for rescuing me from this
    problem. Because of surfing around through the
    world wide web and seeing views which are not productive, I
    was thinking my entire life was over. Living devoid of the solutions to
    the difficulties you've sorted out as a result of your
    main website is a crucial case, and the kind which could have in a negative way
    damaged my career if I hadn't come across the blog.
    Your actual know-how and kindness in playing with the whole lot was excellent.
    I don't know what I would've done if I hadn't come upon such a thing like this.

    I can at this time look ahead to my future.
    Thank you very much for the high quality and result oriented
    guide. I won't be reluctant to propose your web site to anyone who ought
    to have guide about this subject matter.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I think this is among the most important information for me.

    And i'm glad reading your article. But wanna remark on some general things, The web
    site style is great, the articles is really nice :
    D. Good job, cheers

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hiya! I know this is kinda off topic however , I'd figured I'd ask.
    Would you be interested in exchanging links or maybe guest writing a blog article or vice-versa?

    My blog discusses a lot of the same subjects as yours and
    I think we could greatly benefit from each other.
    If you happen to be interested feel free to send me an e-mail.
    I look forward to hearing from you! Fantastic blog by the way!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Really clean web site, thank you for this post.

    ReplyDelete

Leave a comment.

 

Behind The Scene

BasicPulse is written by Paul Uduk.


If you are new to the blog, a good place to start is the description page and a list of the six essential ideas held on the blog.

Join Our Readers

Get Posts in Your Inbox

Featured post

On Being Remarkable