More than a decade ago when I became interested in personal development, I started setting myself a series of goals. Setting goals for yourself was the mainstream advice I was getting. Not only set goals, visualise them. Every day repeat to yourself in front of the mirror that you are smashing that goal. You need that goal to drive you forward. Think positive, use positive affirmations, and so on. Is perhaps this society too addicted to goals?
A couple of years ago I started thinking that goals may not be as important as they are set out to be. The main reason was that more than achieving goals, I wanted to find ways to enjoy my time. The time I spend with my family, the time I spend at work, the time I spend with my hobbies. I wanted to enjoy that time. I felt that if I get too fixated on achieving goals, the goal becomes more important than enjoying my time and I wasn’t comfortable with that idea. There was one very strong reason that convinced me that achieving goals was not that important. Achieving goals is supposed to help you enjoy your time after you achieve the goal, but if you haven’t enjoyed your time before you achieved the goals, how will achieving the goal help you enjoy your time? You will still have to learn how to enjoy your time. Most likely, you will get into the goal rat race, set yourself another goal and try to achieve it, and then another and another. I felt something was wrong with that process. I could enjoy my time before achieving the goal. More and more, I started to give less importance to achieving goals and more importance to making sure I enjoy my time.
I thought I was going against mainstream thought, but recently I was surprised to listen to two audiobooks that expanded on that idea, “How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big” by Scott Adams, and “Creativity Inc.” by Ed Catmull. Scott Adams says that goals are for losers, because you are losing by not achieving the goal until you achieve it. More important than achieving the goal are the systems and processes you put in place to achieve the goal. Whether you achieve the goal or not doesn’t matter as long as the process is right. Ed Catmull says that one has to be soft on goals but rigid on values. Never compromise your values to achieve goals. It is better to change the goal rather than compromising your values. These two ideas helped me clarify my own ideas. Why is this important for me today?
Today I failed to achieve a goal. In March 2013 I started running Round the Bays, an 8.4 km run that happens in Auckland every year. Back in 2013 I run it in 54 minutes and 33 seconds. I was hooked. In the next six years, from 2014 to 2019 I entered the race every year and every time I run it faster than the previous year. That was my goal. In 2019 my time was 37 minutes 13 seconds. I knew this year was going to be difficult to beat that time. Not only it was pretty fast for me (those who met me know that I’m fit but I’m not an athlete) but also this year I didn’t train as much as last year. During the race I gave it my best and I tried to mentally push myself, but the body couldn’t keep up. I finished in 39 minutes exactly. Did I fail? The answer is a resounding no. The process and the values matter more to me than achieving the goal. The goal helps me put a training process in place that keeps me healthy. I enjoy the process of staying fit and health is the value. The goal is secondary. Would I compromise my health to achieve the goal? Never.
In the next 12 months I look forward to put a training process that I will enjoy and that will help me keep healthy. Yes, I will still try to beat the 37 minutes 13 seconds and I will think of ways to make my training more effective. But the goal is secondary. The process and the values are more important than achieving the goal. How about you? Are you addicted to achieving goals? Enjoy the process, enjoy your time, relax, achieving the goal is secondary.
Make an impact,
Pablo
PS: let me know what you think either on social media or by email.