I read this post a long time ago by a popular productivity / personal development blogger (don’t remember who now) where he basically eschewed setting goals. This was a major departure from his previous philosophy, so I remember being pretty surprised. What surprised me more was that it appeared to me that much of his success in changing his life over the previous years was due to…goal setting.
I get that things change, and we need to change with them. But it was odd because I don’t remember much focus on how goals weren’t really for *him* anymore, but rather that goals weren’t really that useful in general. This seems disingenuous. It’s like someone carefully budgeting until they’re very wealthy and they don’t have to budget anymore, and then announcing to the world that budgeting isn’t really important, because look how they do fine without it.
Sometimes I get frustrated because I’m not doing some particular thing as well anymore, or I’m not seeing the same benefits from a habit or change that I once did. But I try to remember that this is a journey, not a destination. There will be times when I have to hammer hard on a particular habit or goal, and then maybe a few months or a few years later, I’ll drop it completely because I just don’t need it any more. The whole point of personal development to me is change, but I have a tendency to view it as a tool to align myself with a mythical standard. But there is no single standard, at least that I’m aware of. Everyone is different, we all have different starting points, different paths, and different ending points. And as we travel along these paths, we ourselves are constantly changing. The struggles we have, the temptations we face, our motivations, our fears, they’re constantly in flux. To expect the tools and techniques that we use to remain static in the face of such change is unrealistic.
So don’t be afraid to shake up something that used to work for you, or try something completely new. If you’ve worked hard to become an early riser but you’re just not seeing the productivity in the mornings that you once did, maybe try becoming a night owl for awhile.
Whatever you do, remember that the tools you’re discarding as no longer useful may have had some value once, and probably still do for others. Any life changes you’ve discarded (or still do) that I might find valuable?