Some people love goal setting and build their lives around it. Some people think that setting goals is harmful. Could both be right?
According to Peter Ludwig and Adela Schicker in The End of Procrastination (2018 pp. 50-57), the problem with setting goals is that the motivation you get does not last. This is why they recommend a ‘journey based’ rather than goal-directed approach to life. Likewise, leadership trainer Ray Williams argues that habits, not goals, are the key to success.
Motivation may be your reason for action, while discipline (which forms good habits) keeps the engines running and gets you to your destination. Everyone talks about motivation, but few people talk about discipline. Maybe that is because discipline involves hard work!
Williams says that the psychological effects of NOT achieving a goal might be worse for some individuals than not having a goal in the first place. This may be the case when we have a goal which is beyond our current capacity and we are not willing to work to increase our capacity. Here, we may end up thinking less of ourselves for trying!
Ludwig and Schicker say that when you set a goal you get one, single easily exhausted instance of ‘joy.’ If you want more joy, you have to set more goals, because the success is in the goal, not in yourself! ‘Adrenaline junkies have to jump off higher and higher cliffs… All the time you are chasing something outside of you.’
To overcome this limitation, they recommend instead intrinsic, journey-based motivation in which the journey itself provides a continuous feeling of success. But what drives this flow of joy? Here, Ludwig and Schicker talk about having a ‘vision.’ But isn’t that just another word for a goal?
A vision is not a ‘one off’ like a goal. It is something permanent or self-sustaining. Like ‘being a good cook’ or ‘staying fit enough to go surfing all my life,’ or ‘staying sober so I can be a good dad.’
Whatever lies at the end of the road, be it a ‘goal’ or a ‘vision’ you need to feel that you are on the right track now and every day. Developing habits that allow you to get things done will dispel the feeling that you are wasting time.
By Warren Heggarty
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