It’s Okay not to Set Goals!!!

It is typical for most conversations and presentations at the beginning of every year to revolve around goal-setting. It is common for people and organisations to set yearly goals. Goal-setting is considered the most ideal thing for everyone who wants to maximise his or her potentials in the new year.

Unfortunately, it is also common for some people to deliberately avoid the process. Some people tend to dread goal-setting for the following reasons:

1. It raises their hope: Since the desire of everyone is to make progress, some tend to think that setting goals is like building a castle in the cloud or raising one’s expectations unnecessarily. But hope is good! The only reason we make efforts in life is the hope for better results. Nevertheless, an unrealistic goal is dangerous because it is dead on arrival. You must be absolutely conscious of the fact that goals are not wishes but action points. Setting them is not what guarantees success but pursuing and achieving them.
2. It tends to lead to depression: perhaps some people have set some goals in the past that they couldn’t achieve. That might have informed their phobia for goal-setting. They consider it better “not to plan for it but achieve it, instead of planning for it and not achieve it”. Well, it is hardly possible to achieve it without planning for it or it would be entirely by chance. How would you even know that you have achieved what you didn’t plan to achieve?
3. It imposes responsibility: The moment you set goals for yourself, you become constraint from doing just anything because you would have to schedule your time, resources and other related factors to achieve it. If you want to become more than you are, you must be willing to do more than you have done. Responsibility is holding yourself accountable for the results you want. A life without responsibility is a life without productivity. Increase your sense of responsibility and surprise yourself.
4. It mutes creativity: it is possible that some people find a freestyle life appealing. They may think that by setting goals, they are boxed-in, whereas they would want to do things as they are inspired or live life as it comes. But what if they don’t get “inspired” throughout the year or their passion continues to change? How would they ever be sure to complete any project they begin? Creativity is great and I agree that it requires some degree of flexibility but order and discipline are needed to make creativity fruitful.

Who says you must set goals? But who also says success is compulsory? Life is full of choices. The difference between “goalfull” and “goalless” lives is crystal.