I Failed 4 Of My 5 Goals For 2017 — And I’m Glad I Did

Here’s why goals don’t matter and what I’m doing instead.

2017 was quite the year for me. Here’s a quick snapshot of what’s happened:

1. I got engaged to my beautiful (now) fiance.
2. I started a new job as a marketing intern for a SaaS startup called Cordial.
3. I won 1st place in a competitive business simulation game for my college capstone class.
4. I graduated college.
5. I got promoted and hired on full-time at Cordial.
6. I traveled to 4 new cities I never been to before — Seattle, Portland, Chicago, and San Francisco.

As I reflected on the year and everything that’s gone on, I remembered my post, Five Daily Habits For 2017, in which I laid out some of my goals for changing the way I treated myself and my day.

As forementioned in the title, I failed to successfully implement 4 of the 5 daily habits I set out to do just about a year ago — and I’m glad. Here’s why:

1. There’s Nothing Wrong With Failure

In fact, there are many things right about failure. The experience, the lessons learned, and the strength you build while failing is invaluable.

My five daily habits that I wished to implement in my life for 2017 were to sleep more, meditate, journal, read, and exercise.

The only one I’ve managed to successfully implement is exercise, thanks to the motivation to shed for the wed and get my honeymoon body on. My fiance and I joke that the only exercise-related acronym we care about is LGN, which stands for Look Good Naked.

But all the other daily habits — sleep more, meditate, journal, and read— were swiftly dropped about halfway through the year.

I realized that in this season of my life living apart from my significant other, veraciously learning, traveling in the car 2–3 hours a day, and planning a wedding, it’s just not beneficial for me to try to do all these things right now.

I almost wrote that it’s just not realistic or possible for me to do these things right now but the truth is that they were very realistic and very possible. The key is that they were not beneficial to me in this season, and therefore, not worth me worrying about.

What I’ve learned this year is that goals are only as important as the results they get you.

If I really did go through with my 2017 daily habits but I did them half-heartedly and with a terribly attitude, they likely would have done nothing for me personally. And THAT is the true failure.

What I realized half way through the year that caused me to drop trying to pursue them was that I didn’t pick these 5 things because of the results they would get me, I picked them because I had romanticized the idea of saying that I had done them.

It was superficial.

I said I wanted to do those things just because they were good things to do. And when I realized that my perspective was off, I accepted my failure, and I was glad about it.

2. There’s Something Better Than A Goal

Purpose is better than goals because purpose doesn’t have an end.

If your life’s purpose to complete goals, you lose your purpose in life once you finish your goals.

This can be best explained by professional athletes, who often have a crisis when their career competing comes to an end. Their whole life was centered around a goal to play in the NBA, NFL, NHL, MLB, etc. And then when they retire, they have no goal, and therefore have no purpose.

But the same can be applied to any person or career.

A student loses their purpose when they graduate college. A businessman loses their purpose when they sell their company. A teacher loses their purpose when they retire.

Purpose > Goals.

So instead of religiously worrying about how much sleep I was getting, I developed a habit of reading before bed. Sometimes I would read for 30 seconds before dozing off. Other times I would read for hours into the night. And either way, I loved it.

Instead of making sure I spent a couple minutes with my eyes closed, I developed a habit of consciously being more present in the moment, taking time to recognize and absorb what I was experiencing.

Instead of jotting down some random thoughts on a piece of paper, I developed a habit of writing down all my random business/invention ideas. I really started making a habit of using Evernote in the latter half of 2016, and in 2017 I managed to record 73 new ideas. 73! That’s one idea every five days! In fact, I wrote down one like 5 minutes before I started writing this post.

Instead of devoting a dedicated time every day to read, I’ve spent an enormous amount of time listening to audio, specifically podcasts and audio books. In my hour+ commute to and from work every day, I listen to nothing but podcasts and audio books. No music, no comedy, just learning material. Now, there’s no way for me to accurately estimate how much time I’ve spent listening, but I do know that I’ve listened to 18 books this year, and over 700 episodes of Mixergy, which is just one of the MANY podcasts I listen to. 18 books and 700 Mixergy episodes alone comes out to well over 800 hours of content.

While I did successfully integrate exercise into my day, I still did it differently than I used to. Instead of spending 90+ minutes in the gym every day, my fiance and I do a rigorous 60 minute workout 3x a week, and light workouts 2x a week at home. We’ve also changed our diet drastically. Instead of eating out 10+ times a week, we meal-prep and homecook the majority and only eat out on special occassions.

3. There Are More Important Things Now

One of the recurring themes that struck time and time again in books, podcasts, articles, and relationships is the idea of thinking bigger.

The 5 daily habits I set out to implement in 2017 are all good things. And still things I want to do for 2018 (after I’m married).

BUT, they aren’t the main things I’m going to set my eyes on.

Every day, I don’t want to set my eyes on something small like checking off the boxes for things I should be doing anyways.

I want to set my eyes on big, juicy things that align closely to my purpose and my strengths—like starting a podcast, starting a business, learning a new skill, trying something new, producing something new.

I’m glad that I failed, because my eyes have grown much larger than my stomach, and I want more than just daily habits for my life — I want impact.

I want to think big, think scary, and think crazy. And I think I’ve done a good job at that since I dropped those goals half-way through the year.

Now, I’m focused on what’s next.

✌️ out 2017.