Being Goalless — What does it mean to others if you are not good at goal setting

How can it be that we built a business that is growing, but I have never written down a goal?

Why am I not good at setting goals?

What holds me back from writing down goals?

And what does it mean for others if you aren’t able to set goals and write them down?

This is something I am thinking about a lot to understand me. I need to find out if we have to implement “goal setting” into my company to not…

…Being Goalless.

Being Goalless — What prevents me from setting up goals?

When I started my business five years ago while I was studying, I wasn’t able to imagine where I am today.

And I didn’t set any goal for myself or my business.

I just didn’t think about goals…

Day after day, week after week, month after month, I just did what feels right for me, and everything was just happening.

People came to me and asked me:

Pascal, how are you achieving this success? What are your goals?

My answer was simple at any given time:

I don’t have goals.

I started to recognize this. I was officially “goalless” :D

But people said:

But what is your why? What do you want to achieve?

Of course, I do have an answer for this. But this post is not about my vision or my why.

I figured out that my vision, my why and my crazy brain is holding me back from writing down goals.

Being Goalless — What does a goal mean for yourself?

When I recognized having a “problem”, I started the debate about goals with successful people that I don’t have to pay for opinions.

The answers were different.

A lot of people said:

Pascal, shut up and split your vision into goals so that you know what to do next.

Nothing new for me… Read this in a few books… But it felt wrong for me…

Others said:

Pascal, if you are successful, you are doing something right. Just keep doing it.

One of my early mentors answered to nearly every question I asked:

There is no right or wrong.

Of course, this does not help if you have questions. But he was right! You have to try everything out to get a feeling if it was right or wrong.

Same with goal settings.

If goal setting is right and can help you, what is the opposite?

A goal can slow you down. For me, it feels like slowing me down.

Why?

1. A goal means commitment
2. A goal means focus
3. A goal means no excuses
4. A goal means you will get transparent and accountable
5. A goal means boundaries

Am I afraid of these effects of goal setting?

Effect 1–4 are related to self-management.

I asked myself: Am I good at self-management?

I figured out that point five was what holds me back. My vision and why is so strong that whenever I thought about a goal, it felt like a limitation.

A goal for me feels like:

• Thinking small.
• Preventing the big thing or the vision happening.
• Ignoring opportunities that “could” skyrocket me to my vision.
• Waisting time because you work for a small goal instead of vision.
• Trying to get the temporary rush instead of the consistent feeling of being pumped.
• If you work for the reachable, you are not thriving for the unreachable.

Being Goalless — What does this mean for your environment?

When your business is growing from a one-man show to an awesome place of 30+ talented people you will feel that it is all about the people and how they feel and how you lead.

They are going to copy you. Your good and your bad things.

You can’t prevent this! So it is about self-management and defining what you want to see being copied.

And because I am not Mr. Goal Setter we don’t have a culture of setting goals (, yet?). Of course, a few employees are doing this for they own because they want this or they need this.

But other companies out there are leading with goals. Firing because of goals. Rewarding because of goals. We are (still?) not.

If you see companies out there achieving massive success with setting goals and having a culture of setting goals, you start asking yourself:

Is being goalless good for your business?

But we are running well! I think we are above average for our business model. But what if we want to extend our business model?

Could we be more successful if we set up goals? Can we compete with bigger markets and business models that are more scaleable when not setting goals?

I don’t know…

Being Goalless — What does it mean for the people?

I had a chat with someone talking about goals. He updated my system of thinking in a way that scares me about my “being goalless” issue.

I am an entrepreneur.

I am willed to take the risk.

I am courageous.

Employees usually are not.

They are not willed to take the risk. They are using the way of security. They want to be safe.

And I learned that a goal is something that makes you feel save. Because you can imagine what is happening tomorrow.

• A good goal feels good.
• Goals are representing a state of the better.
• Goals are the railing of the path.

Now think about what Being Goalless means for your team of people that aren’t entrepreneurs.

Being Goalless — My Conclusion

It is a blessing and a privilege that our team gives me the room and freedom to think about this.

Having the time to work on myself and being aware of this is something that will develop me and help me to find a way that fits for our company and me personally.

Being Goalless is a “weakness” (?) that brought us all where we are as a company today.