Goals Are Overrated

Free yourself from arbitrary expectations.

A few weeks ago, someone asked me where I’d like to be in three years. I couldn’t give him a great answer. I took a breath, looked around the room, and, after about five or ten seconds of silence, said, “I don’t really think like that.” I told him that I don’t really have goals. My brain doesn’t really find them useful or persuasive.

I’ll repeat to you what I told him.

I prioritize iteration over specific destinations. I rather take stock of the skills and experience that I have now and tinker with how I can make them better and more useful to others. It matters more to me that I try to be the best person I can be all the time rather than meet some arbitrary goal I set for myself based on internal or external expectations.

The last goal that I can remember was paying off my student loans. I graduated law school with over $50,000 of debt and I had no idea how to manage my money. Once I started learning about personal finance, I knew that I had to get rid of it as soon as possible. I made a whimsical goal to pay it all off within three years. I became so obsessed over making it happen that I developed bad anxiety and OCD tendencies. Sure, my ‘drive’ enabled me to accomplish that goal but I was a miserable person to be around.