Achieve your goals by NOT doing them
Do you have a list of goals somewhere on your wall, desk, or saved in a secret file on your computer?
Yeah, me too.
And it’s been haunting me ever since I wrote it.
It’s not that I haven’t achieved anything on the list. In fact, I inadvertently achieved several of my goals this year.
But it’s the big stuff, like “write a book” or “finish X writing project,” that continue to make my list year after year.
I make progress, sure, but it’s the kind of forced progress that happens when you feel obligated to complete something, even when your heart is nowhere in it.
Recently, I started feeling really down on my goals, frustrated that my “big book idea” hasn’t happened yet, and the projects I’ve been working on are just collecting virtual cobwebs in a dusty corner of my Google Drive.
But as a creative, I know better than anyone that you can’t force an idea out of hiding. And no matter how much you polish poop, it’ll always be what it always was: a big piece of shit.
So I decided to take the pressure off by doing something crazy: I stopped writing altogether.
But, I didn’t stop creating.
And that’s when some crazy stuff started happening…
What happens when you do the OPPOSITE of your goals?
For years now, I’ve been wanting to write a book.
And not just one book, but lots of books.
Children’s books, industry books, fiction books, cook books, yoga books, yoga/cook books! .…You name it, I want to write it.
The problem?
I was constantly feeling stuck between two places: paralyzed with the fear of “getting started,” or forcing myself to work on something I didn’t find inspiring enough to finish.
As a result, I have two unfinished children’s books, and a list of ideas for books I can’t bring myself to start writing.
For me, this is a nightmare scenario.
I’m a creator. I feel most alive when I’m making stuff, so feeling crippled with fear, or starting projects and not finishing them, just sucks.
So one day, I thought to myself: “what if I just do the opposite of writing?”
Growing up, I used to draw a lot, so why not revisit that skill and see if taking the pressure off myself to write something amazing helps me, well…write something amazing?
That same night, I pulled out a sketch pad and drew a simple pumpkin.
“Not bad,” I thought, using my finger to smudge the dark pencil, adding some shading and dimension to the gourd. I even drew a little coiled vine poking out from behind the stem.
“Hm,” I sat back and looked at what was, actually, not a bad pumpkin at all.
So I tried drawing a frightened cat. And that came out pretty good, too.
Then I drew a skeleton hand holding a melting candle. And a Frankenstein bride with the word “Boo” placed strategically in her white streaked hair.
“This is actually pretty fun,” I thought to myself. No pressure. Just fun.
The next day, I found a local art store and picked up some colored pencils.
“These ones are on sale,” the saleswoman told me. “Perfect,” I grinned.
The next thing I knew, I was drawing succulents, and watching Bob Ross videos. I pulled out an old Corona typewriter my aunt had given me, and starting typing out words and adding those into the drawings.
I went back to the art store and got a pencil sharpener. And a sketch pad.
Then I started making Halloween cards. Yoga-Halloween cards, to be exact (it turns out, there are a lot of “spooky” sounding yoga poses: corpse, cat, half moon, cobra…etc).
I started spending a lot of time at the paper and the art store, getting all sorts of goodies for packaging up my cards and more art supplies, like a watercolor set, brushes, and some wooden frames.
During this time, my mind was turning with fresh ideas that combined both my writing and artistic skills, opening a whole new world of possibilities I hadn’t even considered before.
I also realized that writing some saga suddenly wasn’t THE most important thing in the world to me.
Clearly, there are other forms of artistic expression I enjoy, so why force myself into a corner I don’t want to be in right now?
Writing books is something I’m still interested in, but maybe the books will be more visual than I had previously imagined.
Maybe there won’t be books at all. Just greeting cards?
Who knows?!
And more importantly, who says I have to figure it out right now?
The freedom to just THINK
The great thing about NOT working on your goals, is it gives you a LOT of time to think.
Time to let your mind wander, stretch, imagine, and do all of the things it REQUIRES in order to come up with great ideas.
When I’m drawing, I’m concentrating on the task at hand.
When I’m not drawing, my mind is constantly churning up ideas for me to try next.
This, my friends, is where inspiration comes from.
Not staring at an uncompleted “goal list.”
Not willing yourself to feel inspired.
And definitely not gawking at other people’s accomplishments and feeling discouraged.
For me, creating something was my way “in,” but yours may be different.
Maybe it’s reading a book, taking a trip, having a conversation, watching a movie, going to a concert, going to a therapist, or any number of things that can shift your mind and stir your creative spirit.
Limits begin disappearing
Looking back, I feel like what thwarted a lot of my writing progress is this idea of “not knowing what I’m doing.”
I always had this thought in the back of my mind like maybe I COULD do my own illustrations for a book, but nah…no way.
I’d have this negative dialogue in my head, like:
I’m not even a “real writer.” What makes me think I can draw pictures to go with my talentless word combinations?!
But since picking up pencils and paint brushes, my perspective has completely changed.
What I’ve learned is, when you try different things, it breaks down walls you’ve placed around your own abilities.
It reminds you that all things are, in fact, possible — if you just try!
After opening up this new creative outlet, I feel so much more confident and excited about writing (and creating) than I have in a long time.
But in order to get there, I had to be willing to close the door on my goals for a little while. I had to be open to the idea that maybe the goals I think are “right for me,” are still in a transformation phase themselves.
After all, until you’ve pushed yourself to explore your full potential, how can you be sure of what’s possible?
Try ditching your own list of goals
I’m not saying you have to throw your goals in the garbage.
But if you’re having trouble crossing things off your own list, ask yourself why.
Is it because you “just don’t have enough time”? Or because the goals you’ve chosen for yourself just aren’t right for you, right now?
Maybe they were never right to begin with?
You have to learn to trust your instincts.
If you’re not finishing something, there’s a reason. If you’re gravitating toward something else, there’s a reason for that, too.
It’s okay to surrender. It’s okay to let your natural inclinations guide you.
Your spirit doesn’t care what your ego has written on a piece of paper.
Because at the end of the day, it’s passion, not accomplishments, that keep us moving forward.
Annie is a New York-based product copywriter who works exclusively with startups and small businesses. Have a question? annie1maguire@gmail.com
