(2010-07-30) Babauta No Goals

Leo Babauta is switching to a life of No Goals. The idea of having concrete, achievable goals seem to be deeply ingrained in our culture. I know I lived with goals for many years, and in fact a big part of my writings here on Zen Habits are about how to set and achieve goals. (Goal Setting) These days, however, I live without goals, for the most part. It’s absolutely liberating, and contrary to what you might have been taught, it absolutely doesn’t mean you stop achieving things. It means you stop letting yourself be limited by goals.

Dec'2011 update: Leo has a guest-post by Joshua Fields Millburn (of the Minimalist-s (Minimalism)) on his 100 days of No Goals living. *When I met Leo four months ago — two-thousand miles from my home in Dayton, Ohio — he said there were three things that significantly changed his life: establishing Habit-s he enjoyed, simplifying his life, and living with No Goals.

I was already living the first two: I had established my pleasurable habits, I had simplified my life. But it was difficult for me to grasp the “no goals” thing. The thought of living a life with no goals sounded insane to me — it was counterintuitive, it was scary, it went against almost everything I had ever learned about productivity... I was even disappointed when I attained a goal but didn’t overachieve. It was a self-consuming cocaine high — it was never enough.* (Mind The Hole)

Mar'2012: Let go of control (Self Control?) and allow yourself to be swept away by the powerful currents of life. Let go of Planning and embrace not know what will happen. Let go of productivity and be open to new ideas, new opportunities, spontaneous Creativity.