设定具体、可实现的目标似乎已经深深植根于我们的文化之中。我知道我多年来一直过着目标导向的生活，事实上，我在 Zen Habits 上发表的文章中很大一部分都是关于如何设定和实现目标的。
然而，如今我基本上没有设定任何目标。这感觉非常自由，而且与你可能被灌输的观念相反，这绝不意味着你会停止取得成就。
这意味着你不再让自己被目标所限制。
想想这个常见的说法：“如果你不知道自己要去哪里，就永远到不了任何地方。” 这听起来似乎很有道理，但仔细想想，显然并非如此。不妨做个简单的实验：走到户外，随意朝一个方向走，然后随时改变方向。20分钟后，一个小时后……你肯定会到达某个地方！只不过你之前并不知道自己最终会走到哪里而已。
关键就在这里：你必须敞开心扉，去往那些你从未想过会去的地方。如果你没有目标，你就会探索新的领域，学到一些意想不到的东西，最终到达一些令人惊讶的地方。这就是这种理念的魅力所在，但同时也是一个艰难的转变过程。
如今，我的生活基本没有目标。偶尔我会冒出一些目标，但最终都会放弃。其实，没有目标的生活从来都不是我的目标……这只是我逐渐发现的一种生活方式，我更享受这种生活，它无比自由，也更符合我追随自己热情的生活方式。
目标的问题
过去，我会为一年设定一到三个目标，然后再为每个月设定子目标。之后，我会制定每周和每天的行动步骤，并努力将一天的精力集中在这些步骤上。
可惜的是，事情从来不会这么顺利。你们都明白这一点。你们知道自己需要采取某个行动步骤，也努力牢记最终目标来激励自己。但这个行动步骤可能正是你们所畏惧的，于是你们开始拖延。你们会去做其他工作，或者查看邮件或浏览Facebook，或者偷懒耍滑。
于是，你的每周目标和每月目标就被推迟或搁置，你因为缺乏自律而感到沮丧。目标也变得难以实现。那么现在该怎么办呢？你需要重新审视你的目标并进行调整。制定一套新的子目标和行动计划。因为你有了目标，所以你知道自己要去哪里！
当然，你最终未必能达成目标。有时你实现了目标，感觉棒极了。但大多数时候你都无法达成目标，然后你会责怪自己。
秘诀就在这里：问题不在于你，而在于体制！以目标为导向的体制注定会失败。
即使你事事都做得尽善尽美，也并非尽善尽美。原因如下：你的行动受到极大限制。当你不想做某件事时，你不得不强迫自己去做。你的道路已被规划，因此你没有探索新领域的空间。即使你对其他事情充满热情，也必须遵循计划。
有些目标体系比较灵活，但没有什么比没有目标更灵活了。
工作原理
那么，没有目标的生活会是什么样子呢？实际上，它与有目标的生活截然不同。
你无需设定年度目标、月度目标、周目标或日目标。你不会执着于追踪进度或制定可执行的步骤。你甚至不需要待办事项清单，当然，如果你愿意，记下一些提醒事项也无妨。
那你干嘛呢？整天躺在沙发上睡觉、看电视、吃巧克力蛋糕吗？不，你得行动起来。找到你热爱的事情，然后去做。没有目标并不意味着你什么都不做——你可以创造，你可以生产，你可以追随你的热情。
实际上，这是一件很棒的事：你醒来后就能做自己热爱的事。对我来说，通常是写博客，但也可能是写小说、电子书、我的下一本书，或者制作课程帮助他人，或者结识优秀的人，或者陪伴妻子，或者陪孩子玩耍。没有限制，因为我是自由的。
最终，我取得的成就往往比设定目标时更多，因为我总是在做自己热爱的事情。但成功与否其实并不重要：重要的是，我一直在做自己喜欢的事情。
我最终到达的地方都很美好、令人惊喜、非常棒。只是我一开始并不知道会走到这一步。
快速问答
读者提问：没有目标难道不也是一种目标吗？
简单来说：它可以是一个目标，也可以在探索新方法的过程中慢慢学会。我总是在不知不觉中学习新事物（比如没有目标），即使我一开始并没有刻意去学习它们。
另一位读者问道：你是如何谋生的？
答案：充满热情！再说一遍，没有目标并不意味着你就停止做事。事实上，我经常做很多事情，但我做这些事情是因为我热爱它们。
没有目标也能活得很好的秘诀
我不会给你一本教你如何不设定目标就生活的指南——那太荒谬了。我无法教你该怎么做——你需要自己找到道路。
但我可以分享一些我学到的东西，希望能对你有所帮助：
- 从小事做起。你不需要彻底改变生活才能学会没有目标地生活。只需几个小时不去预设目标或行动，跟随你的热情。哪怕只有一个小时也行。
- 不断成长。随着你在这方面越来越熟练，开始允许自己拥有更长时间的自由——半天、一天，甚至几天。最终，你会足够自信，可以放弃某些目标，去做自己真正热爱的事情。
- 不只是工作。放弃目标适用于你生活的任何领域。以健康和健身为例：我以前会设定具体的健身目标，比如减肥、减脂、跑马拉松、提高深蹲重量等等。现在不了：我现在只是因为喜欢而运动，至于最终结果如何，我完全没有概念。这种方式效果非常好，因为我总是乐在其中。
- 放下计划。计划其实和目标没什么区别，它们都为你设定了一条既定的道路。但要放下计划真的很难，尤其像我这样喜欢一丝不苟地规划的人。所以，当你觉得需要的时候，就允许自己制定计划，但也要慢慢地、自在地放下这个习惯。
- 别担心犯错。如果你开始设定目标，那就没问题。这段旅程中没有错误——它只是一次学习的经历。如果你没有目标，最终失败了，问问自己这真的是失败吗？只有当你没能到达你想去的地方时，你才算是失败——但如果你心中没有目的地，那就谈不上失败。
- 一切都很好。无论你选择哪条路，无论你最终到达哪里，都很美好。没有糟糕的路，也没有糟糕的目的地。它们只是不同而已，而不同之处恰恰是美好的。不要评判，去体验。
最后
永远记住：过程才是最重要的，目的地并不重要。
老子说：“好的旅行者没有既定的计划，也不执着于到达目的地。”
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As John Lennon once said in a song, "Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans."
Set goals but do not let them abandon you. Approach one goal at a time then take some time off, start from the smallest goal then go to the next one and so on. Appreciate the time having goals and enjoy the time without goals.
We can't just let the goals all the time, in life there are some critical seconds which we need to plane and set goals. The thing is we need to have a balance between our focus and our vision. Focus on the goals you have set and have the broad vision of all aspects to make you feel happy and stay relaxed.
Interesting! And well written! Live purposefully and allow purpose to manifest and in giving free time to explore adds to this journey. This article raises great point that if we are boggged down by mindful presets then we can not truly acheive the path of our own successes. Do what you love and you'll love what you are doing! And at a point if this does seem unattainable.. ask why and how and when can it occur. Dont give up or in!
To me, goals and planning are a means to an end and that feels limiting , "in the box" so to speak. For me, that is contrary to being in the "NOW". My heaven is definitely in the journey!
Wonderfull article. I discovered few years ago this way of life, without knowing it, by visiting London alone. And this allows me to discover some superbe hidden area of the city and also to meet very intersting people. It was the best city treap of my life. And now after reading the article and what I know, I understand what makes the difference. I can understand that: letting go your goals, observing by feeling your sensations, make it easy to connect to the intelligence of the universe. And this allows you to be in the right place at the right time.
I have been at the receiving end of life from the last 3-4 years. I dont know what I like, what I want to do and where I want to reach. I have been working with myself. At one end I am okay with having no predetermined goals in life, but on the other end it becomes too much to handle psychologically. I feel I am lost. At 38 years of age, it feels that I have done or achieved anything.
But slowly I am also becoming clear that there can be life beyond goals, objectives and plans. And many a times I work and live without a goal. And I do "what I want to do" rather than "What I have to do" and even if it is only an hour it gives immense pleasure. It gives me pleasure as I feel I grew to the next maturity level in that one hour.
Thanks for writing on this and I would like to continue this dialogue with you.
Leo, you remind
me of Carl Whittaker who said his theory of how to do therapy is to have no
theory at all. Well, that's a theory. I do see your goal is to have no goals. I
think that's better than having goals in the way you describe. You give a great
description of goal setting can be so frustrating. The problem isn't goals,
it's attachment to goals. Attachment causes suffering. So make all the goals
you want, even a goal of having no goals, just don't attach any feelings of self-worth
or happiness to them. How's that for a goal?
Eddie Reece,
MS, LPC
Leo, you remind
me of Carl Whittaker who said his theory of how to do therapy is to have no
theory at all. Well, that's a theory. I do see your goal is to have no goals. I
think that's better than having goals in the way you describe. You give a great
description of goal setting can be so frustrating. The problem isn't goals,
it's attachment to goals. Attachment causes suffering. So make all the goals
you want, even a goal of having no goals, just don't attach any feelings of self-worth
or happiness to them. How's that for a goal?
Eddie Reece,
MS, LPC
People should not blame Daily Good for posting this article. That's life! Life is about discovery and invention of now things; life styles, methods of dealing with problems, etc.
They did good to present that for public consumption, giving a free platform for people like me to comprehend and either take or reject. To me, i have a multitude of lessons i have tapped from the article and it will go along way to informing my decisions and the way i do things.
Never make life a monotony, it will in the end bore you. You will hate yourself, the people around you and the things that you use.
Thanks Daily Good for always being good!
Thanks for the article, the tutorial- You have taught me a new and workable channel of life. Ahmed
I just left a relationship because the guy couldn't plan ahead - or make a best guess - about our relationship in the future. He wanted to keep coasting along (his words), not living together, not making any commitment to each other. We're in our mid-50s. He was enthusiastic about our relationship day-to-day, and enjoying our times together, as Babauta recommends doing.....but when it comes to making a life with another person, it isn't as if two houses are going to tiptoe during the night until they are united in commitment bliss. You can't move in together accidentally, or on one day when you both happen to realize - "Hey, yay, I suddenly find joy in planning a lifetime together with you! Oh really? Me too, so let's do that today. But tomorrow, well, maybe not. Depends on what I feel like doing." One has to make a decision, one has to make a plan. Planning on being with a special someone for the rest of your life is more of a lifetime guarantee than not making such plans.
[Hide Full Comment]I just left a relationship because the guy couldn't plan ahead - or make a best guess - about our relationship in the future. He wanted to keep coasting along (his words), not living together, not making any commitment to each other. We're in our mid-50s. He was enthusiastic about our relationship day-to-day, and enjoying our times together, as Babauta recommends doing.....but when it comes to making a life with another person, it isn't as if two houses are going to tiptoe during the night until they are united in commitment bliss. You can't move in together accidentally, or on one day when you both happen to realize - Hey, yay, I suddenly find joy in planning a lifetime together with you! Oh really? Me too, so let's do that today. But tomorrow, well, maybe not. Depends on what I feel like doing. One has to make a decision, one has to make a plan. Planning on being with a special someone for the rest of your life is more of a lifetime guarantee than not making such plans.
[Hide Full Comment]Pure rubbish. And yes, not wanting to have no goals is a goal, plain and simple. This reflects the life od an individual who has no ambition and will see success in anything to justify their behaviours. I'm surprised and even more disppointed this article was actually published by Daily Good.
Most of us are focused on the attainment of our goals, in a
vain attempt to fill our existential vacuum and our moods tend to be
determined by our apparent successes and failures. We strive for money to exist and end up doing
jobs we don’t like, for too long a time and end up losing our connection with
our spiritual nature. We worry too much and
spend a lot of our time thinking of ways to escape our monotony; we fill our
heads with thoughts and deny our feelings, especially the ones that inform us
of the emptiness within. We become human
doings and work harder and longer, to fill our emptiness, with all sorts of
palliatives, but at the same time our dissatisfaction grows and our anxiety
increases.
Goals demand that we stay focused on the future, which will
[Hide Full Comment]keep us from actually enjoying the fruits of our labours, and can become
missions of false hope, in difficult times.
The reality of goal planning is that it won’t go to plan and the harder
we try to force our ideas onto the world and control it, the more resistance we
will face, and the more unhappy we will become.
We need to recognise that most of our goals manifest from our Ego’s need
to be powerful, and the achievement of these goals, is not always dependent on
our planning, resourcefulness and management skills, but on our ability to
adapt to life changes. Goals are a
construction of the mind, which is of a dual nature, so to gain something we
have to lose something else; wholeness manifests when we are able to let go of
all goals and just be with what is, and this is spiritual mastery. - The art of Being Human - John Anderson
The idea of a goal is a desired destination... so is living passionately. They are mutual if indeed they are yours and not someone elses.
Quite wonderful. This could be a life changer. Thank you so much. Nick
I actually combine having goals with doing what I feel like. Many people consider the goal setting process to be tyrannical the way you describe. Perhaps it's better said this way, I have big visions of what I want to create, and what I want my life to be like. And as much as possible I only ever do what I feel like. There is a sense of alignment in that - I am aligned with the flow of life. I have lists, but if I don't feel like doing something I put it on the bottom and eventually it falls off the list.
Now I should say that it took me years to get my work life to a place where I can actually get away with doing that - but it's also the secret of my success. I have two people working for me, part time, doing stuff I don't like but they do. I work for myself at home - not even my husband knows how little I work some days. (When I'm not working, I'm usually dreaming about my vision).
And sometimes I just have to haul myself by the butt and do things I don't wanna do but are necessary for my dreams.
And I have a huge amount of focus and discipline because I'm working on my dream, that helps.
[Hide Full Comment]Very Nice. Great Article. But it is difficult in routine life when you have so much responsibility on yourself, that you do only what you are passionate about. Anyway Thanks for a thought provoking article. :-) Cheers.