Goal-Free Living With Stephen Shapiro
I did my usual weekend house chores which gives me the opportunity to listen to Podcasts, which is something I relish. I want to recommend a great interview that Michael D. Pollock of Solostream Webstudio did with Stephen Shapiro about his book and web site Goal-Free Living.
Stephen talks about how many successful people he’s interviewed don’t equate their success to lots of goal setting and how people become stressed by goal setting. Likewise todo lists can become a real burden and get in the way of what needs to be done. Stephen keeps a short todo list with just the top priority items on it. Then he has a can do list for everything else. Items move across from the can do list to the todo list as necessary. I do like the sound of this.
Other concepts Michael and Stephen discuss include “Use a Compass, Not a Map” where you find the intersecting point between passion (what you love to do), skills (what you are good at), and value (what creates value – for you and others). If you can achieve the right amount of passion, skills and value you can be successful in whatever it is you want to achieve.
I’ve always been passionate about what I do and what I deliver to my customers. And I’ve always felt I deliver real value. Skills is where I come up short. Not in in the ability to create good products, but in my abilities to be a great marketer and salesperson. People that run small business’s need to be skilled in many different areas, which is simply a fact of life, so we do the best we can and get on with it.
I’m sure you will find SavvySoloCAST #29: Goal-Free Living With Stephen Shapiro a great way to start your week.
October 17th, 2006 at 11:41 pm
It’s all very well to live without goals, but what if your goals map to pressing needs? For example, you might need to escape your day job within a short deadline.
October 19th, 2006 at 10:51 pm
Hi Documentation Doctor,
I don’t have a problem with goals per se. The issue is how most people relate to them. In the process of trying too hard, you unwillingly sabotage your efforts as you become stressed and perform worse. By being mindful of the future, while being totally present, you will have more fun, be more successful, and see even better opportunities that emerge. Goal-Free Living is about applying creativity to every aspect of your life…every day. Check out a recent blog post at http://www.goalfree.com/?p=286. All the best.
November 8th, 2006 at 2:25 am
Ah. That’s a very eastern martial arts perspective, isn’t it?
In my own, Western, art, you attack, with a second attack visualised for if the first fails: Clang! Bang! However, the key is making each attack secure. This is pretty much how I lead my life.
I’ll read that post…
May 9th, 2008 at 1:55 pm
I think that goal setting helps people in getting themselves focused on what is it that they want to do. To me, the personal goal setting process is not just a glorified to-do list. It has a timeframe, it has milestones and it has very detailed plan on the exact steps on what the individual needs to do to attain his goal.
Most of the people want to achieve some things in their life, be it getting richer or getting fitter , but after a while, they forget about it. I think that the process of goal setting will help these people in their plans and ultimate to succeed in their goals because it gives them a framework to think how they are going to succeed.
By successfully doing each step or task, it can also form a positive feedback loop to motivate them.