Destinations versus Journeys. Goals versus Orientation.

I’m not sure a goal orientation is the right way to align your life. A goal implies a conclusion, a destination, and I don’t think it’s where we end up that matters that much. Retirement isn’t a goal. It’s the act of being decommissioned and probably the worst thing that could possibly happen. But that’s another thought. Back to my point. The goal isn’t the focus, how we get there, the journey that never ends, until all of it sudden it does, is what matters. How do we want to spend our time while on this journey? Me, I’d like to spend as much time every day learning, writing and making things that matter. And ideally I would like to be able to do that from anywhere so I can live and experience the world rather than just be a tourist passing through it. Still working on this part.

So how do you support how you want to live? What’s the foundation that enables it? How do you balance life to make sure the journey lasts as long as possible? For me there are 4 pillars that keep the the journey going. First to be creative you have to sleep, my achilles heel. You can’t go all in and compromise your recovery time, this is a marathon, not a sprint. Second you have to have your health. You need to make time for good food and exercise. I personally believe exercise should come from recreation rather than the gym, but that’s just me. Third, clutter in life slows you down. Shed it all. Go lean. Everything you add has a long term tail of debt that takes time away from the journey you want to make. Fourth, and probably most important, autonomy. You need mental, skill, and financial autonomy so that if at anytime the journey starts to be compromised you have the ability to change it. You’re not locked into a path that is no longer interesting.

Now we can mix in the goal orientation. What will we get done this quarter to make our journey possible? Over the next 90 days what do we need to get done, or more importantly, not do, to make how we want to live happen?