From the desk of Victor Pride
Subj: Goal setting
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Recently a young reader of B&D asked me about goal-setting.
“Victor, what is your process to set and achieve goals?”
This young fellow believes I set goals when I do not.
Goals are too easy to accomplish and this is the big reason I never set goals:
I DON'T WANT TO ACCOMPLISH GOALS.
When I set a goal I make sure it is impossible to ever achieve.
I make my goals never-ending.
Like the goal to become the world's first self-made trillionaire. It isn't technically impossible, but it takes a very long time.
My only real goal with B&D is to be the greatest of all time.
If I achieve my one and only goal then what goal have I really achieved? Nothing. My seemingly immodest goal can never end because “all time” lasts forever.
My goal drives me every day but it can never be fulfilled.
My only goal is a non-goal, it is what Hitchcock would call a “MacGuffin”.
MacGuffin: an object or device in a movie or a book that serves merely as a trigger for the plot.
Usually the MacGuffin is the central focus of the film in the first act, and thereafter declines in importance. It may reappear at the climax of the story but sometimes is actually forgotten by the end of the story.
My goal can never end, but what it can do is drive me every single day that I am alive.
A more modest goal, but one that cannot ever be fulfilled, is to never quit. I do not want the magic to end. A goal to never quit simply serves as a way to continue the magic.
A goal to never quit could never be accomplished in life, it is only in death that it could be achieved and then you will not be around to celebrate it with a cigar.
The best goals to have are goals of legacy. Legacy goals will be achieved only after you are gone and all that remains is your word and your work.
Modest goals sound like a great thing to have but they are not. I have achieved enough goals to learn that achieving your goals is the worst thing you could ever do.
When your goal is achieved then your ride is over. Then where are you? Homeless inside of yourself.
The problem of homelessness is not that you do not have a home, it is that you do not have the drive to go anywhere at all. The journey of a thousand miles requires you do not stay put.
If you set impossible goals you will always be working towards achieving them. If you set impossible goals you will always have work to do.
Not having any work to do is a fate worse than death.
Look at the eyes of any man who does not work and you will not see life, you will see the cloudy grey eyes of the walking dead.
My work does not end. Look into my eyes and you will see eyes of pure green fire.
This is why it is important to set unrealistic goals.
If you set unrealistic goals you will never be bored, you will never be without fire because nothing kills fire more than contentment from achievement of a simple goal.
Achieving your goal is the same as coming to the end of your journey. Unfortunately the end is always the worst part of the ride.
Setting impossibly immodest goals is so much better than setting modest goals.
When you set modest goals and achieve them you are then in a place with no goals. This is the most dangerous place to be.
If your goal is to make a million dollars and then you make a million dollars, what is the next step? Usually booze, broads, and drugs. The same goal of people who are homeless.
You never want to wake up and not have a journey of a thousand miles to start.
You do not want your journey to end before you die. The journey should only end after you die (and hopefully that is just the start of another new journey).
It is always better to be starting than to be finishing.
Everybody has the energy to start something fresh and new, it is very difficult to find the energy to finish something, and for good reason … to finish is to die a little bit.
I don't have the energy to end and neither should you. I have only the energy to begin new things every day.
This is why I do not set realistic goals, I set only impossible goals or never-ending goals.
I am not against goal-setting, just make sure your goals are impossibly big and never-ending.
In this way you will have unlimited energy and you can start fresh and new every single day.
Here's a cheers to new beginnings (hear, hear).
Until next time.
Your man,
-Victor Pride
Derek says
November 26, 2017 at 11:03 amYes, this is good!
People are only happy when they’re growing. You’re either growing or you’re dying.
A goal is just an excuse to be even more passionate and fired up.
It is a symbol and a token.
The real joy is the relentless fire within.
Keep the fire burning!
All the best,
D
Tshepang says
November 26, 2017 at 11:22 amJust an additional, relatable info to today’s gospel. Hope it furthers your article.
http://bigthink.com/videos/adam-alter-want-to-succeed-dont-set-goals-set-systems?utm_campaign=Echobox&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook#link_time=1498141012
Derek says
November 26, 2017 at 12:25 pmNice video!
Fits in well with what Victor is saying.
Roman says
November 26, 2017 at 10:27 pmAmazing!
Really shifted the way I view goals now and looking back I always only had a fire when there was no end in sight.
Where I was just working and working and working!
Overtime I became frustrated because I wanted results but now I realize that it’s just about the work.
How is your typical day scheduled?
Do you have something scheduled and planned from like the time you wake up (5AM) to the time you go to sleep? (maybe 9 or 10 PM)
I find I need to have EVERYTHING scheduled in in order to have a clear vision of what I need to accomplish and I mean everything.
From the time I wake up to the time I go to sleep otherwise I won’t have a direction and I’ll just resort to bullshitting and wasting time playing games.
Like you said Vic, “If your goal is to make a million dollars and then you make a million dollars, what is the next step? Usually booze, broads, and drugs.”
Which is why I find it’s important to structure your day from the time you wake up to the time you go to sleep and then have some time at least 2 hours at the end of the day to plan the next day.
Looking at it, now that I typed all this out, I believe that that’s highly important and beneficial. At least it is for me.
(hear, hear)
Milos says
November 27, 2017 at 11:54 amMy goal is to become the first self made trillionaire. I set this goal when I was 10 or so. Actually when I was 10 I just wanted to be as rich as I can be, but where’s the fun in wanting to be just a billionaire right?
Kumar says
November 27, 2017 at 1:35 pmAnother masterpiece, Victor.
The article rings a bell with me as I’ve always advocated the idea of setting really lofty goals for yourselves. Most people can’t wrap their heads around the thought that setting unachievable goals is the key to relentless action. They are too fixated on wanting the results, so they fix their goals which can be achieved in a matter of a few weeks or months.
Bad strategy. These are the average people who look up to the elites and wonder ‘how they do it.’
Dan Peña, the billionaire business tycoon put it best:
“How do people make a hundred or a thousand times what you make if they can’t have a hundred or a thousand times our IQ? How? I will tell you how!
Because they dream bigger than you.
Their expectations are higher than yours. That’s how. I’m often asked, if I had my life to live over again what would I change. I’d only change one thing. I’d set my goals higher. That’s right. With all my mega-success, I’d still set my goals higher.”
You have to remember tht an achievable goal is a limit you impose upon yourself. The way to cut lose of this fetter is to set impossible goals.
You want to keep the ball rollin’, so to speak.
Ps: I wrote an entire article on my blog about setting higher goals, and dominating the world. You should definitely check it out.