Why I Hate Setting Goals Every Year

So Many Ways To Screw It Up

My wife avoids sending me to the grocery store. I’m fantastic at buying the wrong thing. If there weren’t so many choices, I wouldn’t make so many mistakes. I feel the same way about grocery shopping as I do a new year. There are too many choices.

There are too many choices, so I assume I’m going to screw something up. Setting goals is about making a choice, and then moving forward to fulfill those goals. What happens when we have opposing goals?

All The Opposing Questions

Here are the opposing questions fighting each other in my head today.

Build or Refine?
Should I build something new?
Should I revisit the projects I’ve already created to make them better?

Family or Business?
Should I travel to more conferences for the purpose of making more connections to grow my business?

Should I travel less to spend more time at home with my family? Because the adjustment to Tennessee has been difficult.

Schedule or No Schedule?
How can I better plan my day? Because I struggle to know where to put my time when I have no boss.
How can I be productive, but still leave time in my life for spontaneity, service and whimsy? That is a big reason I chose self-employment in the first place.

Personal or Technical?
Do I write about the realities of marriage, sharing personal and emotional support with others?
Do I write about technology tips, tools and guides that will simplify life, but totally lack emotional impact?

Local or Global?
Do I volunteer more at church? Because I want to be more connected to my local community.
Do I spend more time launching a podcast that could have a global impact?

The problem with these questions is that none of them involve me doing bad things, but I still have no idea which are the right things.

It’s a unique burden, and perhaps it’s not even a burden, to have to choose between good things.

What I Do Know 2016

I have faith that God will provide no matter what path I choose. As my friend Mike would say, I believe this will be my Best Year Ever, but I’ll be damned if I have no clue how that’s going to happen.

I’m not a meticulous person, and I have no desire to plan every day of 2016. However, not having clarity moving forward is more paralyzing than freeing. Setting goals will help, otherwise I’m a ship without a sail.

Goals are guesses. They’re educated guesses, but they’re still guesses.

My goal is to not hate goals.

Oh, and Happy New Year.