Living Goal-Less

Leo Babuta just wrote a wonderful post on Zen Habits called “The Best Goal Is No Goal.” In it he says:

[W]ake up and do what you’re passionate about. For me, that’s usually blogging, but it can be writing a novel or an ebook or my next book or creating a course to help others or connecting with incredible people or spending time with my wife or playing with my kids. There’s no limit, because I’m free. In the end, I usually end up achieving more than if I had goals, because I’m always doing something I’m excited about. But whether I achieve or not isn’t the point at all: all that matters is that I’m doing what I love, always. I end up in places that are wonderful, surprising, great. I just didn’t know I would get there when I started.

It sounded similar to a conversation I’d had with a friend, in which I said:

Try not to worry about What You’re Doing With Your Life. What you ARE doing right now is massive and not everybody can do it. Appreciate that you’re lucky enough to be able to do this right now. Do it and make the most of it. The next phase of life will come along, but this is where you are now. Maybe this phase doesn’t show you the next step, but it’s still pretty cool the way it is. That’s what I try to tell myself, anyway. I have so many blessings, and while there are some that I’d like to see ahead of me, I have to trust that this feels right because it IS right, and the next door will open at the right time.

Except that, while I might sound all smart and together, you may have noticed, as I have, that it’s an awful lot easier to give advice than to really live it, and an awful lot easier to say you’re doing something, than to do it every day. Also, it’s a lot easier to talk in generalities, as I was, than in specifics, as Leo goes on to do in his post.

Sitting still and just being. Appreciating. Going through the day without a to-do list and listening to what your brain and heart are telling you.

Being without goals is in itself a worthy goal. For Leo, for my wonderful friend, but most of all, for me.