I recently enjoyed a couple of good episodes of Whims That Work. In this one, hosts Drew Coffman and Joe Buhlig touch on goals and whether or not they’re a good way to approach life. So much of this episode touched on things that I discuss a lot here: goals vs. habits, notebooks, commonplace books.
As I listened during my run, so many related resources came to mind:
- On habits and goals, no one I know of has written as consistently as James Clear. So much of what Drew mentions here about why goals make feel like he’s failed before he even starts is articulated by James here: Forget About Setting Goals. Focus on This Instead
- As the guys talked about time blocking or using a calendar to manage your tasks, I kept thinking to myself that it’s vital to ensure your days have down time. Both time to relax, but also time where you allow yourself free to be spontaneous … to do whatever comes to mind. Or whatever you feel like doing most. The Focus Course gives proper attention to this area of life and it’s one of the core modules
- I mention it often, but What’s Best Next is a book I don’t hear people talk about enough. As Drew and Joe talked about creating weekly routines rather than set goals, I was reminded of how well WBN addresses this. You can have the best to-do list in the world, but if you do not carve out time in your calendar for all the areas of your life, then parts of that list will just grow and grow and bring stress rather than calm.
Anyway, I do go on. Great show, great episode.
