No specific goals
There are things I’ve wanted to do, but if I didn’t do them I’d be fine with that too. There are targets that would have been nice to hit, but if I didn’t hit them I wouldn’t look back and say I missed them.
Jason Fried source
Every time I set a specific goal I usually missed it and ended up thinking there was a conspiracy against me, or that I was unable to achieve my goals. A while ago I would have said something like
I want to live in Cuba when I retire.
Now I am much more prone to say
I want to live in a warm and laid back place when I retire.
The second leaves many options open and identifies the core of what I aim at: warm weather and relaxed pace. While the first looks specific it also sets me up for easy failures.
I adopt the same attitude towards the products I am working on. A few years ago I tried quitting client work altogether to focus on my products. It didn’t work out, because I felt in control and limited by my goal at the same time. It usually happens in hit-or-miss situations.
Best events in my life happened not because I planned for them but because I was ready to welcome them. I wasn’t in the right place at the right time, but I was nearby.
I know, it takes a bit of faith to live like this, but whenever I left some room for the unexpected I have been dazzled. My plans (and probably yours too) are too restrictive for the richness of the life that surrounds us.
This doesn’t mean that I am giving up my daily to do list and let my boat adrift. When it comes to tactics I am still laser focused and protective of my time. But such a concentration is meant to lead me towards a direction and not a specific point on the map.
My broad goal is to make a living by selling what I create. I don’t know if it will be just software or something that has nothing to do with computers or a combination of both. I started with software but I like to keep other options open.