The Goal is Not the Point

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1. Intro

I’ve seen this video many times. It’s called “The Goal is Not the Point.” It’s by a man named Joel Klos. He talks about how people fail to achieve their 2022 goals because they take the defining factor of the goal and place it in a place that is not relevant to achieving the goal.

In life, we have multiple criteria for what makes up our corner of the universe. We might put our relationship, our career, or our health in one corner; that’s often what we think of as our corner of the universe, but we do have other areas over which we have control and that are often more important to us than those areas. In other words, there are multiple “points on the map” that define who we are and where we want to be in life. And each one is equally important—so much so that if you focus too much on just one point you can get lost in a sea of confusion and disarray.

Your 2022 goals (if you make them) are not some arbitrary point on this map with no meaning behind it at all: they are part of your corner of the universe and should always be central to your planning process—not off in another corner somewhere else, just waiting for you to find them again when you return to Earth from your trip into space!.

2. Story of a treasure hunt

I’ve done a few treasure hunts with friends, and I’ve done a few treasure hunts with myself, but the experience is pretty similar. You set out to find the treasure, and you set out to find it in a specific way. But when you actually get there, who do you see?

You see the map, of course. The map has always been just one tool in your journey. But now that you’re there, what do you do next? Are you going to be like “Oh, let’s go back to where we started”? No way! That would be boring and uninspiring! So what are your next steps? Well, first off, you need a purpose for where you are. You need to define where the treasure is hiding or should be hidden or is just not there at all.

Then comes the critical part: finding the path of least resistance through all of your obstacles.

You need to find that path that will have minimal impact on your adventure — which means finding new ways of getting things done and new ways of doing them well. Finally, once you have found that path through all obstacles — once that path has been laid down properly — it’s time for some fun stuff! What are some things that make this trail worth following? How can we use this trail further so that we can become better explorers?

These questions come up a lot in life: how do I figure out my purpose; how can I best use my talents; how do I get ahead in my career; how can I overcome obstacles; etc…

The answers will vary depending on where you are right now but one thing is certain: if any of these questions strikes your mind during a search then it will likely lead to clues about where you are headed (and ultimately bring more clarity as well). And once again: don’t make this trek without a map! Now let’s imagine these answers follow this pattern:

That’s it for today! There’s still more insights from our guest speaker Andrew Chen from Gettleman & Associates . You can find his blog at http://gettlemanassocies.com/blog/ or follow him on twitter @gettlemanassocies . Let me know if there’s anything else I should cover here in the comments below (or tweet me at @dagmar_c ).

3. The world is our map

The goal is not the point. The goal is the point.

The goal is not the point, but we tend to forget that, in a sense. Our lives are full of goals, and though they are often abstractions, they are also sometimes very specific. Some goals change with time. Others remain static. But some goals change in ways that don’t seem to matter at all.

In Fakir Raziel ’s book EQF: Guide for Goal Setting , he has a chapter called “The Great Unselfishness of Self-Improvement” that is one of my favorite chapters because it illustrates this idea so vividly and helps me understand what is going on when I am successful at setting goals and then working toward them:

A goal must be self-interested only if it serves a purpose other than its own achievement or satisfaction. A goal must not be self-serving. A self-serving purpose will always lead to disappointment and will therefore never be self-interested but rather hurtful to both you and the people you love most dearly. A great unselfishness of self-improvement means having no expectations about what you may achieve or how much success you may achieve in any given year or period of life; all your goals should deal with the present moment, with what matters now and how do you get there? If I were writing this article today, I would want to know more about an activity that fills my time during lunch hour; if I were writing it tomorrow morning after work, I would have no intention of doing any such thing; but it could not be any other way because then I would wait until I finish my homework before starting on my task for which no time was allotted for today so that by the time I finish it tomorrow morning (say 8 AM), I have done more work than was necessary for me to do today because yesterday was spent on other things than writing this article (say studying for an exam). Since all my desired changes take place before tomorrow morning when there is little or none left over for tomorrow afternoon’s homework session) then what happened yesterday is irrelevant since it simply adds up to zero: nothing changed when one day changes into another since nothing changed when one day changes into next Monday since nothing changed when one day changes into yesterday since nothing changed when one day changes into next Saturday since nothing changed when one day changes into Friday because nothing changed… And thus we see that a long list

4. The map is made of people and places

How do you choose where to go on a treasure hunt? What kind of map is it? The map in this case is your life, and what you’re looking for is a direction.

We can say the same about the product life-cycle: the goal is not the point.

The product life-cycle maps out the areas where we want to be, in the order that we want to get there. There are many possible places along this route, each with its own unique set of goals and obstacles, so it’s important to recognize that there are many possible directions — as long as they help us reach our destination.

The most important thing about a map is that it gives us an ideal path: how can we get somewhere? The goal itself doesn’t matter; what matters is where we want to be in that ideal path. Go too far off course, and the world will look quite different than if you had stayed on course.

Those who are starting out can get hung up on some of these details (like making sure they don’t “steal someone else’s market” or “beat someone else at their game”), but if you have a solid understanding of what your ideal experience should look like, then there will be no confusion as to which direction you should take. We have a good sense of what we want from our products now, and it should be obvious which direction we should take because of our existing knowledge and skills. If you don’t understand your current situation well enough (possibly because it’s new), then start over and make things clearer.

5. Knowledge is where you find it

If you know where to look, you can find it. But if you don’t know where to look, it may be hard to find it. And never fear, since the world is full of treasure maps and there are many treasures in the world. If you’re like most people and don’t have a firm grasp on how to find your goals, here are some resources which will help:

• http://www.marketplacement.com/

• http://www.flipkart.com/

• http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BXZ4N4M

• https://twitter.com/segmentedmedia (recommended)

Some of these things, I’m sure, are obvious or easy to find elsewhere, but they still deserve mention because they help get us started on the road of realizing our goals before we start thinking about getting there ourselves!

6. The things we value most are the things that matter most

Before we delve into the topic, it is important to note that there are a lot of apps, books and products out there that will help you to do this, but some of them are a lot worse than others. For example, I would prefer not to read the same book multiple times, or if I need to know more about an area I can look at the same website multiple times (especially if it provides a complimentary service).

What I want is an app that will show me what matters most and make it easy for me to find ways of achieving those things in practice. In other words:

The goal is not the point. People may think your goal is your point. That is not the case.

The goal should be something they can measure their progress towards: “I want X” and “I got Y” (in this case X = x and Y = y). It should also be something they can measure their progress towards: “I have X” and “I have Y” (in this case X = x+1 and Y = y+2).

This means setting aside time for goals. Setting aside time for planning. Setting aside time for measuring your progress towards those goals. But setting aside time isn’t enough; you need a reason too — something that makes them feel good when they achieve those goals (which in turn drives momentum), motivates them to keep going when pushing themselves beyond the limits of their comfort zone, motivates them when taking on challenges they didn’t expect or aren’t prepared for, or motivates them when facing public pressure or criticism…

Ultimately, what matters most should be both sufficiently well-defined as well as meaningful (or at least has enough meaning to matter) so that it gets done regularly in order to keep up with continual change…