And Then What?
by Dan Walsh
The long and short of goal setting.
Goals are tricky business. It’s easy to think I know what’s best for myself – what’s important to pursue. Many of my 2014 pursuits have been temporarily derailed by Angelica’s and my upcoming move. Others have become less compelling as I learn more about what it will take to achieve them. These delays have caused me to delve deeper into my motivations. What happens after I achieve these goals? Let’s say I accomplish Project X and it’s a raging success. Then what?
I don’t have answers to this question.
At least, not good ones. Some of my 2014 goals are stepping stones for more advanced endeavors, but not all. Writing one post per day on TheKazushi.com will help me become a better writer. Interviewing 200 people about friendship will hopefully become a book on the topic. Reading (another) 52 books will make me smarter. Test launching 50 new products will make me a better marketer. These are all good outcomes, but then what?
I suppose I don’t need to know every step of the way. I firmly believe in the power of opportunity over careful planning, and the skills derived from the above efforts help me become a better opportunist. But let’s say an opportunity does come my way. Let’s say I write that friendship books and it’s a raging success. I become famous and go on speaking tours.
Then what?
I don’t know, write another book?
Awesome! So I have another bestseller and now I’m a super rich author. I’m living the American dream.
Then what?
Buy a mansion.
Then what?
I don’t know… live in it?
Rich and famous seems like a pretty crappy end goal if this is all I can come up with. I’d be bored out of my mind if that’s where my ambition ended. Jets and celebrity parties are fun (I assume), but then what? There must be something larger. Where does money and influence lead?
Maybe this is why super rich people like Bill Gates turn to philanthropy. Their motivations match their resources. Why not try to wipe out malaria when you have billions in discretionary funds? This is a noble goal.
But then what?
I’m left wondering how many of my goals only go one step in the right direction and then hit a dead end. Maybe this is ok.
Which part of rich and famous sounds unappealing?
Rich and famous are not unappealing to me. They sound great. I just don’t see them as ends unto themselves. I prefer to speak from personal experience but in this case it will be helpful to generalize.
The “silicon valley” dream is to build a company, sell it, and become a gazillionaire. That dream is so illusive that the story usually ends there. But life doesn’t end there. No one who can devote the amount of effort required to become a gazillionaire will be satisfied just puttering around their mansion all day until they die.
As a culture, Americans hold up “Rich and Famous” as THE pursuit. 99.9% of the population never makes it to rich and famous. It’s always out of reach so it’s a nice dream for almost everyone. I don’t think it holds up well when you finally get there, though. What was the point of becoming rich? Will your life finally be fulfilled when you have a mansion? You’ll still be the same person in the new house. It’s only the scenery that has changed.
To borrow a few examples. If you want to become rich so you can retire to small town in Mexico and surf all day, you can do that for less money than it takes to live your current lifestyle. Extended stays in Paris or driving around in fancy cars can also be acquired without necessarily being rich. So what’s the point, then? Why put in all that effort to sell a startup, or whatever, if you can already do all the stuff you think you can only enjoy as a gazillionaire?
Totally. I’ve seen money get squished into another direction “it’s how I keep score”. That goal is not much better, but kind of a different feel…
Keep score… yeah, that’s a really interesting idea. Everyone needs money and it’s easily countable. If someone wanted to compare themselves to everyone else in the world then money would be the perfect metric. Kind of hollow though.