#91 - Why I have (almost) no goals for 2024

Hans Chan -

What I’m Watching

I think we’ve all toyed with the idea of living abroad if it’s not something we’ve done in the past. Nathaniel is a YouTuber documenting his experiences of things he has learnt, having lived in different countries around the world.

Resource of the week

Like most people, when I wanted to learn a foreign language one of the first things I did was download Duolingo, while it was fun, I feel its applicability is very limited and is mostly only good at improving your vocabulary. After almost a year of religiously doing the exercises, I wasn’t able to have a basic conversation so gave up.

That was until recently I discovered the Hellotalk app after seeing it on TikTok (it’s on Android and iPhone). It’s basically an app which connects you to native speakers, I’ve had a lot of fun on it and improved my language skills chatting to people. There are a lot of features on there like in-chat translation, natives can correct your sentences and leaving voice notes. Highly recommended.

Quote

Run through the list of those you knew yourself.
Those who worked in vain, who failed to do what they should have-what they should have remained fixed on and found satisfaction in.
A key point to bear in mind: The value of attentiveness varies in proportion to its object. You're better off not giving the small things more time than they deserve.

Marcus Aurelius

Thoughts

I’ve always been a very goal-oriented person. I remember as a teenager I used to write down goals for things and it’s something I’ve kept up through the years but for the first time, this year in 2024 I have decided to have no goals. Well almost no goals, no professional and life goals, I have 2 very simple fitness-related ones. 

Why? Because in my experience I don’t think goals make much of a meaningful difference. I know a tonne of people would disagree with me. I’m not saying goals are useless full stop, it’s more of a personal thing at this stage of my life. 

James Clear sums up my thinking quite well, it’s a bit like aiming to get gold at the Olympics at a sport. Firstly not every variable is in your direct control. Secondly, everyone has the same goal which is to get a gold medal, but no amount of positive thinking and visualising at home is going to get you there. It’s more about the accumulation of what you do day in day out, the graft that gives you the best chance. 

Most big achievements take a lot longer than people are generally willing to put in, like starting a business etc. So the best way and the ‘secret’ is just to enjoy it. Willpower only gets you so far, but if it’s something you love, to the point of obsession while it won’t guarantee success, it will guarantee that you are ahead of 90% of your competition which is not a bad place to be. It’s a double whammy, you’re far more likely to succeed when you enjoy what you do and even if you don’t become a gold medalist for example you’ve had fun and you never know, if you’re flexible, life could throw different opportunities at you, for example a lot of ex rowing Olympic hopefuls have found fulfilment coaching or founded successful businesses related to the sport they love. Whereas if you hated every second of training and you don’t reach your goal, it’s just empty. Also, a point to note is that I specifically said to learn to love what you’re doing instead of ‘finding’ your passion which I don’t think is how it works. You love what you’re good at and vice versa, it’s a bit like the chicken and the egg but the cycle has to start somewhere.

Another thing is that in a way I feel that goals take away the enjoyment and happiness in my day to day. I always felt that I had to grind and not allow myself to be happy unless some arbitrary target was met then to do it all over again. I’ve had some highs this year and some pretty low lows, and decided not to pile too much expectation on myself going forward, to just let things be.

So this year, my new approach is I don’t have any business goals. I’ll rely more on my intuition and focus on how I can enjoy what I do on a day-to-day basis taking on projects which seem the most fun. 

One of those changes I’m doing is right here actually, I’ll be changing this newsletter to a bi-weekly one. While I enjoy rambling to you all, some weeks I feel like I don’t have much value to give. While others I can’t wait to sit down and write. With a bi-weekly schedule it’ll give me more content to share and I’ll look forward more to writing.  

Let’s see, it’s a bit of an experiment for me. I’ll set a reminder to refer back to this at the end of the year. If come December, I’ve bummed around and put my life on hold for a year, I’ll come back and admit it was not the best idea!

Let me know if you agree/disagree about goals interested to hear your thoughts.

Hans