Why Setting Goals Can Restrict Growth

This is an except from Mind Macros 04.

“You eliminate your ability to grow as a person because you are limiting that growth to what is in the best interests of the person you happen to be right now, and not the person you will become.

“You can’t plan out how everything in your life will play out. But you can think in terms of creating the conditions in which things will likely move in certain directions: the conditions that allow for the possibility of rich growth.” — From The Path by Michael Puett (view my three takeaways).

We base goals on our current desires, but why should our past constrain our future? Instead of dogmatically pursuing a goal, we could walk paths that allow different sides of our personalities to grow. By doing so, we lay the foundation for our future. While goals are fixed, paths are messy, allowing for exploration.

Alternatively, we could continue to set goals while reviewing them regularly to ensure they are still relevant. We might do this as part of a periodic review, checking that our goals align with our desires.

Don’t be afraid of dropping an old goal to pursue a new one. To succeed, we must know when to change our focus while ensuring we are not simply giving up when things get tough.