Goal-setting revealed what I wasn’t willing to risk. Now I can’t un-see it.
I’ve set goals every single year for as long as I can remember. This year, I’m done. Not because goals are inherently bad, but because mine were keeping me stuck in places I didn’t want to stay stuck.
If you’re into “productivity porn” like me, your inbox is currently overflowing.
- “Set SMART goals!”
- “This is YOUR year!”
- “Here’s my framework for crushing it in 2026!”
I used to be that guy, consuming endless content like that. Goals were my thing. I’ve got a project management background, so having clear goals and plans to execute on them were the waters I swam in. Every December 31st, without fail, I’d have my goals locked in, ready to “hit the ground running” on January 1st.
And for most of my life, it kind of worked.
I nailed some of those goals. I came close on others. And that allowed me to make amazing progress in my life. It allowed me to build a successful career, to buy a house I love right on the Ottawa River, and to marry an incredible woman. On paper, I won.
My goals delivered for me.
But there was an underlying pattern I didn’t want to see.
The Safe vs The Scary
The goals I’d been setting for myself mattered to me. That wasn’t the problem. It wasn’t like I was setting the wrong goals.
The problem was which goals moved.
The safe goals, the ones that fit inside the container of who I already was – those got done.
But the scary ones? The goals that would require me to change my identity, to risk something, to actually do my Work?
Those collected dust. Year after year.
I was productive. I was making progress. But progress on what? The stuff that was easy to measure but didn’t transform anything.
Meanwhile, the goals that actually mattered sat on the list like a pilot light—still burning, still calling, and still not getting enough oxygen to start a real fire.
Goal-setting didn’t reveal what was important to me; it revealed what I wasn’t willing to risk.
The System-Level Failure
This year, I sat down to set my goals, using the ritual I’ve refined over the decades.
And nothing came.
I journaled. I reflected. I made lists. I asked AI for help. I made a mind map.
Nothing clicked.
For someone who’s built his identity around systems and planning, this felt like a malfunction. My first instinct? Assume I was doing it wrong. Tweak the system. Try harder.
But then a different thought surfaced:
What if this isn’t a breakdown? What if it’s a breakthrough?
The Trap I Was In
I realized I was in a trap. Goal-setting can become sophisticated avoidance. I was staying so busy optimizing the system that I wasn’t stopping to consider whether the system was even pointed in the right direction.
I’d been engaging in productivity theatre.
I was spending more time planning certain tasks than actually doing them. Logging, categorizing, shuffling things between lists.
All while the tasks that mattered most sat there, crying for my attention.
I was using my productivity system to feel in control, to convince myself that I had a plan. To allow myself hope that everything would work out. To avoid sitting with the scarier question underneath it all:
Why do the goals that matter most never move?
The Experiment
This year, I’m not setting goals.
This isn’t me opting out. It’s me removing the disguise.
Instead, I’m setting an intention.
A direction. A theme.
A vibe for the year that shapes my decisions without locking me into a specific outcome. I still have a long-term vision. I still know generally where I’m headed. But I’m done pretending I can plan 12 months in advance with any real accuracy, especially when the goals that mattered most to me never moved anyway.
It’s uncomfortable as hell. I’ve operated this way for as long as I can remember. But the old way wasn’t working, at least not where it counted.
Same pattern, same results. Which means it is time to try something different. I don’t know that it will work, but I know that the way I was approaching it wasn’t.
For You
I’m certainly not telling you to throw out your goals, to abandon a process or system if it is working for you. If goal-setting is genuinely working for you, moving the goals that matter and not just the easy ones, keep at it. After all, it was helpful for me too.
But if something here is resonating, if you’ve been setting goals for years yet the big ones keep staying stuck, maybe it’s worth asking yourself:
Are my goals helping me grow? Or helping me hide?
You don’t need to have the answer. Just sit with the question.
And if you want to try something different, consider setting an intention instead. A direction. A theme. Not a destination you have to prove you reached, but a compass heading that’ll help shape your choices over the year.
Sometimes the most productive thing you can do is stop optimizing and start listening.
Quotation I’ve Been Pondering
“Man plans and God laughs.”
— Yiddish Proverb
Journal Prompt
“What goal have I been recycling for years? Why am I afraid of it? And what would it mean to lean into that fear?”
Until next week!!
Work and live well.
Tim
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