On Number Goals

So I recently modified one of my "10 goals in life" from "build products that help a billion people" to just "build cool shit". And that prompted me to think about number goals.

It's almost the status quo these days right everybody has them these days

Make a million dollars in annual sales, hit 10,000 followers, raise $5M, come first in the class...

But the thing with number goals is that they are never enough. It's just a game that keeps on going.

Once you reach a number goal it's gone, like poof! The excitement of reaching one doesn't last more than a day or two.

And then you set another one and the system goes on.

It is like a never-ending dark and dangerous repetitive path. A game that just keeps going

Numbers will never be enough.

Part of the reason why I changed that goal is that I realized numbers aren't what keep me going. It's not what gets me up the day. It just has never been the thing that has kept me moving through my life.

I hardly ever chased after grades when I was in High School.

Even in my career, I didn't even have a goal to make two logos or to be able to charge $100,000 for a website.

I just made logos. And then I made software. And then I made websites. And then I made apps. And now I make software again.

There weren't any number of goals throughout this journey. Nothing but my cup of coffee (bland airplane coffee).

I just built things designed stuff, worked on whatever I was working on and have ended up wherever I am.

At the end of the day, I don't give a rat's ass whether my newsletter hits one subscriber a month or 10. It just doesn't value me.

I do something because I like doing something.

I try different things because I like trying things.

I write because I enjoy writing.

I pursue an interest because the interest interests me.

I do... because I like...

And at the end of the day as long as you do things you and things that give meaning to you it's gonna make the world a better place. Its gonna help people.

And even if it's helping just one person I'll keep doing it.

I do all the things I have to do because I want to make progress, and I want to make things better for me, my company, my family, my neighbourhood, etc.

It just can be as simple as that.

“The reason that most of us are unhappy most of the time is that we set our goals not for the person we’re going to be when we reach them, but we set our goals for the person we are when we set them.

- Jim Coudal on Goals

Not to say at all that all number goals are bad. At the end of the day, they are just tools. It just depends on how you use them.

I guess using numbers goals in the form of system goals rather than objective or progress goals has been helpful. Like you've got to put out a newsletter that you love once a week or you've to go to the gym 3 times a week. This gives you something that you can have control over.

I really like these lyrics in this one song:

Be careful for what you wish for son.
You may wake up and one day fucking get it.

It's really easy to get what you want but hard to know what you want.

Fin.