"Five minutes each week that might change your life."
Here’s a harsh truth: If you actually achieved every goal you ever set, your life would get worse.
Let me explain…
Goals are guesses at what will make us happy in the future, not objective truths.
If you want to become a YouTuber making prank videos when you’re 18, you might find yourself still screaming into a camera at 35 desperately hoping to qualify for health insurance.
At 25, maybe it’s “make six figures in consulting.” At 40, you wake up with no hobbies, no memories, and a divorce lawyer on speed dial.
At 40, it’s “retire in Bali.” You nail that, and then you’re 60 wondering why two decades of lonely sunsets felt so empty.
What most people don’t realize is that the value of goals does not come from achieving them—it comes from what the goal teaches us about what is actually valuable (and not valuable) in our lives.
And many times, the most valuable thing a goal can give you is the knowledge that you didn’t actually want the goal in the first place.
And if every goal you set came true, you’d be trapped living the dreams of someone who no longer exists.
Set goals. But treat them as experiments, not destiny.
The point isn’t to achieve your goals. The point is to outgrow them.
See you Monday,
Mark
P.S. Remember what you wanted to be when you were ten? Hopefully you outgrew that. But if you still haven't found the career you've grown into, 80,000 Hours can help. They're a nonprofit that's helped thousands of people trade "follow your passion" for careers they genuinely love that also make a difference. Their fully updated career guide, based on over a decade of research, drops May 26th with Penguin Random House. Don't spend your 80,000 working hours trapped in the dreams of someone who no longer exists. Pre-order your copy now.
