A group of us were talking the other day and one of the topics was our 5 year plan.

I’m not sure I have one.

I have a rough idea of where I want to be but the goalposts keep moving. In 5 years, I don’t need 2.5 kids, a husband, a house and a dog (actually yes, the dog will probably be there), but I do need to be happy.

So it was nice to read this article from someone who has clearly gone places, that it’s actually ok, or even GOOD not not have a plan for life all the time.

I also wonder how many people think of the downsides to goals – especially those like being married and having kids – the ones you have limited control over. NOT achieving these goals can be quite upsetting, and I wonder how many people get themselves into a muddle trying to achieve them on time and doing things for the wrong reasons to hit the marks they feel need hitting at various points in time.

And NOT having goals doesn’t necessarily make you unable to get up in the morning, it just leaves life open for a little surprise every now and then. I know as soon as I consciously decided to stop setting exercise goals and just exercised for the fun of it, I actually progressed a lot faster.

I also know when I’ve had a single minded focus on a goal (i.e keeping this business going) I have made sacrifices that looking back with the benefit of hindsight I would have made if I hadn’t narrowed my target to just one thing and to be honest I would probably be doing something pretty similar anyway, without all the fallout.

The idea of anti-goal setting seems counter intuitive, but it could have something going for it…