Expectations

I’ve never been able to answer, “What do you want to do in five years?” I don’t think I’ve ever had a long term goal. In elementary school, I wanted to be a fireman because I couldn’t think of anything else to draw. In college, I had no idea what major or job I wanted to have when I entered.

People say, “It’s the journey, not the destination.” It’s trite, but I think it’s true. But it’s also not actionable. So you’re not supposed to care where you’re going? In The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Steven Covey talks about concentrating on your Circle of Influence and not worrying about your Circle of Concern. In other words, concentrating on things you can change and not worrying about things you can’t affect.

Other common advice is “Process over goals” and “Don’t have expectations.”

You should have expectations, but over your process. You should expect yourself to execute your process but have no expectations on the results.

But goals are useful for spurring action.