February 11, 2023

How To Progress Without Goals

If you didn't set goals? Would you progress? Steraking is how to actually achieve greatness.

How To Progress Without Goals

What is a goal? Why do you set goals? What if you didn't set goals? Would you progress? Would you achieve?

Goals are always forward-looking. You set a goal to achieve something at some future point. Because it is a future state, in the present, are you always looking to the future and, if you are fully focused on the goal, anything you do in the present is for the future goal? Therefore, are you only fulfilled when you reach a goal? If you are always looking to a future state of accomplishment, then your present is filled with anxiety, pressure, and doubt.

If you're not setting goals what then do you use to progress and achieve? Through the last six years of Streaking, we have found that Streaking grounds you in the present and you progress.

How? Because you are focused on activities that you do every day, week, or month that are aligned with who you are and want to be.

Ozan Varol the author of "Think Like a Rocket Scientist" said this, “Inputs aren’t sexy. The word input might be better reserved for boring database software. But an input-focused mind is the mark of anyone who has achieved anything extraordinary. The amateur focuses on getting...short-term results. The professional plays the long game and prioritizes inputs, perfecting them for years with no immediate payoff. By taking the pressure off the outcome, you get better at your craft. Success becomes a consequence, not the goal.” When you are Streaking you are focused on the input and accomplishments, achievements, and success are consequences. You live in the present; you accomplish in the present; you enjoy the present; you no longer look for a future state to be happy, or to be accomplished, or to succeed. Anxiety is calmed, pressure is relieved, and confidence displaces doubt.

Recently in conversation with a friend, we were talking about goals and he asked when was the last time I set a personal goal. As I thought back, I realized something that amazed me. Since I started Streaking I have set no goals. I haven't even thought to set goals. I have set no goals to read a number of books yet, as a consequence of my streak to read at least one paragraph in a non-fiction book every day, I have read over 80 books in two years. I have set no goal to write a certain number of articles or letters, but, as a consequence of my streak to write at least one sentence daily for a book, article or letter, I have written one book, 150+ articles, and 300+ letters.

Asking the question, "how many days in a row can I do something laughably simple?" changed everything in my life. The question focused me on inputs rather than outputs. Goals were displaced by streaks and results were a consequence rather than a target.

So, how about you, do you want to give Streaking a try? Do you want to activate your consecutive gene and focus on inputs and let results, achievements, and accomplishments be consequences?  I invite you to download the Streaking app, start a streak, and see what amazing accomplishments you achieve.