Why It's So Hard to Be Happy

Have you noticed more and more literature supporting the goal-free concept? I have. And nearly every day, someone writes to tell me about an article they read that touts the benefits of “not focusing on your goals.” One such article entitled,”Why It’s So Hard to Be Happy” by Michael Wiederman, appeared in the Feb/Mar 2007 […]

How to Tell If Your Intuition Is Good

My friend Susanne and I were recently playing a trivia game. She’s pretty good with the trivia. However, at one point, she got a couple wrong answers in row. “Urgh,” she blurted out, “every time I have a gut answer and change it, it was actually correct.” This made me curious. Malcolm Gladwell, in the […]

How to Develop a Compass-Driven Strategic Plan

Last week I gave a presentation on “goal-free” Strategic Planning to a group of professional speakers, all of whom are sole practitioners. Over the course of 90 minutes, I discussed many concepts, including the one I write about here: Compass-Driven Strategic Planning.

Success…Without the Stress

In Goal-Free Living I discuss a powerful technique for increasing your creativity: standing in someone else’s shoes. The idea being, that when you “make believe” you are someone else, you begin to see the world through their eyes. You become that other person. At a recent speech, one young woman in attendance – someone who […]

What's Your Theme For the Next Year?

In an earlier blog post, I discussed setting aspiration-based themes rather than goal-based resolutions. What is your theme for the next year? In 2006, mine was “impact” — making a difference in the world. Friends of mine had generosity, partnership, grace, health, “me”, new beginnings, adventure, and unpredictability. Please post your theme as a comment. […]

Goal-Free Creative Blogging

A friend of mine, Jason Bates, mentioned that his approach to blogging is very goal-free. Here’s what he said: When I started blogging, it took real effort. I had set myself a goal of writing a blog post a day, and so I spent a good deal of time sitting at a keyboard thinking “What […]

Go 95%; Achieve Optimal Performance

I just read a blog entry on CanOWorms that discusses the concept of 95% perfection. The general idea is that in sports, we achieve optimal performance when we put 95% effort into what we do. My own experiences — personal and professional — support this premise. A few years ago, I worked with a Formula […]