Have you ever stopped to think about how destructive goals can be?

About how upset we get when we don’t achieve them, even if they're arbitrary? About all the times people are so determined to achieve a goal they do something stupid that sets them back? People die from summit fever every year on mountains — so determined to reach the top, they never make it back down.

How many times have you seen goals ruin a business or project?

GM bankrupted themselves trying to achieve 29% market share. Wells Fargo insisted every customer should have eight products even if they didn’t want them. Products that don’t work get shipped to a fixed deadline because that’s the goal, only to fail in spectacular fashion.

What do we do when the world turns but our goals stay the same? How about when one goal comes into conflict with another? What if in the pursuit of one goal we end up ignoring a far bigger opportunity? We suffer, come unglued, or miss out.

But commitment to continual learning, to finding a better way, to deeper craft, to the next logical step, to responsiveness to change and to open mindedness...well...they don’t appear to do much harm at all, and seem to achieve better results.

I think about this a lot.

See this post on LinkedIn