Goal-Free Living: A Book Review & More

Goal-Free Living - what does that mean? Does it mean that we abandon all goals and just float through life like a leaf on a river, going wherever the current takes us?

This is the question I asked my colleague, Steve Shapiro, about a year ago upon the publication of his book, Goal-Free Living: How to Have the Life You Want NOW! (Stephen M. Shapiro, John Wiley & Sons, 2006). At the time, I was holding the autographed copy in my hands, but had not yet even read the dust jacket. When I got home, I looked it over quickly and then put it aside to read when I had time. Recently, I finally made that time and read the book cover-to-cover. And then I could not wait to tell my readers and clients about it.

As a Life/Work Coach, one of the things I do with clients is to work with them on setting realistic, achievable goals, then creating an Action Plan to accomplish those goals, and finally actually taking the actions needed to accomplish those goals. I approached this book wondering, Was this book proposing that people should live their lives without any goals? Or hinting that as a coach I should stop teaching goal-setting and action-planning techniques and strategies?

As it turns out, the answer is a qualified "No". Goal-Free Living is not about letting go of all goals. It's about having some goals but not being driven by them, not being "Goal-Focused" all the time. Goal-Free Living is about living in, and responding to, the moment, being fully engaged with the here and now, being tuned in to the opportunities that are constantly presenting themselves to us, if only we are open to receiving them.

In the author's own words, "Goal-Free Living is about listening to your gut, trusting that you are moving in the right direction, a direction that has meaning for you. You take risks and try new things. You play full out. Everything you do fits with your purpose."

Ah, here's the nub: knowing your purpose. Without knowing your purpose, or having some vision of a possible future, we would indeed drift.

And in addition to knowing your purpose, I would add, knowing yourself - your skills, talents, strengths, interests, personality style, cognitive style, values, dreams, wishes, aspirations and especially your overarching life purpose. And to this mix, I would also add identifying your passion - that thing, or things, that ignite(s) your energy, imagination, and drive - and letting these factors guide your journey through life.

Use a compass, not a map. This, Shapiro writes, is the first of his eight secrets for living a goal-free life. I interpret this secret, or guideline, to mean using your purpose, passion, and self-knowledge as Aspirations (Shapiro's term) or Mega-Goals (my term) - goals that set the tone or theme of your life. These become the Compass. A Map, in this context, would be a set of specific and detailed goals leading ultimately to fulfilling your purpose and vision in a specific, predetermined way.

For example, suppose your overriding life purpose was "to make a difference". This purpose would become the Compass of your life. And in all you do, making a difference would be the aspiration or mega-goal. Let's suppose, then, that you developed a very specific vision of how you would lead your life in response to that purpose. Perhaps you set a course for a career in health or politics or social justice, for example. And then, you created an action plan that led to to fulfilling that vision - a plan that perhaps contained very specific and focused action steps for reaching that goal. The Action Plan would become the Map.

The Goal-Focused approach would be to follow that Map with much intention, which would lead to achieving your very specific vision. The Goal-Free approach, on the other hand, would be to hold "making a difference" as your aspiration, or mega-goal, and then live your life in the present moment with your ear to the ground, open to all the possibilities you might encounter that would result in making a difference. This approach leaves you open to many more possibilities in terms of expressing and living your purpose, but also can create distraction, lack of focus, and confusion.

The way I look at it, there is value in each approach, and some people are more suited to one approach than the other. The Goal-Focused approach is a more logical, rational, analytical, step-by-step approach to creating a life. It is more suited to people who are primarily "left-brained" in their cognitive or personality style. The Goal-Free approach is a more creative, intuitive, multi-layered approach, and is more suited to those who are primarily "right-brained" in their cognitive or personality style. And, then, there is always the possibility of blending the two styles, or moving back and forth between them as the situation requires.

The author of Goal-Free Living shares eight secrets for living a Goal-Free life. So far, we have explored only one. What are the other seven secrets? Perhaps we will explore these in a future blog. Meanwhile, feel free to contact author Stephen Shapiro for the answer to that question or to order the book online through Amazon.com.

Meanwhile, what is your Compass? Your overriding life and/or work purpose? How might you use your purpose, your passion, and your unique gifts and talents as your compass in a goal-free life and change (improve) the quality of your life?