Enjoy the journey more than your goal

Forget about the goal; get obsessed with the journey.

Lately, I've had meetings with friends, and something keeps coming up: personal branding and being known. When asked, "Known for what? Where do you want to go? What is the goal?" I’ve noticed the answer is usually the same: "I want to be a personal brand."

Known for what? What is your passion or craft? Would you keep going if no one ever noticed? Would you enjoy it if there were no reward on the other side?

Maybe goal-setting is the problem.

When I wanted to run 10K, it was about reaching the goal as fast as possible. I got injured, didn’t have any fun, and once the goal was attained, I felt like quitting.

When I write a book, nobody cares; it’s my time, my passion, my craft. I’ll write it no matter what. But when the goal was to finish my third book, F*ck the Slides, as quickly as possible, the draft fell short. While the goal was met, the draft lacked passion. I would go back, start again, and rewrite it all for another 12 months to enjoy the process.

What would you talk about? What do you want to be known for? What is your thing that you would do over and over, regardless of your goal?

Last month, I sat down at my office to write a new marketing plan for myself. It felt odd to create my personal marketing plan, but it had two important elements: a name and no numbers.

I called my marketing plan "Obsessed." If I’m not obsessed with it, what’s the point? It won’t work.

We all know how it feels to set big, hairy, audacious goals—numbers we may never achieve. For me, it was about doing less but being laser-focused. It’s about writing, crafting, and enjoying. I added a list of reasons to win—what winning would mean for me and how it would feel. Next, I included the platforms I thought might be relevant but would also require effort on my part. YouTube has always been a platform I loved but couldn’t maintain; maybe it’s time for another try?

The main KPI (key performance indicator) for me is to do a bit better than yesterday. If I keep doing small things for myself, I will see results, which will make me feel better, help me continue, and make me want to keep going until a tipping point occurs. At that point, it’s more than work or a habit; it’s a passion—not for fame or numbers, but for the idea of doing a bit better, not perfectly, just with an upward trend.

So, forget about doing something just for the sake of the goal. Do it to get better at something. What is your next obsession going to be about?

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