I don’t set “goals” in the traditional sense. I like the idea of systems, rather than goals.
It’s an idea taken from Scott Adams in his book, How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big: Kind of the Story of My Life.
But David Cain of Raptitude has a different take – rather than focusing on a goal, make it a quest.
Do Quests, Not Goals [Raptitude] – “A quest is an adventure, and you expect it to be one. You expect a quest to take you into a new and unfamiliar landscape. You expect there to be puzzles, surprises, perils, and curious encounters. A bridge you counted on will be out. You’ll meet an interesting stranger on the path. You’ll hear wolves howling at night. This is all part of the fun. The goal mentality frames this stuff as setbacks, problems, pains – stuff in the way of the goal.”
It’s less “systems vs. goals,” (though there are aspects of that thinking) and more a reframing of how to approach challenges.