Time to reevaluate

Welcome to Curious G — a weekly email about personal growth and lifestyle design.

Let’s get curious 👇

Today’s Takeaways:

1. Just because you’ve worked toward a goal for an extended period of time, doesn’t mean you can’t change your mind. Goals are meant to be directional and should be changed as new information is uncovered. The only way to determine the viability of a goal is to work towards it.

2. Choose projects and work where you build durable skills or relationships so that if you fail to hit your success metric in the short term, you still win in the long term.

What I’m Thinking

After feeling overwhelmed last week, I’ve taken a step back to gain new perspectives on my goals.

Two things that I have always valued when working toward goals are:

1. Consistency

2. Intentionality

Working hard and smart has always been my blueprint.

But for most of my life, my goals were to swim as fast as possible, get good grades, go to a good school, get a good job, etc.

Sure there were other options, but they weren’t ever considered.

Now that I perceive more options, the question I’m always asking myself is:

“How do I want to invest my time and energy?”

I have a lot of interests, and there are a lot of things I’d like to do in my life.

I’ve discussed one of my approaches recently in the form of lifestyle experiments (you can read more about that here). This concept, in a nutshell, means adopting a bias toward action.

Have an interest, business idea, or potential connection you’d like to explore? Try it! Either it works, or I check it off the list.

However, I’m learning that, in adopting this ideology, I’m hesitant to change my goals.

Why?

Well because I’ve always operated within this framework of:

Establish goal —> work hard and smart to achieve goal —> Achieve goal or fail

But that framework no longer serves me.

I’ve encouraged myself to have a bias toward action, which inevitably leads to acting with less information.

That’s a good thing because valuable feedback comes from action.

With this feedback, my direction and goals will become clearer.

Therefore, I should understand that my initial action should lead to a change of direction and goals. That is not a failure, but a success in that I am moving closer to my ideal end point.

Here’s an example:

At some point along this weekly email journey, I developed the goal of building a personal brand online. The plan was to accomplish that goal through social media.

I thought it would be a great opportunity to overcome fears, make new connections, and develop my writing skills.

And it has been all of that.

But, I’m finding there are two big obstacles in further pursuing this goal:

1. I have a growing disdain for social media

2. I’m hesitant to build anything that ties me to a screen

I’m now reconsidering this goal, as I no longer think it’s a fit, which is exciting because it opens up room for other goals.

Changing direction isn't easy. It can feel like wasted time working on the wrong thing, but by choosing projects that build valuable skills and relationships, I win regardless of the outcome.

Zooming out helps me align my goals and daily activities with becoming my best self. When something doesn't fit, I can course-correct toward the person I want to be.

As for Curious G, it remains an enjoyable, cathartic passion project and a cherished way to connect with you all. That won't change.

What I’m Reading

SIX at 6: Top-Level Grit, Suffering Strategically Managed, The “Things I Like To Do” Hierarchy, The People Ahead of You, Jewel, and When To Push Back

This newsletter explores the theme of top-level goals. I found Jewel’s story most impressive. To have both the discipline and foresight to prioritize her long-term lifestyle goals while living out of a car is inspirational to say the least. I’m sure you will find value in at least 1 of Billy’s examples.

Recommendation Zone: