This concept is an extension of my typical thoughts along the line of goal setting. I wrote down this inspiration on 4/10/07 so as not to forget and to help guarantee the article would get written. Why that is no accident.
You’ve read, or haven’t, some of the ideas here about goals and reaching goals through work or taking steps. The tallest mountain may be climbed in the smallest steps.
So I am having a conversation with Joe Middleton and I am telling him about how in this life, mine actually, very little that I have achieved did I achieve with a plan, with a purpose, with a goal. Still don’t.
As is with all of my articles there is no point, however, if I had a point, the point would be that most of what all of us achieve, measurable in terms of our cultures, are default achievements, not planned or pursued. This blatant generalization notwithstanding there are those of us that do plan and do achieve specific goals. I am not one of those.
I am the King of Accidental Achievement.
Although the “King of Accidental Achievement” has a nice ring to it, I think it’s more like the “King of Deliberate Non-linear Achievement”.
Accidental would mean to me that you have taken no responsibility or given creative effort to how your life turns out. On some level, I believe that you have chosen an atypical path with the desired result that you provide for your family. And you do.
But I also agree that many people ARE default acheivers, whatever benchmarks one uses for results. I just happen to believe that YOU are creating your reality and your achievements, even though you do not plan many of the specifics. You’ve created the framework, and the details seem often to fall into place – some quickly, some long term – without a direct linear connection of planing/doing/having.
That ain’t no accident, Bubba.
That’s the real “secret”.
What if my goal is to do nothing ever?