Goal Setting, Success, and More Aggravating Stuff Like That...

Several years ago on NPR there was an interview with an author who had written a book on success.  I don't remember the author, and I don't remember the book.  But, that doesn't matter.  What I do remember is this:  the author (or authors...maybe there were two?) had looked at "successful" people in various fields--their trajectories, their habits, their mindsets, etc., etc., for the book, and in the course of this research they discovered that there are two types of doers out in the world:

There are Type 1 doers, who plan their course from the get-go.  They say, I'm going to do A, which will lead to B, which will lead to C, which will eventually lead to D...and then, voila! There I'll be.

And then, there are the Type 2 doers, who don't plan, not one whit.  The Type 2's say, I'm going to do A, because A seems interesting. I'm not sure where A will lead...but I'm intrigued.

By and large, said this author (or authors), the people in the world who are considered highly successful, at the top of their game, masters of their craft...are the Type 2 peoples.  They are the non-planners.  The doers because it seems interesting-ers. The I'm not sure where this ride will take me but I'm gonna get on it anyhow-ers.

I remember, when I heard this, I was...deeply relieved.  A relief at that point unearned, as I am definitely (or at least have been in the past) on the Type 1 end of the spectrum (first A, then B, then C, then D, usually annoyed with step A right from the get-go, because it's taking too long to get to D already!).  It was a relief because I thought, OH...that's why the way I'm going about things is so goddamned aggravating. That's why my head starts to hurt every time I "goal set".  That's why.

When I made the decision to take a breather from throwing my headshots into the grand black hole of casting directors for awhile, when I decided not to say yes to yet another role I didn't feel quite right for, and for less money than I knew I needed, when I decided that my poor skull could not stand any more banging into that same closed door--it was terrifying. All I knew was that the old way--the A then B then C then D, wasn't working for me.  And worse, I was exhausted.  All I knew was that if I was ever going to move forward as an actor or an artist, of any kind, I needed to do something differently. And I knew one other thing--I knew that I was in love with yoga.  And so, either like a genius or a fool (the verdict still isn't in), I decided for the first time in my life, to be a Type 2 doer.  I decided, for the first time ever, that I was going to make a life choice, a career choice, based on what was in front of me...and not what was down the end of an imaginary road.

I was going to do A, because A seemed interesting.  I wasn't sure where A would lead...but I was intrigued.

I read somewhere the other day that the act of doing yoga and the result of doing yoga are the same.  Meaning, if I'm doing yoga--if I'm aligning my body and my breath, my mind and my heart--then I am also achieving a state of yoga.  Which is the goal of the doing in the first place.  Voila!  Done.  The process and the product are the same.  What this means is that the part of one's mind that wants to A, then B, then C, then D...is short-circuited by the practice itself.  The equation of yoga is A then A.  I'll do A, which will lead me to A. Oh, wait...I'm already there!

Which, oh god, it makes so much SENSE!  Right?  Everything should be this way? Shouldn't it?!

The reason that A, to B, to C, to D thinking and doing is so exhausting, is so frustrating...is that steps A-C are somehow lesser in that set-up.  They are just stepping stones to this larger goal out in front and so, if they're hard, if they take a while, if they're complicated--then where is the motivation to stick with them?  If they're only poor step-children to the thing you REALLY want...then for the entire journey of A, B, C--as many steps as there are--you're going to be dissatisfied.  And a long trajectory of dissatisfaction does not, as far as I've seen, lead to anything all that triumphant.

The beauty of doing A because of A...of doing A, because A is what you want...because A is both the journey and the destination...the beauty is that you are engaged in the art of achievement from the outset.  You are doing something because it already IS fulfilling...not because one day hopefully down the road it will lead you to something fulfilling. Hopefully. Eventually.

I'm not saying anything new.  I know that.  I'm saying this thing that's been said so many times before in so many more eloquent ways--that life is now.  It's happening now.  And though it's important, of course, to have goals, to have dreams...I have found that if you sacrifice the now-ness of your life in service of those dreams, there is not going to be much YOU left to enjoy the fruits of your labor when (and if) they ultimately arrive.