zen habits: Tim Ferriss vs. Leo Babauta Showdown: On Whether Goals Suck

Tim Ferriss vs. Leo Babauta Showdown: On Whether Goals Suck

Posted: 05 Dec 2012 11:58 AM PST

Post written by Leo Babauta.

You don’t get this opportunity very often … me debating a productivity giant like Tim Ferriss on one of the most controversial things I write about: having no goal.

Tim and I face off in this no-holds-barred smackdown, and it gets ugly towards the end. I start swearing, and Tim starts crying.

Tim, who just launched his massive new book, The 4-Hour Chef has accomplished an amazing array of goals. He’s a master.

I’ve accomplished a few goals myself, but in the last couple of years have experimented with letting them go. Most people don’t agree with me, and while I’m OK with that, I thought it would be fun to have a debate on the issue.

In this debate, we talk about:

Goals being a part of Tim’s routine
Why Leo has experimented with letting go of goals
What goals are
How Leo works without them
The freedom that comes when you let go of goals
Tim’s dirty secret – he doesn’t disagree with Leo’s no-goals philosophy
Tim’s view of how people mess up their outlook on goals
Achievement and appreciation
Tim’s target for when he sets his goals
Google co-founder Larry Page’s philosophy on aiming high enough, and partial failure
What Tim learned from wandering, and why wandering is valuable
Tim on structure and unstructured time
Leo on the never-endingness of looking forward all the time
Self-improvement vs. contentedness
Tim’s method for when he takes off on an airplane
Learning to accept flaws as a part of the human condition
Compulsive goal orientation, as a means of avoidance