Stephen Robbins here. Welcome to the Get It Done guys, quick and dirty tips to work less and do more.

How do you pursue awesome, world-changing goals? Many of my coaching clients have been entrepreneurs,

or they've aspired to sea-level positions for which there's no real set formula.

They've pursued new markets and new products.

They write 60-page business plans. But why? Goal setting when something hasn't been done before

isn't useful because those goals can't be planned. Some goals have a predictable known path. Want to build

a building? Everything you need to do is well understood.

You can make plans that are accurate enough to predict the cost in advance.

You can gather the resources you need and so on.

It's a project with a well-established path.

But one-off goals don't have a set path.

In fact, the goal itself may change over time.

And in those cases,

a plan is just a fantasy that our brain uses to have the delusion of control, where in fact,

there is none. Life is a dress rehearsal. I got into theater in 2009 after seeing a local college performance of Bear, a pop opera, which has now become an

off-broadway show, Bear the Musical. I met producers. I met actors like Missy Pyle, who plays

Sister Joan in the off-Broadway production of Bear, and it opened up my world. These passionate,

driven people live in a world that is so ambiguous it makes my head hurt just thinking

about it. They're crazy, insane, and stark raving mad. We have a lot to learn from them about

goal setting. Trade your goals for aspirations. Actors have aspirations, but not really goals,

because in their industry, success can't be planned. My friend Steph's aspiration is to become the most amazing singer, dancer, and actor Broadway

has ever seen.

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