Are Goals Really Important?
Posted by Nancy Grossbart
When I went on an interview for a marketing job at a TV station, early in my career, I was asked that age-old question "What are your five-year goals?" I sat there very quietly, not answering, for way longer than was comfortable for either of us. I kept thinking what are my five year goals...what about three year...do I even have one year goals? Tick..tick..tick. What am I going to answer?
Finally, the silence was so long, so pregnant, I blurted out this long stream-of -consciousness mind-dump, "I have no goals. Well, it's not that I really have no goals. It's that my goals are always changing as I get more experience and I don't want to create a goal for something that, six months from now, I will change my mind about."
The interviewer sat looking at me as if she had never heard anything like it before.I stared back nervously thinking I had totally screwed up my chances for this job but couldn't make up goals I didn't have. Finally, she said, "I like that answer because that's how life really works. You're hired!"
Well, that's not exactly how it happened. There was a lot more discussion before the "you're hired" part actually happened. What was most important is that I got the job because she really understood how I saw the concept of goals.
When I think about it, it's very similar to the creative process. You start your product development cycle with set goals that must be met. However, when you're actually involved in the product design itself, you can start with one concept that takes you to the next, and then the next and the one after that. And when it is all over, you end up in a place that you love, but never expected.
Look at me. I ended up in business development at an injection molded foam company. It really goes to prove that life is a creative adventure, one creation after another.
