I generally don’t think about goals. I do almost no goal-setting. Yet I seem to accomplish things. I feel happy. By the expansive definition of goal, sure, I h

I generally don’t think about goals. I do almost no goal-setting. Yet I seem to accomplish things. I feel happy. By the expansive definition of goal, sure, I have goals. But that’s not what I think about. I think about promises I have made; people I care about; experiences I enjoy; problems I want to solve. Yes you could find goals here, but the reason I don’t think about that is that I immediately feel like I am playing an empty, meaningless game whenever goals enter the conversation. Goals seem to displace agency. Every moment I make choices, not “because I have a goal” but for a host of other kinds of reasons. I suppose you could say that goals for me are like local temporary variables. Why focus on them?