I blew up my Trello board yesterday. I think this is a good thing — I realized, when I took a good look at it, that the “long term goals” I had on there were really merely ways to categorize (and therefore justify) the work I was already doing.

(I love Trello as a way to organize work, for the record — I just don’t like the way I have been using it.)

The problem with writing down goals is that it’s risky. You might achieve them, and then what? In fact I wrote a whole essay about this back in 1984 when I was applying to college. Hilariously, the essay achieved its goal of getting me into college, even though it was about not being pleased with another goal I had set myself and then achieved.

I’m not also totally sure I’m happy I got into college, but I guess it was better than the alternative…

The other funny thing I have noticed about things like goals and convictions and so on is that they are like time capsules. If you write them down and then look away for long enough, they provide an interesting look into your own thinking at some point in the past. This happens to me all the time because naturally once I write down a goal or my convictions about something I never look at it again seriously for the next two years. I think that’s part of the deal, right?