I disagree with this post, and think it's bad and incorrect advice for most people. Spending lots of time thinking about what you want, writing and rewriting how you could get there and the details, planning on how to get there, etc, etc, etc - much of it is fruitless, but eventually you build some large overarching themes for what you want for your life.

At that point, yes, you could abandon formal goal setting and still do things mostly correctly. But it's terrible advice for most people.

Then some of it is wrong:

> The idea of having concrete, achievable goals seem to be deeply ingrained in our culture.

Something silly like 90% of people don't have concrete, achievable goals. If you don't, I'd strongly encourage you to start thinking about what you want, and writing it down, and occasionally revisiting/rewriting what you want. It'll do wonders for you.

Yes, you won't follow the plan to the letter, but you will live a more meaningful life and get more of what you want.

Eisenhower quote: "Plans are useless, but planning is invaluable."