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Shapiro did, in fact, start out as an all-American achiever, committed to his goal of becoming a highly paid management consultant. His punishing hours destroyed his marriage. \u2018I\u2019m not sure if my goals drove me to work the crazy hours I did,\u2019 he later wondered,\u2019 or if I used my goals as an excuse to avoid issues in my personal life,\u2019 he tried to dig himself out of such crises by means of even more goals. (At one point, he recalled, he had a five-year plan to become \u2018a leader in the innovation space.\u2019) But none of these plans changed his life. What made the difference, in the end, was a conversation with a friend who told him he spent too much energy thinking about his future. He should think of himself more \u2018like a frog,\u2019 she said. Shapiro was wondering whether to feel insulted when she explained: \u2018 You should sun yourself on a lily-pad until you get bored; then, when the time is right, you should jump to a new lily-pad and hang out there for a while. Continue this over and over, moving in whichever direction feels right.\u2019 The imagery of sunbathing on lily-pads should not be taken to imply laziness. Shapiro\u2019s friends point was entirely compatible with his hard-charging, achievement- hungry personality; it simply promised to channel it more healthily. In fact, it promised to help him achieve more, by permitting him to enjoy his work in the present, rather than postponing his happiness to a point five years in the future \u2013 whereupon, in any case, he would surely just replace his current five-year plan with another. The idea triggered a shift of perspective for Shapiro that would eventually lead to his reinvention as an advocate for abolishing goals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n