Does goal setting involve fantasy thinking?

You need to accurately and boldly define your dreams and desires in order to be productive.

While it is good to think broadly and dream big, Is there a point where your dreams are too dream-like?

This is beyond goals being impractical. Are your goals fantasy-like?

There are extraordinary pressures of modern life that come down onto us. We try our best. Then we putter our evening away with Netflix.

The desire for getting into the lives of others is a form of pure escapism. We just can't tolerate the reality that we have, and we'd rather go into someone else's. A little is like a safety valve. A lot is bordering on a version of unhappiness. Society has manufactured a whole hierarchy of celebrity in which we can waste time looking at and even experiencing vicariously.

While some doses of this can be healthy, when does it become unhealthy? It's obvious that addictions are bad. Addiction to social media is the latest thing people are trying to curb in order to reclaim time.

But what if you are wallowing in fantasy thoughts more often than not? There are no good benchmarks for this. You may not be an addict, but clearly you are not living in the present as fully as you could.

If you agree up to this point, then we can define fantasy thinking a little further.

Fantasy thinking takes you out of presence as well as the present moment of your uniquely, experienced life.

That could include an obsession with your childhood or past events. Certainly spending time on the drama of others who are not impacting you is part of it. Fantasy thinking is harmful, because it is not keeping you mindful, and instead making you experience a reality that is not even yours.

In fantasy thinking, you are rejecting all of the beauty that currently is around you.

You are going through the motions of life day-to-day, but are truly living in a bubble mentally where you are in your own version of idealized life. Or worse, you are just puttering that time away on celebrity, movies, and even luxury items.

If you are still with me that fantasy thinking is such a waste and that you don't like it either - let's now turn to something you do like: the productivity concept of goals.

After avoiding fantasy thinking of the past and distracted present, would you also be able to do so in the midst of wanting a brighter, more imaginative future?

We are told we need goals in order to productive. We know these are deeply individual and circumstantial. But who tells us if the goal is worthy or worth pursuing?

Then answer obviously is you. But how do you know if you are pursuing something that is worthy of you and the opportunity cost of the present moment?

Goals that are in the fantasy spectrum could be anything, but ultimately reject the present and current state of you being enough, having enough, and leading a meaningful existence with the things that are right in front of you, everyday.

It is one of the many ironies in productivity and always worth checking yourself. What does achieving the goal truly do for you?