I wonder how he blogs if he never has a goal in mind? I imagine he doesn't just write random words down. If you don't ever set goals then how do you ever create anything that requires more than a few simple steps? Surely you must have an end result in mind.

I think the message he really wants to get across is a combination of 'be more spontaneous' and 'don't be afraid to change your plans', which isn't the same thing IMO.

Do you set yourself a goal of "Get X amount of karma on Hacker News"? If not, how do you ever comment? Are you just writing random words down?

Sometimes, people just do things because they want to do them. You don't need to invoke metacognition on every single element of your day, and in fact it's rather exhausting to do so.

No that's not what I meant - let me put it another way.

Say you get the sudden urge to build a car. That will probably require weeks or months of work to complete, so it's a goal that you have to keep in mind while you do all the related jobs - sourcing parts, designing and building the bodywork, etc. If you don't set yourself that goal then what should you do instead? Purely following your day-to-day whims can leave you with a string of unfinished projects in your wake - surely just as disheartening as trying and failing at a particular goal, if not more so?

"Don't set goals, just do things" is bad advice if you find yourself wanting to create anything bigger than an afternoon's work.