Recently read an interest book, Why Greatness Cannot Be Planned by Kenneth O. Stanley and Joel Lehman. Book is a great reminder about limitations of setting objectives and planning and the whole culture we create around it.

Objectives are deeply embedded in our culture, beginning in childhood with assessments in school and continuing into adulthood in all walks of our life. The pursuit of objectives has become the primary route to achievment. Almost anything considered worth doing is expressed as an objective. We tend to assume that worthy social accomplishments are best achieved by setting an objective and working toward it.

However, the pursuit of objectives can also limit freedom, hinder creative exploration and block serendipitous discoveries. When everything is measured against its contribution towards a specific objective, it can rob us of chance of playful discovery.

It is good to set goals and specific steps to make you a "Pizza". But next game changing products like "iPhone" cannot be planned, mostly they happen through several serendiptous stepping stones.

And problem is stepping stones does not resemble the final product. Vacuum tubes on their own just don't make people think about computers. Who would think first of making a computer and than search for vacuum tubes? The arrangement, or structure of this search space is completely unpredictable. And this kind of unpredictability is the rule rather than exception in almost any situation with an ambitious objective.

Microwave technology was not invented to discover ovens. First engines did not come about keeping in mind Flying.

The Best way to achieve something great is to stop trying to achieve a "particular great thing". Sometimes best way to change the world is to stop trying to change it!

In the very long run, economic growth matters. Global GDP has grown at about 2.68% since 1820. If it had grown at only 1.68% instead — just one percentage point less — the human race would be only 37% as rich as it is now, with a per capita GDP of about $6145 instead of $16,677. That would have meant more poverty and may be less knowledge creation and more conflicts.