Talking with the same friend about goals...
I have a very love-hate relationship with goals. There are plenty of "self-help" "life-coach" types that swear by them as if they're the single biggest factor in success.
Stephen Fry, on the other hand, has said "the worse thing you can ever do in life is set yourself goals; goal orientation is absolutely disastrous in life".
Fry goes on to point out that the problem is if you don't meet your goals, you consider yourself a failure and if you do meet your goals, you're left wondering "well now what?" and no happier than you were.
I find myself very persuaded by Fry's point but I do still set goals of sorts.
But as I explained to my friend, I don't consider them destinations to reach but merely directions to head at the moment.
They are a compass point, not a terminus.