The Shifting Goalposts
When every milestone leads to another, how do we decide what’s enough?
We spend our lives chasing numbers. Income goals, savings goals, weight loss goals, steps per day, resting heart rate, LDL cholesterol. And every time we reach one of those targets, the goalpost seems to change.
Maybe some numbers weren’t good to begin with. That 10,000 steps per day to better heart health turned out to be just a marketing ploy to sell pedometers. Okay, fine. I get that better information can lead to better outcomes, but come on, could I not just enjoy an achievement for a moment before having to set a new goal?
I remember thinking 10 or more years ago that if I had a million dollars in my 401K, that would be enough (I never reached that number, by the way). And then every year some expert would point out how that target was not going to be enough. I’d need $2 million, or $3 million, or more. Thankfully, the goal of paying off my house wasn’t a moving target – maybe because I didn’t treat it as chasing a number. I was chasing a state of being (debt-free, that is).
On the wellness front, an ongoing struggle for me, the sheer number of numbers to track is staggering. We are well beyond weight and BMI. Even the numbers our doctors track have moving targets. LDL cholesterol target was < 100. Now I’m hearing 70. And exactly how many grams of protein am I supposed to be getting per day? I could spend all day every day just trying to keep up with the numbers.
Having more time on my hands in retirement does free me up to give these areas of concern closer attention. But there are diminishing returns. There’s got to be a “good enough” level of tracking that we can keep ourselves honest and on track for whatever improvements we want to make.
Mindset Check:
What number am I chasing right now?
What do I believe it will change?
If I hit it tomorrow, would I actually feel different?
Is this goal improving my life—or just feeding my anxiety?
Is there a better way to make sure I am on track?
For my wellness journey, that led me to focus on numbers that will lower my biggest risks, heart disease and diabetes: weight, A1C, blood pressure and cholesterol (and okay, my fitness watch does let me see my heart rate and sleep numbers, but those are just “nice to know”). As long as those numbers keep trending downward, I’m doing the right things. Other measures like muscle mass or bone density may need attention at some point – but so long as I’m feeling stronger rather than weaker, I’ll leave those alone for now.
I may never make my target weight goal, just as I never got to that $1 million in my 401K. Like everything else in life, there is no one-size-fits-all target. Direction means more to me than getting to a finish line.