Goals matter more than metrics. Trajectories matter more than goals.
I suppose those statements go against most conventional wisdom. I still stand by them. Goals are more like way stations on a path. Perhaps they have numbers attached to them, but the numbers are not the meaning.
Case in point—weightlifting. It’s taken me just under a year to lift more than 10K kg per session. With ups and downs, including a one-month hiatus after a nasty fall down a flight of stairs. I’ve done so precisely because I don’t have goals. I didn’t set out to reach this number. I’m on a trajectory of getting stronger and steadily beating my own personal records. Goals will look like goals and have associated numbers only in hindsight.
A trajectory mindset means that any goal is always already in the past and surpassed. The numbers that measure them will fluctuate and move upwards over time, but are irrelevant.
