Jan 22nd, 2009
What’s the Real Goal?
I embarked on a weight loss goal this year, to get down to 165 from the 185-190 I’ve been for quite awhile.
It often surprises people I’ve not known for many years when they hear I once weighed 265 pounds. It’s more surprising to them when I tell them I never had a weight loss goal, just a goal for specific fitness milestones I wanted to achieve (finishing a 100 mile bike ride, for instance) and the weight just kind of came off. So why this time do I have an actual weight goal, and what can that teach about personal finance?
I have a weight goal this time because I believe that by hitting that weight I’ll be fitter, increase my speed and endurance, and I’ll feel better all around, but even though this is my stated goal, my real goal is to be healthier. Unfortunately, “be healthier” is a bit nebulous, so instead I write down things like the number of pounds I weigh so I can work on something that’s a bit more concrete.
With finance, I have certain goals, like maxing out my 403(b) and Roth IRA every year. But my real goal isn’t to do these things; instead, my real goal is to be financially secure, which means having enough money saved to live off dividend income and capital gains for the rest of my life. I remind myself of these things frequently, because some of these are very quantifiable and concrete, but the real goal is not.
What are your goals? Do they relate to a bigger, real goal that’s harder to make concrete?
Wow, how long does it take to do a 100 mile bike ride?
I ran a 10k last year and had fun doing it. 100 miles sounds extremely long, hopefully it is a loop that way you don’t have to find a way back home lol.
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Sam,
Well, 100 miles of cycling is going to depend, of course, on your speed, which depends on your conditioning, your equipment, and the terrain and conditions–not in that order necessarily. For me, I can finish in under 7 hours and hopefully under 6, but I’m not getting any younger either.