Who is Setting Your Goals?

Every month, my Apple Watch creates a new challenge for me. Most months I aim to meet the metrics. When I truly set my mind to it, I achieve it.

I’ve completed the challenge for every month since December 2021. I had my longest streak of challenges completed since I started wearing an Apple Watch 3 years ago.

That streak ends today.

My challenge for August was to walk or run 152 miles. I ended the month with 144.8 — 7.2 miles short.

To be fair, I had opportunities. I could have spent less time on other fitness activities and more time walking or running.

If I really wanted to meet this challenge, I would have done so.

The deeper question was: Why do I need to push myself to walk/run these extra miles?

Between my new early morning Burn class, weekly trampoline practice, and flying trapeze — all of which require significant exertion but don’t rack up walk/run miles — my body has been doing plenty.

And that’s ultimately why I didn’t pursue this challenge.

It didn’t seem necessary for me to meet my current fitness goals.

Here are a few things that the Apple Watch challenge didn’t consider:

• After 2 years of at-home workouts that involved a lot of walking and some jogging around the block, I’ve been back in the gym focused on interval training and strength training.
• I’ve traded walks for the assault bike, rower, and ski erg, which require more exertion but don’t rack up miles.
• I’m working to strengthen my feet and correct a collapsing arch. Running would only put me into my current pathology, continuing my body’s faulty movement habits.

I’ll be honest:

Notwithstanding all of this, I had a moment tonight when I contemplated getting on a treadmill and trying to squeeze in the miles.

The old me would have gone for it.

But I’ve learned to listen to my body; not the metrics of an external device that thinks it knows best.

I’m not giving up my activity rings any time soon — I find it helpful to have a daily metric to aim for. But that consistent daily metric is about the process; it holds me accountable to moving my body daily.

The monthly challenge may be a “SMART” goal, but is a meaningless mile metric that has no bearing on my actual fitness outcomes.

Who is Setting Your Agenda?

With myself and my clients, I have seen repeatedly how often we allow our goals and aspirations to be set by external influences. Like the Apple Watch challenge, this can result in chasing a goal that isn’t relevant to the ultimate outcome.

It’s helpful to periodically step back and reconsider what we are striving for.

Here are some questions you can ask yourself:

• Where does the goal come from?
• Is it relevant to my ultimate outcome?
• Is it necessary to achieve my ultimate outcome?
• Will striving to achieve this serve me in some other way?
• Am I trying to achieve this because it will make me feel better about myself? Will it fill the emptiness of “enoughness”?

I know what I did this month.

My body knows what it did this month.

And it’s more than enough.