I was talking with a friend about running, and he told me, “you know what the best way to improve your running time is?” “what?” I asked. “Lose weight,” he says.
That just seemed entirely backwards. It’s like saying that the best way to improve your bench press is to get stronger. Aren’t I running to lose weight, or at least maintain my current weight?
But thinking about it further, I had to wonder, what’s my real goal? Losing weight isn’t even the real goal. My real goal is to feel and be healthier. It’s the ability to enjoy an active lifestyle with friends and family. It’s knowing that I am doing everything that I can to reduce the likelihood of diet and lifestyle related disease.
I see this a lot when I talk about financial goals with clients. “The goal is simple,” they often express, “to make more money.” But why? “Because then I’d have more money,” a few have smart alecky replied.
Of course, having more money is nice, but is it really a goal? Having more money is as much a goal as losing weight (having fewer pounds) is a goal. It’s not the real goal.
[Tweet “Having more money is nice, but is it really a goal?”]
So what is a real financial goal? For most, the real goal driving financial planning is to develop the security and independence of knowing that you can survive a job loss or health scare. Knowing that you can support your family, never having to worry about putting food on the table, and being able to send your kids to the best college they can get in to. Having the confidence that you can retire successfully and meaningfully, living the life that you want, spending time with friends and family, travel the way that you want and help the charities that are important to you.
When you think about your goals, financial, physical or otherwise, always ask another question. Ask yourself, “why?” “I want to lose 10 pounds.” Why? “I want to max out my 401(k) and double my portfolio in five years.” Why?
Getting to the real goal behind the goal is critical. There are probably dozens of ways to achieve your goals, whatever they are. Of course, there are countless ways to lose weight, and be more fit. There’s a new fad diet every week, a new workout plan or exercise device. The problem isn’t that none of them work. The problem for most people is that they don’t stick to one. By jumping from one diet to the next at the first sign of failure probably does more harm than good. Joining a gym and never going, or cluttering your spare bedroom with exercise equipment that becomes a clothes hanger is worse than a waste of money. It becomes self defeating, a constant reminder of a goal unachieved. Developing a plan, and sticking to it is far more important that selecting the “perfect” plan, as no such thing exists.
Likewise, there are probably dozens of financial plans and investment strategies that will get you to your goals. But like diets and workout plans, you jump from one strategy to another at the first sign of “underperformance”. If the goal is simply to make more money, there is seemingly always another plan that will make you more money. “I’m missing out on the dot-com stock boom” “Las Vegas and Florida investment real estate is where the smart money is.” “Gold. You have to buy gold.”
But if the goal is financial security and independence, a comfortable retirement, the ability to help family and important charities; if the goal is peace of mind, the question isn’t whether there is a strategy out there that will make you more money, but will your current one allow you to achieve your real goals?
So, no, I won’t be losing weight specifically to run a faster 10k time. But I’ll continue to eat a healthy diet, and exercise regularly. Because my goal isn’t to run faster. If weight loss and a better running time are a result of working toward my real goals of being and feeling healthy, of living an active and fulfilling lifestyle, then I’ll take it. Bonus, right?
What is your real goal?
