Keep Moving the Goalposts
Full essay at willbamberg.com
Goalposts—expectations, standards, goals, targets—have a finite lifespan.
They're tied to you, and you're constantly changing. Eventually all goalposts will lose their relevance to you.
Cultivate expectation agility. Watch out for when your goalposts become a psychological burden—refresh them! Let them go freely.
There's a Goldilocks zone of Reasonable Expectations. Enough to make you strive, but not too high for you to hurdle.
Goalposts are tied to momentum. Conserving momentum is important, because momentum acts as a psychological battery that helps you to act. Avoid holding goalposts that drain your momentum.
Goalposts have no absolute significance. They're just mental constructs, tools to help you make sense of life. Their meaning is relative to you and your life. If they're not calibrated to your reality, they're useless. Move the goalposts and start fresh. keep facing reality.
The meta-skill of evaluating your goalposts is just as important as setting and moving them.