I like to start my day with some stretching and some exercises. I've learned over the years that before I can do anything else like meditating or writing, I need to wake up and energize my body.
About two years ago, I decided to emulate one of the challenges I saw online; doing as many push-ups as I could every morning. It looked like it was transformative for the body, and I wanted to feel better when I looked at myself in the mirror.
So, I started pushing and quite quickly, I was able to do 100 repetitions.
The day I got to one hundred push-ups in one single sequence, I was so proud of myself.
However, my body wasn't changing. I couldn't see any tangible difference. How was it possible? I could make one hundred push-ups; I wasn't expecting to become Superman, but at least to see some signs of progress.
So, I went back to the master of everything: Youtube.
I found a random guy saying that doing plenty of push-ups is pointless, that our body always tries to maximize results while minimizing the effort and that when it comes to training, how we do things is more important than a number. When I tried to do some push-ups using the correct form, I couldn't make it to ten.
I've learned a few important lessons through this experience.
First of all, when I set a goal, I must have clarity of the reason for that goal. Do I want to learn, grow, change, earn, expand or else? Without clarity about the "why", the goal is just meaningless and, even if I reach it, I won't be satisfied.
The second lesson is that numbers are just measures; they are not the goal. As Goodhart's law states, "when a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure."