2025 was a great year for me personally and my chess business. Even though I failed all three of my stated goals:
- Work 40 weeks (e.g. 12 weeks of holidays)
- 3x Business
- Working 6 hours a day maximum
I’ve had plenty of time with loved ones, married Alessia, enjoyed traveling to USA, Bali & Italy, started making YouTube videos, funded my company & ran a half marathon.
Reflecting about “failing” my three main goals – but still having a great year, I just realized once more how silly results-oriented goals can be.
I could have achieved all of my goals and still had a terrible year, just like you can reach your dream chess rating and not enjoy the journey there (been there, done that).
Daily Habits & Systems, Not Lofty Goals
What instead has a huge impact on both my day-to-day well-being, and the bigger outcome, are the habits and systems I create.
Running a half Marathon in April 2025 was great, but not because reaching the finish line paid back for all of the training runs I did.
It was great because to train for the half Marathon, I went outside for a run 3x / week in the coldest months in Switzerland, when I wouldn’t have left the house otherwise. After every run, I felt better than before starting to run.
That’s a huge win!
But because of a big goal – running the Half Marathon under 2 hours (initially 1h 45min), I forgot what truly matters, trained too hard and got injured.
It becomes increasingly clear to me that big goals are only useful when they inspire constant, positive action. But in our results-oriented world, those goals quickly become more toxic than useful:
- Overtraining
- Anxiety because of too much pressure
- Searching for quick hacks just to achieve goals
I know this might sound counter intuitive, but this is what I came up with for myself:
Goals are useful when they are a means to an end.
I set the goal to run a half marathon, so that I go run three times a week even when it is cold.
They are toxic when they become the end in itself.
My goal is to run a half marathon in under 2 hours, and I’ll do everything to achieve that goal.
Toxic or Positive Goal?
As I go into this new year, I haven’t really set a goal yet. Because I need some more time to reflect how I can combine the positive motivation of a goal without it getting toxic.
Feel free to ponder this same question for yourself with your own goals.
Does this goal inspire constant, positive action? Or does it instead drive me to do too much, burn out and search for shortcuts?
I’m curious to hear what your goals are – and in which category they fall. I’ll take another week to reflect on my goals for this year and share them then.
Keep improving,
GM Noël
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