You Start Moving The Goalposts

Sunday night.

You open your notebook.

New week.

Fresh page.

At the top, you write:

GOAL: $300

Nothing crazy.

You’ve done the math.

It’s $60 a day.

Five days.

You don’t need a home run.

Just a decent week.

You close the notebook.

Monday comes.

You make $85.

Good start.

Tuesday takes some of it back.

Wednesday is flat.

Thursday you make a little.

Friday afternoon you close your last trade.

You look at the number.

+$75.

Not what you wanted.

But green.

You stretch.

The screen is still glowing.

The week is over.

You lean back.

“I’ll take it.”

A few minutes later, you’re feeling better about it.

“A green week is a good week.”

“Profit is profit.”

“At least I didn’t lose money.”

All true.

Except you open your notebook.

There it is.

GOAL: $300

You made $75.

So was it a good week?

That’s an uncomfortable question.

Not because $75 is bad.

It isn’t.

Not because you should be angry with yourself.

You shouldn’t.

But because five days ago you decided what would count.

Then Friday came.

And the number changed.

So did the definition.

Maybe you’ve done this somewhere else.

You made a rule.

“Two losses and I’m done for the day.”

First trade loses.

Second one does too.

You push your chair back.

That’s supposed to be it.

Then another setup appears.

You watch it.

Looks pretty good.

You lean forward again.

“This one’s different.”

Click.

It works.

You make back both losses.

Maybe a little more.

Suddenly the third trade doesn’t feel like breaking a rule.

It feels like a good decision.

After all, it worked.

So what was the rule?

Two losses and you’re done?

Or two losses and you’re done unless the next trade works?

Those aren’t the same rule.

That’s how the goalposts move.

Usually not by much.

And almost never in a way that sounds ridiculous.

That’s what makes them hard to notice.

“Green is green.”
“That setup was too good to pass up.”
“I was trading well so I kept going.”

Each explanation can make sense.

But there’s another question underneath all of them.

Would you have changed the rule before you knew the result?

Suppose Sunday night you had written:

Goal: Make at least $1 this week.

Would you have?

Probably not.

You wrote $300.

Suppose your rule said:

“Stop after two losses unless the next trade works.”

You couldn’t write that either.

You wouldn’t know yet.

That’s the point.

The outcome came first.

Then the rule changed to fit it.

Think about the last goal you set for yourself.

Not the big one.

Something small.

Something measurable.

A number.

A limit.

A rule.

Did you meet it?

If you didn’t, what did you call the result afterwards?

That’s where this gets interesting.

Because there’s a difference between being disappointed and being honest.

You can miss a goal without beating yourself up.

You can break a rule without deciding you’re a terrible trader.

You can make $75 when you wanted $300 and still appreciate the $75.

But none of those things require you to pretend the original goal was something else.

You reach for the notebook.

Goal: $300

Underneath it you write:

Result: +$75

You look at the two numbers.

No excuse.

No punishment either.

Just two numbers.

You wanted $300.

You made $75.

That’s what happened.

Maybe $300 was the wrong goal.

Maybe it was too high.

Maybe next week’s goal needs to change.

Fine.

Change it.

But change it before you know what next Friday looks like.

Because otherwise you can move the goalposts anywhere.

And if the goalposts keep moving, the score stops telling you very much.

_{Disclosure: Struggling Trader exists to share lessons, observations, and experiences from the markets. I’m here to help people think about trading, not tell them what to buy or sell. Every trader’s situation is different, and all financial decisions are ultimately your own responsibility. Markets carry risk, including the risk of losing money, so always do your own research before investing or trading.}