---
title: Goodhart's Law - When Metrics Become Targets
date: 2025-09-18T00:00:00
author: Charlie M.
category: SIGNAL
---
I was sitting on my couch earlier, watching the sunlight dance across my living room floor. You know, it's like how it feels comforting and unsettling all at once seeing the dust particles floating around, reminding me how I haven't vacuumed in... ages, honestly. Anyway, I was thinking, or maybe not thinking, just kinda letting my mind drift, and somehow stumbled on this whole Goodhart's Law thing. How did I get there? Blame endless scrolling sessions on Twitter, probably. It's one of those things that pops up, and you're like, "Oh, hmm, that seems important," but then you swipe past it to watch a dog video.
So, maybe you've heard the saying, or not, who knows, but it goes like, "When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure." Something Charles Goodhart said—or maybe it wasn't him, maybe someone else gave him the credit. Like when you have a goal to hit the gym every day, but after a while, the workout becomes less about getting fit and more about just marking it off your to-do list. It's kinda like how I keep redownloading workout apps, hoping they'll inspire me with those perfect metrics and streaks. Spoiler alert: they don't.
Metrics turning into targets makes me wonder about my past obsessions with numbers. There was this phase where I tracked my steps religiously, like I’d found the universal key to health. Funny thing is, I hit my step target daily but can't say I felt any healthier. Maybe it's just me, but sometimes, obsessing over a number can strip away the joy of whatever you're doing. There's some research on it, I think—it was something about organizational performance? A study? Nah, can't recall exactly, but it pointed out that when companies turn metrics into goals, everything kinda spirals into this loop where the measure loses its meaning.
Then there’s the whole social media thing—another tangled mess, right? I mean, likes and followers becoming some weird validation currency. I catch myself oscillating between caring too much about it, and not caring at all, probably depending on my mood or the position of the moon or something equally unpredictable. Maybe it’s tied back to Goodhart, how we (or maybe just me?) end up chasing metrics because they feel tangible. Are they really? I don’t know.
And then I wonder if all this applies to… life? Like, are we all just setting these arbitrary metrics for happiness, success, whatever that means? How do you measure something so... fluid? It's not just data points, alright? It's messy and human.
Anyway, back to my dust particles and the sunbeam. It’s not like they care about metrics. They just float around, indifferent to my tidy little records. I guess I admire that, in a way. Maybe I should care less about counting and more about... being? Or maybe not. Who knows.
I’m not sure what any of this means for what I do next. Or if it means anything at all. But maybe just questioning it is enough for now.