Don't chase goals, build a way of life

Don't chase goals, build a way of life.

Don’t Chase Goals. Build a Way of Life.

At Virtus, we often talk about goals. Lose weight. Get stronger. Build muscle. Run faster. Compete harder. These are all worthwhile, but Hunter S. Thompson once wrote something that cuts deeper: goals are only temporary markers. They change, they blur, they fade. What matters more is the way of life you choose to live.

In 1958, Thompson wrote a letter to a friend wrestling with life’s big question: What am I here for? His answer was not about outcomes or titles. It was about being yourself. Fully. Deliberately.

At Virtus, this is central to how we operate. We do not measure only by kilos lifted, kilometres run, or percentages improved. We measure by the life we are building. Training is a vessel, not the destination. Community reflects who we are, not a scoreboard. Education is a tool, not a certificate.

To choose a way of life is to step into something bigger than goals. It is to ask:

• What kind of person do I want to be?

• What kind of environment do I want to exist in?

• What kind of example do I want to set for my kids, my teammates, my community?

From that foundation, performance takes care of itself. When you train to embody strength, resilience and vitality, you create a way of life that sustains you through setbacks and seasons.

First, Choose Who You Want to Be

Epictetus said:

“First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.”

This is the essence of Thompson’s letter, and it is the essence of what we do at Virtus. Decide on your way of life, then align your training, habits and environment to make it real.

Turning Philosophy into Practice

At Virtus, we give this philosophy structure through our Goal Review Framework. Every member sits down with a coach to create clarity, direction and action. It is about aligning training and lifestyle with the life you want to live.

Here is the framework we use:

1. What are the 2–3 things you want to leave this session with?
2. What does winning look like?
3. What do we need to be good or better at?
4. What do we need to do?
5. How will we know?

The aim is simple: you leave with clarity and practical steps that move the needle in training and in life.

The Virtus Reflection Guide

After reading Thompson’s words, ask yourself:

1. What do I want my way of life to look like?
2. What abilities and desires can I lean into?
3. What small step can I take today to bring my training and choices closer to that life?

Your Next Step

If you are ready to go deeper, talk to one of our coaches. We will take this philosophy, apply our framework and give you clarity and action to build a life worth living.

Enjoy

LW

The Letter – Hunter S. Thompson to Hume Logan (1958)

“Every person is the sum total of their reactions to experience. As your experiences differ and multiply, you become a different person, and hence your perspective changes. This goes on and on. Every reaction is a learning process; every significant experience alters your perspective.

So it would seem foolish, would it not, to adjust our lives to the demands of a goal we see from a different angle every day? How could we ever hope to accomplish anything other than galloping neurosis?

The answer, then, must not deal with goals at all, or not with tangible goals, anyway. To put our faith in tangible goals would seem to be, at best, unwise. We do not strive to be firemen, we do not strive to be bankers, nor policemen, nor doctors. We strive to be ourselves.

But do not misunderstand me. I do not mean that we cannot be firemen, bankers, or doctors, but that we must make the goal conform to the individual rather than make the individual conform to the goal. In every person, heredity and environment have combined to produce a creature of certain abilities and desires, including a deeply ingrained need to function in such a way that their life will be meaningful. A person has to be something; they have to matter.

As I see it then, the formula runs like this: a man must choose a path which will let his abilities function at maximum efficiency toward the gratification of his desires.

In doing this, he is fulfilling a need (giving himself identity), he avoids frustrating his potential (choosing a path which puts no limit on his self-development), and he avoids the terror of seeing his goal wilt or lose its charm as he draws closer to it (rather than bending himself to meet the demands of that which he seeks, he has bent his goal to conform to his own abilities and desires).

In short, he has not dedicated his life to reaching a pre-defined goal, but he has rather chosen a way of life he knows he will enjoy. The goal is absolutely secondary: it is the functioning toward the goal which is important. And it seems almost ridiculous to say that a man must function in a pattern of his own choosing, for to let another man define your own goals is to give up one of the most meaningful aspects of life, the definitive act of will which makes a man an individual.

A man who procrastinates in his choosing will inevitably have his choice made for him by circumstance. So if you now number yourself among the disenchanted, then you have no choice but to accept things as they are, or to seriously seek something else. But beware of looking for goals: look for a way of life. Decide how you want to live and then see what you can do to make a living within that way of life. But you say, ‘I do not know where to look; I do not know what to look for.’

And there is the crux. Is it worth giving up what I have to look for something better? I do not know. Who can make that decision but you? But even by deciding to look, you go a long way toward making the choice.

I am not trying to send you out ‘on the road’ in search of Valhalla, but merely pointing out that it is not necessary to accept the choices handed down to you by life as you know it. There is more to it than that. No one has to do something they do not want to do for the rest of their lives.”