Carry one goal that nobody else knows about. It’s the one you’ll chase purely for you.

A goal loses something once it is announced. The telling produces a small version of the reward, other people’s opinions attach themselves to it, and from then on part of the effort is going into how it looks. Keeping one to yourself removes all of that and leaves only whether you actually want it.

Choose something you care about and tell no one for three months. Track it privately in whatever way suits you. When there is no audience and no encouragement, what you do next is a clean answer to how much the thing matters.