In school, we were told that marks were all that mattered. If you studied hard and got good grades, everything would be straightforward.

All it means was one could game the system and/or learn by rote. It most certainly is not the skills one needs for life. But that's another story. The point is, marks were useful but one-dimensional. And the subjects taught were not the entire universe - there were just so many other things.

From the exhibition "The Nineties: A Glossary of Migrations" 
https://www.muzej-jugoslavije.org/en/exhibition/devedesete-recnik-migracija/
Photo by Ivan Aleksic / Unsplash

For example, civic sense. Teamwork. Leadership skills. Perseverance. Skill building. Problem-solving. 100s of others that maybe we learned by fluke or accident or through adventures with our friends. The subjects and marks in school were one tiny aspect of it.

You know that to be true. It is still true today. Even if the score is relevant, it is one data point. Not the only data point. And only you are keeping score (for yourself).

If you could go back to school and tell yourself, would you seriously tell yourself to score MORE marks? Or to learn some skills that you did not know needed to be learned back then?

Likewise, your health, your fitness, your nutrition - these are not about what you lift, what you weigh, how much kilos you lost, or your body fat percentage. These are all useful data points.

This was taken on the last game that the Raiders had at the O.co Coliseum at Oakland, CA.
Photo by Anelale Nájera / Unsplash

Of course, good health means you can do better things with your mind and body - that's why the data points are still useful. But just like scoring 95/100 or 93/100 or well, even a 60/100 didn't really matter as much as they made it out to be - you just need to move in the right direction and be above a certain level. Keep moving forward but don't obsess with the score.

Keeping score is useful. But it is not the point.