I also have a meta goal to a similar end, which I described in detail (plus sharing the code) in this thread. Similar to @poisson’s urgency-load based goal, but the other way round (tracking the sum of buffers, so it’s an odometer, not whittle-down). As I explain the rationale behind having one in that post: “This way I can make sure that I still do the average on a list of goals but I get to choose what to do more of on a specific day. Plus, it helps to avoid the stress of having every single one in the red every day and burning the buffer due to akrasia rather than saving it for emergencies.” I guess I haven’t really been thinking about this as a way of handling “life happens” exceptions in one place, but effectively it also contributes to that: if most of my goals have buffer thanks to the meta goal, and “life happens”, I only derail the meta goal, can call it non-legit, and add more buffer for the “normal goals” to account for that day off-goals.
I am interested in your description of your setup. What is the unit for the meta goal? Is it something abstract like urgency load or my buffer days, unified across all “normal goals”? Or is it based on the actual units/commitments of the “normal goals”?