đĄ How to Be in the Top 12% Who Actually Achieve Their Goals (Issue 664)
Turn your goals into a real plan that will work
â88% of people who set New Year's resolutions fail them within the first two weeks.â (source)
How can you avoid becoming a victim of that statistic?
If you completed the goal-setting exercise that I recommended a few weeks ago, you should have a high-level list of your goals for the upcoming year.
Do you have them ranked in order of priority and importance?
Do you have a sense of the potential effort required for each one (e.g., a day of work vs. a two-month project)?
Your smaller goals should be pretty straightforward. For example, ensuring that your profile photo is consistent across all your online accounts (e.g., Substack, LinkedIn, Bluesky) doesnât require breaking that process down into smaller subgoals. Okay, it might if you decide to schedule a fancy photo shoot in a studio.
However, I would guess that your medium-to-large goals are too complex to jump right into without some planning. For example, you shouldnât leap into writing and publishing a book without breaking it down into the subgoals and steps required to accomplish that significant goal.
This process isnât that different from any substantial project you've probably worked on for your job. No one ships a new product without extensive planning. No company would launch a new service without mapping the work onto a project timeline.
Break your goals down into subgoals
Itâs time to break your high-level goals for the year into subgoals for each of the quarters (Q1-Q4) and months (Jan-Dec).
What are all the steps required to make steady progress in achieving your larger goals? For example, perhaps you have a significant goal of launching a new podcast this year. That goal has subgoals and actions you need to complete before you can publish your first episodes to the world.
Some of the subgoals and steps might include:
January - Podcast Strategy.
What is the purpose of your podcast?
Whatâs in it for you?
What will it be about?
Who will your listeners be?
Why should they listen to you?
What do you want people to do after they hear an episode?
February - Podcast Details.
Decide if this will be a solo effort or if you want to find a co-host.
What will you name the podcast?
Is that name available as a .com domain?
Whatâs the elevator pitch for your show?
How will your podcast stand out from similar shows?
What is the three-paragraph description?
March - Podcast Equipment.
Get your podcast recording equipment ready.
Research microphones and decide what quality matches your budget.
Research headphones, mixing boards, recording software, and editing software.
Research podcast hosts and decide which service is best for your needs.
You get the idea. A fuzzy goal of âlaunch a podcastâ can quickly become overwhelming. You must break it down into quarterly and monthly subgoals so you can create a realistic plan later.
Many of your significant goals will be like this. You canât shoot from the hip and hope everything works out. Some of your subgoals and tasks wonât have dependencies, but others will, and you must sequence them (e.g., you canât edit a podcast episode before recording it).
Planning in reverse is an effective tool for this exercise. Iâve talked about a âreverse planning strategyâ before.
Visualize the end state when youâve successfully accomplished your goal (e.g., youâve launched the first three episodes of your new podcast). Then, identify the logical step that must occur right before that end state. Work backward week by week and month by month to identify each previous step.
Ask yourself a series of questions to determine each previous subgoal. Map the subgoals to the months, with rough estimates of how long it will take to accomplish each one (e.g., will the subgoal of researching and purchasing equipment take an entire month or 2 weeks?).
Focus on each of your primary goals to map out their subgoals. You should have a chronological list of subgoals for each primary goal when youâre done. At the end of this exercise, every month of this year will contain the subgoals you will focus on during that month.
Why is this important?
Itâs easy to create a list of audacious goals. Many people do that every year as part of their New Yearâs resolutions. Below are the usual suspects in peopleâs 2026 goals.
However, we all know that most people wonât actually accomplish those goals. Itâs too overwhelming, demoralizing, and inefficient to tackle a large goal without a strategy and plan. Thatâs why most people fail within the first month of the new year.
But I want you to succeed. Thatâs why Iâm asking you to focus on breaking your big goals down into smaller, more achievable steps within a more reasonable time frame (e.g., months or even weeks).
After this exercise, you should have a better sense of how realistic your annual goals are:
Do all the subgoals and activities fit into the time remaining in the year?
Will you discover that some of your significant goals may take more than 12 months to accomplish?
Are you trying to pack too many subgoals into some months? Donât forget that youâll have other commitments, like your full-time job.
You can leverage my Invincible Career community to get feedback on your goals and find support (apply to join us for free). You may find that some of us have worked on similar goals and can help you scope and plan your year.
Plans for your goals
You will need a plan to attack each unique goal. At its most basic level, a plan is a list of resources and tasks you need to complete before you can reach that goal. Using a timeline to determine sequencing also helps you prioritize, focus, and manage your energy for those tasks more effectively.
For example, I like to set a tentative date for when I think I can accomplish a goal based on my estimate of the work required and how long it will take. Then, I plan and schedule the actions I must complete to make it happen.
As I capture those actions and tasks, it frequently reminds me of other things Iâll have to do. The act of planning makes it real. It also reveals gaps in your strategy.
Inevitably, the final detailed plan educates me about the project's actual scope and helps me create a more realistic timeline. I sometimes say that projects always take twice as long as expected and cost 3x more than you budgeted.
But maybe thatâs just me! đ
Create your plans for the year
This week, try to create more detailed plans for achieving your list of goals for the year. What specific actions do you plan to take?
Each of your smaller subgoals will require a list of actions and steps to complete them.
When will you begin?
What actions will you take each day?
What consistent habits do you want to start?
How are the steps organized to support each other?
What can you do in parallel versus tasks you must complete in sequence?
When do you think you will be done?
How will you determine you are successful (i.e., accomplished the goal)?
For example, letâs say you set an overall goal to publish 12 articles this year. You then set subgoals to publish an article of at least 1,000 words each month. You also mapped these subgoals on your calendar for the year.
Now, you need a plan that describes how you will accomplish these subgoals. What are your daily habits, actions, and steps you must take over four weeks to build up to publishing an article?
Your writing plan could include:
A new habit of brainstorming writing topics for 30 minutes every day in your morning journal.
Choosing a topic for your next article on Sunday night.
Spending an hour during the evenings (Monday - Wednesday) researching that topic online and writing notes.
Writing a draft outline on Thursday (e.g., I use the Ulysses app for writing).
Noting where you want supporting quotes, data, interviews, etc.
Gathering more information on Friday to fill in the holes in your outline.
Writing a rough draft over the weekend, and then letting it sit until Monday.
Reading your rough draft on Monday, making notes, and editing.
Searching for a suitable article image on Tuesday (or using one of your own photos!).
Doing a thorough revision of your article on Wednesday and sending another draft to a trusted friend for feedback (note: you can leverage my community!).
Running a spelling and grammar check on the article and coming up with a great title on Thursday.
On Friday, do a final read-through of your article out loud, make any final edits, and publish on Monday morning (e.g., on your blog or Substack).
Repeat this process for the next cycle.
As you work through your plan and process, Iâm sure you will tune and optimize it. Keep adjusting until you are happy with the results and efficiency.
Planning makes it real
A goal without a plan is simply a wish.
I wish my boss would promote me.
I wish I could publish a book.
I wish I could get into better shape this year.
I wish I could find a better job.
I wish I could start my own business.
Creating your list of goals and subgoals will help break things down into manageable chunks. But a list of goals doesnât explain how you would achieve those goals or what you would actually do.
Thatâs the point of this planning exercise. Get specific! What are you going to do every day to ensure you stay on track and make progress?
Of course, this plan doesnât have to be set in stone. You should measure progress, evaluate results, and course-correct as needed.
Given that you probably have multiple goals for the year, youâll want a plan for each one. But youâll also have an overall high-level plan that prioritizes and schedules your smaller plans.
For example:
Goal 1 - Join a gym and start working out every day by the end of January.
Goal 2 - Update LinkedIn profile, resume, portfolio, and personal website by the end of March.
Goal 3 - Start interviewing in April and land a new job by the end of May.
Goal 4 - Start writing in February, finish a chapter every three weeks, and publish a short book by the end of Dec.
In this imaginary example, youâd first work on your health goal and set that plan in motion until it becomes a familiar daily habit. Then, you kick off your writing plan to support your goal of publishing a book by the end of the year. Finally, a couple of months after youâve established your writing habit, you work on your next plan to find a new job.
Would you like some advice from me on how to achieve your goals this year? You can always schedule a complimentary call.
Iâm Larry Cornett, an executive coach who works with ambitious professionals to help them reclaim their power, become more invincible, and create better opportunities for their work and lives. Do more of what you love and less of what you hate! đ Check out The Invincible Daily Journals!
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