Vague goals fail: define the actions, the numbers and a range

A goal you cannot count is not really a goal. That is where Mel Robbins and Andrew Huberman meet: most good intentions fail because they stay vague, and the fix is to define the actions, the numbers and, in Robbins' version, a range.

Robbins' test is a single question: "How are you going to know that you've achieved it?" If you can't measure it, she says, it isn't a goal but a wish, a want or a dream. Her own goals become check boxes: a printed book in her hands, a size of pants, two quart-size Mason jars of water a day. Asking the question can change the goal itself. Her vague plan to garden more became growing dahlias from seed, and she will know she has succeeded when she cuts her first bouquet and puts it in a vase.

Robbins adds a twist she found while researching: set a high-low range rather than a single number. Citing Florida State University research, she says losing two to four pounds is easier than losing three. So she will journal five to seven days a week and go without alcohol for 75 of 90 days. Under each goal she writes an implementation intention, a sentence naming the action, the time and the place, and she describes a study in which 91% of people who planned when and where to exercise did so, about double the other groups.

Huberman pushes measurement down to the level of action. Instead of states like getting fit or being rich, he says to define the specific verbs, such as going to the gym three times a week for at least 60 minutes, and to count the hours per week and the days within a roughly 12-week cycle. Some goals, like a sub-six-minute mile, are easy to measure; others, like conversational French, are not, which is why he counts the work, because "actions themselves are always quantifiable." His evidence is a set of workplace recycling studies in which a concrete plan produced far more change than a general call to do better. He reviews progress weekly, checking a box when he reaches his 150 to 200 minutes of zone 2 cardio.

Both write goals down, keep to a few at a time, and aim just beyond current ability, since goals that are too easy or too lofty fail. They differ on practical details. Robbins mainly measures outcomes, Huberman mainly inputs. Robbins suggests posting your goal where you see it every day; Huberman warns that the visual system tunes out a note that never moves, so rewrite it and move it daily. Robbins recommends telling someone you admire; Huberman keeps goals private, apart from one accountability buddy who asks whether you did the work. Robbins makes the first milestone super easy, while Huberman's toolkit favors rewarding yourself at random, by flipping a coin.

What to do with it: ask Robbins' question of every goal, turn states into verbs, give each goal a high and a low, decide the hours and the days, write down when and where you will act, and check your progress weekly. Remember that counting is not motivation: Robbins insists a goal also needs a why. For health goals such as weight loss or stopping drinking, a doctor's advice is worth having before setting the numbers.