This post expands on my response to LinkedIn’s Top Voice question, “What do you do when you get blocked by procrastination?” My answer: Sh*tty Goals.
Most people set goals all wrong. We set them, reset them, and abandon them. That’s natural—change is hard. But there’s a better way that I call Sh*tty Goal Setting. Sh*tty Goals are baby steps, not grand visions. They’re breakable, stretchable, tackable, and streakable. They’re humble, boring, fun, and frustrating.
And, they work.
Let me explain.
The Art of Sh*tty Goal Setting
I use the word “Sh*tty” because good goal-setting is nasty, grungy, sh*tty work. They recognize that the path to success is paved by procrastination, plateaus, distraction, discouragement, and disappointment.
But most people set goals that are too grand, unrealistic, and not specific enough. We don’t track our goals carefully enough, get distracted, and lose momentum.
Here are seven steps to better goal setting. Let’s start by rethinking what a goal is.
Step One: Separate “Outcomes” from “Goals”
The first step of Sh*tty Goal Setting is to stop thinking about outcomes. Think about goals instead.
Outcomes are results. Goals are what get you there. For example,
Reaching the peak of Mount Everest is an outcome. Running 5 miles is a goal.
Becoming a VP is an outcome. Running a more effective meeting today is a goal.
Winning a championship is an outcome. Shooting 500 free throws five days a week is a goal.
This is a deceptively difficult step to take. It’s more fun to dream about the outcome than grind away at the hard work to get you there.
With your new way of thinking about outcomes and goals, let’s get to work.
Step Two: Chose ONE Outcome
Outcomes are important — they fuel our ambitions. So step two on your Sh*tty Goal-setting journey is to choose one dream to pursue and reflect on how your life will improve, how others will benefit, or how you can make the world a better place if you accomplish your outcome.
Don’t overthink it: choose one outcome you want to achieve and write it down quickly. This should take just a few minutes.
Why just one outcome? Because the second secret of goal-setting success is focus.
Warning: it’s hard to choose just one outcome to focus on. But start with one, and if it goes well, you can add more later.
Next!
Step Three: Assess and Choose Your Next Base
Next, assess yourself. If your dream is to climb Mount Everest, are you a couch potato? Have you climbed Mount Cho Oyu, the sixth most challenging mountain in the world? Successful goal-setting takes honesty and introspection.
Once you know if you’re at home base or rounding third for home, choose your “next base.” If you’re a coach potato, your first outcome could be to run five miles. Your first goal could be to run for five minutes today.
If you’re unsure, do some research. As questions like, “What’s the best way to start training to climb Mount Everest?” Get a coach. Read a biography of someone like you who did it.
This step is harder than it seems. You might even get it wrong. But again, don’t overthink your target because the key to Sh*tty Goal setting is allowing yourself to get it wrong. So, set a near-term goal and move to step four.
Step Four: Set (Sh*tty) Five-Minute Goals
Step four of Sh*tty Goal Setting is to set inglorious, action-oriented, and unimpressive goals that take as little as five minutes or as much as a few hours to acheive.
For example, I’ve tried and failed to establish a regular Yoga routine for years. The problem was, I was going too big, too fast. I’d sign up for one-hour sessions three days a week. Inevidibly, I’d travel, get sick, or get bored, miss a week, and abandon the goal.
Then, I found an app with hundreds of routines as short as five minutes and set this goal:
Do Yoga Five Minutes a Day
Five minutes might sound like a silly, simple, trivial amount of yoga. And you’re right.
But it works.
I started with my five-minute goal. Sometimes, I’d forget, and at 11:55 PM, I'd get my five minutes in to keep my streak alive.
After a month, I had a five-minute-a-day habit.
Two years later, I’ve done at least ten minutes of Yoga for 118 of the last 120 days (I got a cold and missed two days). Each week, I add at least three thirty-minute sessions.
Five-minute goals aren’t impressive and don’t yield big outcomes, but that’s not the point. The point is to build momentum. To build habits. Start there.
Step Five: Keep a Done List, Not a To-Do List
Stop using “To Do” lists. Start keeping a “Done List” instead.
A Done List is a record of what you’ve accomplished, not what you have “left to do.” Done Lists help you see and celebrate success. They help you recognize, reflect, and reset when you falter.
James Clear is the Done List master. His The Ultimate Habit Tracker Guide: Why and How to Track Your Habits, based on ideas from his New York Times Bestselling book Atomic Habits, shows how to make and maintain a Done List.
If you like digital tools, the Streaks iPhone / Apple Watch app is superb. It connects to journals like Day One, workout apps like Strava, or lets you set up manual goal tracking. It even lets you create multi-step goals like eating healthy three times a day: each time you eat one meal, you click on the app, and it shows a ring with your progress (below).
I use my journal to track my Done List. Here’s my entry for the day I worked on this article, initially called “Micro Goals.”
In the morning, I write down my goals for the day (in blue with the big “T”). As the day goes on, I pause 6-10 times daily to reflect and adjust (in red, with the time). I sketch pictures or use big block letters to capture outcomes. And I add more goals as the day unfolds (blue, lower right).
At night (or the next morning), I check for “parking lot” goals. These are goals I had but didn’t do (the * above). The next day, I’ll drag that one forward.
I don’t think it matters how you keep a Done List, just do it!
Step Six: Goal Tack
To move forward, sailboats tack — they turn their bow, and the wind blows from one side of the boat to the other. Tacking recognizes that the fastest way to move from point A to point B isn’t steering directly toward your goal; it depends on the wind, your position, and how you feel.
Here’s how goal-tacking works,
READY-ABOUT. The captain draws on instinct to decide when to tack and shouts, "Ready about!" For goals, I put daily pauses on my Done List to assess the day and decide when to tack.
LE-HO. Next, the captain says: "Lee ho!" as you turn your boat. For me, this means selecting the next unchecked goal box or creating a new one.
HAUL. To complete the tack, the crew quickly hauls in the jib sheet with a winch. In a boat, it’s essential to transition through the eye of the wind quickly to maintain speed and avoid getting "caught in stays." The same holds true for goals, so it’s important to keep them small — switch quickly, track, and tack to make progress.
Tacking is an essential skill for sailing upwind, as it allows the boat to zig-zag towards a destination into the wind. Goal-tacking works similarly, where the “wind” is procrastination, distractions, or failures.
Step Seven: S-T-R-E-T-C-H Your Goals (Use the 10% Rule)
Five-minute goals are the foundation of effective goal-setting, but you might think, “Anyone can do Yoga for five minutes a day; you won’t get better.” Good point!
The final stage of Sh*tty Goal setting is to S-T-R-E-T-C-H them. After a month, my five minutes of Yoga felt too easy, so I stretched it to eight minutes. A few months later, I stretched it more. A year later, I stretched it more.
Once again, realism is the secret of success. My marathon coach had a good rule of thumb: add no more than 10% a week to a goal. In running, the 10% rule is essential — it helps avoid injury.
The 10% rule also recognizes that as you get better at a thing, it gets harder. The greatest high jumpers work for years to clear one inch.
So stretch that Sh*tty Goal. But don’t stretch too far or too fast.
The Perfect Sh*tty Goal for Everyone: Morning Pages
So there we have it. Seven steps to Sh*tty Goal Setting:
Separate “Outcomes” from “Goals”
Choose ONE Outcome
Assess Yourself and Choose Your Next Base
Set (Sh*tty) Five-Minute Goals
Keep a Done List, Not a To-Do List
Goal Tack
S-T-R-E-T-C-H Your Goals (Use the 10% Rule)
At work, my favorite Sh*tty Goal is called Morning Pages. Morning Pages is one of the best-loved habits of professional writers, and it’s great for any decision-making, analysis, or creative work. The concept comes from Julia Cameron’s fantastic book, The Artist’s Way.
Here’s how to do Morning Pages:
Grab a journal. Grab a pen. Grab a highlighter.
Get quiet. Reflect on your project.
Write three pages long hand. Don’t stop. Don’t spell-check. Don’t edit. Just keep going. Write in a stream of consciousness.
That’s it.
Sounds easy, right? In some ways, it is.
The idea is to brainstorm, clarify, and cajole perspective out of you. Eliminating the pressure to “produce a blog post” liberates you to make progress. A Morning Page is for your eyes only, eliminating the pressure of “getting it right.”
Here’s a terrific step-by-step guide from author Martin Sketchley about how he does Morning Pages:
This Article Was Born From a Sh*tty Goals
Finally, a word about this article: one of my Sh*tty Goals is to publish at least one article every week, which I’ve done since December 16, 2020, inspired by Seth Godin’s book, The Practice. I know this because that was when I published my first post in the streak here.
For this article, here’s how I used small, incremental, “shitty” goals to finish this article:
I wrote a Morning Page for a LinkedIn Top Voice prompt called “Micro Goals.”
I gave myself an hour to convert it to a draft of a full Substack article.
I used my Midjourney for the first image of steps up a mountain.
I tacked away from the “Micro Goals” title to Sh*tty Goals.
I used my “analogy and metaphor” exercise to improve the article.
I added the example of my Yoga streak to illustrate step four.
I added the section on Morning Pages.
And so on.
Eventually, this took about two weeks, 30 hours, hundreds of Done List entries, and lots and lots of “tacks.”
Voila! Sh*tty Goals at work.
Good luck!
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