Turbocharge Your Goals by Asking This One Question

How I achieved laser-like focus and clarity by adding this step to my goal-setting process

I’ve been setting and achieving goals for most of my life. Over time, I’ve refined that process: setting different levels of goals for different time frames, defining goals in terms of measurable steps within my control, adding time estimates, and other incremental improvements.

I just discovered a new technique that blows them all away in terms of impact.

One of the biggest problems with goal setting, especially as a creative, is figuring out what actions will get you to a specific goal.

If I’m writing a short story, I don’t know how long it will end up being until the idea is fully expressed.

The writing needs to be broken up over days — but how many?

Similarly, in business, you may need to explore many options before finding the one that works. One year, I had as my goal to double my net worth. I could do that by earning more, spending less, or increasing the value of my investments. I had to try all the options before choosing the one that would work best for me.

As a result, there is often a disconnect between short-term goals and action items, and your overarching long-term goals.

By asking one simple question, you can ensure a clear connection between your short- and long-term goals.

Every action item you plan to do will support achieving your larger goals. And, when you see the connection between actions and goals, it makes taking those actions super easy!

The Question, and How I Discovered It

I was reviewing my monthly goals with a friend. Of the four, I’d achieved two, missed the target on one, and made absolutely no progress on the last.

The missed target was understandable. I’d been overly optimistic about how much time was required for the two more important goals. I’d recalibrated mid-month, and had achieved my new, much more modest targets.

But that last goal — I’d made zero progress toward it. In the entire month, I’d done nothing to move any closer. Clearly there was resistance. Until I figured out the problem, I could add it to my goal list every month from now until eternity, and I’d be no closer to achieving it.

The goal was to start a Substack newsletter. I had detailed instructions from someone I trusted, so the problem wasn’t being overwhelmed. Even if I didn’t have time to write content, I could at least have created an account! On some level, I simply didn’t want to do it.

My friend thought for a moment. I hoped he had a brilliant insight into why I was resisting the task. Instead, he asked me a surprising question. “Why do you want to do that?”

I babbled something about expanding to other platforms and increasing my reach. He nodded.

“So, you want to increase your reach. Why do you want to do that?”

I was taken aback. Don’t all creatives who use social media want to increase their reach? It’s just something you’re supposed to do, to make more money and be more successful.

And then the floodgates opened.

What I Really Wanted

I don’t have many regrets.

But one of my big ones is that, at the end of her life, my mother spent pretty much every waking moment terrified.

I was completely unable to help her, because I was unable to reach her. Her worldview was so different from mine, it was like we weren’t even speaking the same language.

Even though I knew many things that would have eased her final days, I couldn’t express them in a way that she would adopt them. I could love her, but I couldn’t help her. And there are many other people living in quiet desperation just like her.

I know I can help people have happier, healthier lives.

I can show them how to: increase their confidence, be more productive when it comes to what makes their lives meaningful, and have a different way of looking at the world. At the very least, I can leave them a little happier at the end of one of my stories than when they began.

But to do that, I have to be able to reach them. That means so much more than simply getting more eyeballs on my work. I have to learn to talk their language. I have to be able to adjust my style so that it speaks to them.

As soon as I understood what I really meant by “reach”, it was obvious that starting a Substack newsletter wouldn’t help me to reach more people. I needed coaching in how to write with broader appeal. I needed someone who could tell me where the people I most wanted to help could be found, and what sort of content they consumed.

For the next month, I set the goal of completing an online class designed to answer those specific criteria. And I quickly researched and enrolled in such a class. With the right goal, it was almost impossible not to take action.

Putting This to Work in Your Life

How can this question help you achieve your goals more easily? How can it save you time and energy, and keep you from going down fruitless pathways? How can it leverage the passion and motivation of your long-term goals into consistently taking action on your short-term goals?

Simple. When it comes time to create your next list of short-term goals, ask the question before you accept a goal.

Why do you want to do that?

If you can’t immediately see how doing it will enable you to reach one of your long-term goals, stop. Dig deeper. Whatever was the reason you gave for wanting to accomplish the short-term goal, ask the question again. Why do you want to do that?

It may be that your goals are simply at the wrong level, or focus too much on something out of your control. In that case, rewrite them.

For example, as a writer, I can set a target for how many articles I want to have published within a certain time frame. But I can’t control that. I can only control how many I write and submit. That’s a goal within my capacity to achieve.

Sometimes, however, it will help you to achieve clarity about your true goal. In that case, it becomes almost immediately obvious what your next step should be to achieve that goal.

Ask the question of your goals, to make sure your short-term actions support your long-term intentions. And the reason why you want to do that, is because your long-term goals are the things that give your life purpose and meaning. Achieving them will improve your life.