“Your majesty, Mister Lipwig always achieves his goals, I assure you,” said Lord Vetinari, in his best oiled voice. “I find it amazing and, of course, annoying, but so far he has always succeeded, which is why, therefore, all of his extremities are in their rightful place.”

Everybody present laughed nervously, except Lord Vetinari, who just laughed. The King of the Dwarfs stared at Moist as if seeing him in a new light, and said, “Is that really true, Mister Lipwig?”

Moist forced his face to go so deadpan that it might have actually been dead. “Yes, your majesty, everything that ought to be attached still is.”

Terry Pratchett, Raising Steam

Quantifying your goals

Coming up with goals is easy.

Everyone has a version of themselves that they’d like to be.

Someone who for instance, wakes up early on time; someone who gets work done fast; has enough free time in the world to pursue hobbies; avoids procrastination and so on.

Listing goals like this is child’s play:

1. I want to be rich

2. I want to wake up early

3. I want to work out everyday

4. I want to get good grades in my classes

But after listing it comes the problem. The first half of the issue has been tackled. But now what?

How do I work towards that goal now?

Let me teach you how to quantify goals.

There’s no point in having goals if you can’t quantify them.

I’ll use the exact four goals above to show you what I mean.

1. “I want to be rich.”

What does “rich” mean to you? What amount of money is “rich” to you? The amount isn’t the same for everyone. By simply saying that, you’re going nowhere because there’s no specifications.

Here’s an alternative:

“By the end of 2022, I should have X amount in my savings account. I have come to this amount by calculating my expenses and income. In order to live the lifestyle I want, I should have X amount in my savings.”

This is a better plan. Now you have something to actually work towards, a number, and not just an ambiguous “rich.”

2. “I want to wake up early.”

A lot of people, including myself, struggle to wake up early. How do you achieve the goal of waking up early?

Let me share my own example with you. I tend to get up at 8 am. My goal is to wake up at 5:30 am.

I have already established my main goal. Now I’m going to create steps for it.

I know that I can’t jump from 8 am to 5:30 am, because my body won’t be able to take it.

So I create short goals. Achievable goals.

For the next 10 days, I’ll get up at 7:30 am.

10 days after that, 7 am.

10 days after that, 6:30 am.

And so on.

By creating steps to my goal, I now have a strategy ready. I have quantified my goals.

The same applies to working out and getting good grades.

3. “I want to work out consistently”

= “I want to work out at least four times a week.”

4. “I want to get good grades”

= “I want X GPA by the end of this semester.”

Visualising goals is easy.

Strategising them is challenging.

Executing them is challenging.

By strategising your goals, you’re able to create a game plan. By creating a game plan, you’re able to follow through that plan. Execution then becomes a breeze.