How do I set goals for myself?
By No Rush · Updated October 28, 2026
The short answer
Pick something you could do this week and make it concrete enough to tick off. "Walk twenty minutes on Tuesday after dinner" works better than "get fit", because you can tell when it's done. Choose the moment and the place in advance. Leave the life plan for later, after a few small goals have taught you something.
How do I set goals if I don't know what I want?
Leave the life plan for now and pick something you can try within a week. Kennon Sheldon and Andrew Elliot followed students through a term and found that people put more into goals that fit what they themselves cared about. If you can't name that yet, trying a small thing will usually tell you more than thinking it over.
What makes a goal too vague?
A goal like "get fit" or "earn more" has no finish line. Whatever you do, the line moves along with you, so it never feels done. Make it concrete enough to tick off: what exactly, when, for how long and where. "Walk for twenty minutes on Tuesday after dinner" is either done or not done.
Does it help to plan when and where?
A little. Paschal Sheeran and colleagues looked at 642 tests. People who decided ahead of time when and where they would act, and what they would do if something came up, followed through more often. The effect was smaller than many books suggest. It costs you one sentence, so it's still worth doing.
Should I track my progress?
It tends to help. Benjamin Harkin and colleagues brought together 138 studies with almost 20,000 people. When people were helped to keep track of how far they had come, they reached their goal more often, and more so when they wrote it down. A tick on a piece of paper counts.
What if a goal I've had for years isn't working?
Add a new goal next to it. Barlow, Wrosch and McGrath combined more than thirty groups of people. Those who were good at picking up a new goal had a better quality of life. Being good at letting go of the old goal mattered much less. So the old goal can stay for now. Start something small beside it.
In the No Rush app
In the app, a goal is one small thing you'll actually do, so concrete that you can tick it off. The app asks you six short questions about it, such as when and where you'll do it. After that it's under Steps, and later the app asks how it went.
No Rush app
An iPhone app for people who feel stuck. It sets out one small next step at a time and tells you why that one. It is not therapy.
Sign up free Take the test For iPhone. Coming soon to the App Store. The first seven days are free in the app. After that, you choose whether to subscribe. Sign up now and the app stays free for you, for life.
Sources
- Sheldon & Elliot (1999). Goal striving, need satisfaction, and longitudinal well-being: The self-concordance model. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76(3), 482-497. doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.76.3.482
- Sheeran, Listrom & Gollwitzer (2025). The when and how of planning: Meta-analysis of the scope and components of implementation intentions in 642 tests. European Review of Social Psychology, 36(1), 162-194. doi.org/10.1080/10463283.2024.2334563
- Harkin e.a. (2016). Does monitoring goal progress promote goal attainment? A meta-analysis of the experimental evidence. Psychological Bulletin, 142(2), 198-229. doi.org/10.1037/bul0000025
- Barlow, Wrosch & McGrath (2020). Goal adjustment capacities and quality of life: a meta-analytic review. Journal of Personality, 88(2), 307-323. doi.org/10.1111/jopy.12492
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