A few days ago, I sat in a quiet cabin over a few of those blurry days between Christmas and New Year, and had a realization that changed how I approach the entire year ahead.
Free time is pretty rare for me in this stage of life, I need to plan to ensure that I have it. I have to be on top of my systems, making sure my kids lunches are packed on weeknights and I’m constrained by school schedules and bedtimes. I can’t afford to spend my limited windows of free time wondering what to work on.
When I finally carve out time for my newsletter or personal projects, I need to already know exactly what I’m working towards. If I can make several decisions at one time, during my annual planning, I can move with clear intention all year long.
This insight led me back to something I’d moved away from: really specific, measurable goals set at the beginning of the year.
Why I Came Back to Specific Goals
For years, I was consistent with traditional goal-setting. My twist was categorizing everything I wanted to accomplish and picking one goal per category. So if I had a financial goal of building an emergency fund, I couldn’t also focus on investing until that was done.
Somewhere along the line I started experimenting, and it’s probably because the last 5 years have been so chaotic. With the pandemic and then having two children and also moving twice in that time, life is just different. I had a hard time figuring out how to make time for myself after having a baby, when I did figure it out we had another baby. Life became demanding in a way that led to different systems.
I experimented with annual themes, quarterly goals, monthly intentions. These are all good systems for the right person or season of life. But for me, they required too much ongoing reflection and decision-making energy.
What I discovered in the cabin this year: I need the structure of specific ambitious goals that I can check in on weekly to stay motivated.
If that sounds like you, this goal-setting framework might work for you as well.
Who This Framework Works For
This approach isn’t universal. It works particularly well if:
- You’re motivated by seeing concrete progress toward specific targets
- You thrive with systems that provide regular feedback
- You struggle with vaguer approaches to annual planning
If you prefer more flexibility or find specific numbers demotivating, this probably isn’t right for you. Similarly, if you have more unstructured time for ongoing reflection, you might not need this level of upfront decision-making.
All that really matters is knowing what motivates you. That’s the whole purpose of goals. If checking in weekly sounds like it would be a good fit, then I’d love for you to give this framework a shot.
The Foundation of My Goal Setting Process
I don’t want to spend too much time on the original process I follow as I’ve written about it elsewhere, but broadly here’s how I go about it:
- Spend time doing an end-of-year reflection, this gives me the clarity to know what worked the past year and decide what I want to do the upcoming year.
- Brainstorm every goal that I have. This is usually quite free form just gathering ideas for what I’d like the next year to look like.
- Pair down to the number of goals that feels like a stretch, but achievable for my current season of capacity. This year, I have four goals.
What has made a difference this year is the framework I use to set my goals so that they feel measurable and motivating enough.
Let’s dive into that.
The Four Components Of This Goal Setting Framework
After years of trial and error, I’ve landed on a framework where every goal needs four pieces. Miss any of these and the goal becomes unmeasurable or unmotivating, neither of which usually lead to achievement.
Here they are:
1. Input
I am a big believer in setting goals based on the input that you control. For example, I can control how often I post on LinkedIn, but not my rate of growth. I can control how often I stretch, but not how long it takes to reach the splits. (This second one is just an example and not an ambition of mine.)
2. Milestone
The outcome I’m working toward. This might be slightly outside my direct control, but my consistent actions should lead here. The milestone gives meaning to the action — it’s why I’m doing this thing. For example, one of my goals is to post more on LinkedIn, and a milestone for me would be reaching 20,000 followers.
3. Identity
The present-tense statement of who I am as I pursue this goal. This came from James Clear’s work on Identity-based habits. Instead of “I will post on LinkedIn,” I say “I am a consistent creator.” This shifts the goal from something I’m trying to do to something that’s part of who I am and with every action I take I’m proving that identity to myself. This is much sticker when we’re trying to make long-term change.
4.Measurement
Finally, measurement is the piece that makes everything stick. If I want to post on LinkedIn five times per week, that’s 260 posts for the year. That is the piece I can measure and check in on weekly — and I do recommend checking in weekly. Monthly or annual check-ins don’t create enough momentum for me. Seeing the numbers grow is a part of what is motivating to me.
I recommend choosing goals that are a true stretch – if you achieve them by year’s end, you’ll feel genuinely proud. But don’t set so many that you split your focus until nothing gets adequate attention.
What This Looks Like In Practice: Examples From My Own Goals
All four components work together. The action gives me control, the milestone gives me purpose, the identity shapes my mindset, and the tracking creates accountability.
Here are a few examples of my own goals. I always find it helpful to see these kinds of frameworks in action.
How I set a reading goal
Let me show you the reading goal with all four components:
Input: Read 50 books
Milestone: Better evening habits with less screen time
Identity: I read a lot
Measurement: Write down each book I finish (I use Notion, a lot of people like Goodreads for this)
The action (reading 50 books) is completely within my control. The milestone (better evening habits and less screen time) is the direction I want to move and another thing I hope to achieve. The identity (“I read a lot”) becomes something I can repeat to myself when I’m tempted to scroll instead of read. And the tracking shows me every week whether I’m on the right path.
This granular visibility is incredibly motivating to me. It keeps the goal present without requiring me to constantly rethink what I’m working toward.
How I set a content creation goal
My LinkedIn goal works the same way:
Input: Post 5 times per week
Milestone: Grow my audience to 20,000 followers
Identity: I am a consistent creator
Measurement: Weekly count of posts published
When I think “I am a consistent creator,” showing up five times a week stops feeling like a chore and starts feeling like who I am. That identity shift makes the daily action more sustainable and every time I take that action I’m proving to myself that it’s true, solidifying it as part of my identity.
How I set a healthier habits goal
One of my 2026 goals is completing my daily habits 70% of days throughout the year, and it’s a good example of a different style of goal that is more about consistency.
Input: Complete my daily habit checklist, which includes journal, drink water, move, stretch, bed by 10pm, 70% of the year (I’ve shortened this to 256 100% days as I call the days when I complete all of my habits 100% days)
Milestone: Feel like a healthier version of myself this year
Identity: I choose healthy habits
Measurement: Weekly check-in on what percentage of days I hit the habits
Setting Up A Way To Track Goals
To me, tracking goal process is the most fun part of this whole framework. Every Sunday during my weekly planning routine, I update my Notion database with current progress on each goal. This doesn’t take long, I just need to tally up the different areas that I’ve moved forward, and I can do this from my phone if I need to.
My Notion setup shows:
- Goal title
- Current number (where I am now, this starts at 0 at the beginning of the year)
- Goal number (what I’m aiming for, e.g. this number is 50 for my books goal)
- Progress (calculated by dividing current by the target number, then I display as a percentage)
Here’s what my reading goal will look like once I’ve read 10 books:
I also like to display the year percentage, just showing how far into the year we are, in several Notion databases. That way, if I see that I’m 30% through my reading goal and we’re 40% through the year, I know I’m slightly behind and can adjust course.
This weekly check-in keeps every goal visible and front-of-mind without requiring constant recalibration of what I’m working toward.
➡️ Read more about my weekly planning routine. Checking in on goals is a small piece of that larger Sunday reset.
Make This Framework Your Own
The beauty of having a clear framework is that you can adapt it.
Maybe you don’t need all four components, or maybe you need a fifth. Maybe monthly check-ins work better for your goals than weekly tracking. Maybe you love spreadsheets and hate Notion.
Take what resonates, leave what doesn’t, and build something that genuinely supports how you work and what your life demands.
The power isn’t in copying my exact framework. It’s in understanding what motivates you and then intentionally creating systems that play to those strengths rather than fighting them.
This year, I’m going into 2026 with complete clarity on what I’m working towards. When I have that precious hour before the kids wake up, I won’t waste it deciding what to do. I’ll already know.
That clarity is worth every minute I spent in the cabin making these decisions upfront.
I’d love to hear what goal-setting approaches work for you — especially if you’ve found ways to make goals genuinely motivating. And if you try this framework, let me know what adaptations you make to fit your specific situation.