Do you write your goals down?

I’ve been asking people if they write their goals down. It’s surprising how often the answer is “no.” And not just no but the idea is usually foreign.

Even more shocking, it’s not just individuals that don’t do this. I’ve worked for businesses that aren’t good at setting goals. Sure there’ll be todos and lists of bugs to fix. But nowhere can you find a list of goals the business or project is trying to accomplish.

Here’s how simple it is. Decide what you want, write it all down. - Jim Rohn

Jim Rohn was a huge advocate for writing down your goals. I’ve listened to several of his recorded seminars and he always spends time on this.

It really is as simple as Rohn makes it sound.

The thing is people have a lot of passive wishes and dreams that they kind of want but don’t really want. Writing down your goals helps you evaluate your desires against each other. With that, you can have priorities. Without priorities, you’re just drifting wherever life takes you.

I’ve been writing my goals down for a while now. They do shift and change over time but that’s okay. Seeing and understanding this shift is part of the point.

Sometimes you accomplish goals and sometimes you realize you never really wanted them. Sometimes you fail. That’s all extremely useful information.

If the future gets clear, the price gets easier. - Jim Rohn

Not all goals are made equal. While setting goals is simple, there are some nuances that are worth being aware of.

I consider four types of goals that are all valuable but serve different purposes.

1. Specified - specific and are just a matter of time and effort
2. Stochastic - specific but rely on events you can influence but not determine
3. Vectored - stated and are more directional than specific
4. Latent - unstated directions that emerge from your routines and behaviors

Let’s consider some examples so that these are clear.

A specified goal should be fully in your control. For example my current goal is writing an article on Substack every day in May of 2026. I fully control it. If I miss a day or decide to abandon it, that’s on me. Only my own failings and extreme circumstances will prevent this from happening.

A stochastic goal is at least partly out of your control. I have a goal of getting a silver play button on YouTube. This requires posting videos for at least 6 months and hitting 100k subscribers. I can control the first part but only can influence the latter part through better quality content. I’m not currently making YouTube videos so this isn’t likely to happen any time soon.

A vectored goal is more directional and non-specific. It’s hard to tell if you’ve achieved it. It’s more a driver of specific goals than a goal on it’s own. For example, I want to get better at writing. So, I’m writing every day here and in morning pages.

A latent goal is the weirdest one. Once you name the goal it becomes vectored. These are things you’re working towards but unaware or unintentionally. They could be things you don’t even want. For example, you could have a latent goal of becoming unhealthy. You can achieve this by sitting all day and eating poorly. This could just be a byproduct of your work environment.

You can call these whatever you want. These names are kind of technical but they’re very accurate to how the goal works.

A goal without a plan is just a wish. - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Once you write down your goals you can consider what type of goal it is. Usually you want to operate on specified goals since these are things you can control. Let’s say you have a directional goal of getting good at making videos and a stochastic goal of getting that play button. Then you might want to have specified goals like posting once a week and doing regular critical reviews with someone you trust.

That’s really all there is to it.