The Four Steps Between a Goal and Done
2 min read
Here is the whole distance between wanting something and having it, in four steps. Nothing here is clever. The value is in noticing which step you have been skipping.
Step one: one sentence, one date
Write the outcome in a single sentence a stranger could verify, and put a date on it. “Finish the certification” becomes “Pass the exam on March 14.” “Get my finances sorted” becomes “Emergency fund at one month’s expenses by June 30.” If you cannot write the sentence, you do not have a goal yet; you have a wish. That is fine, but it will not respond to the next three steps.
Worth reading on thisAtomic Habits by James Clear — The clearest manual on making a habit small enough to survive a bad week. Pairs with almost everything on this site.Click hereto see it→
Step two: the steps, each with its own date
Work backward from the date. What has to be true the week before? The month before? Each piece gets a date of its own. Most goals that fail skipped this step: the end date existed but nothing between now and then did, so nothing was ever actually due.
Step three: this week’s piece, written down
Pull the next piece forward into the current week and give it a day. This is the only unit you have to manage: not the goal, not the plan, just this week’s piece. Monday’s job is Monday’s piece. That is the entire burden.
Goes deeperEssentialism by Greg McKeown — Doing fewer things, on purpose. The best argument for a shorter list you will read.Click hereto see it→
Step four: someone asks
This is the step that gets skipped, and it is the only one that enforces the other three. Without it, step one gets vaguer, step two gets abandoned, and step three gets renegotiated in silence every Thursday. With it, the whole chain holds. A specific person, on a specific day, asking: did this week’s piece happen?
Friends can do step four for about two weeks. After that, it gets awkward and they stop. Spouses can do it for about two days. Software cannot do it at all, because software cannot be disappointed in you.
Where the service fits
WisdomDeck’s Reality Check Accountability service is steps one through four, run by a real human on the WisdomDeck team. The first call writes the sentence, the date and the plan with you. Every weekly phone call after that is step three and step four: agree the piece, then ask whether the last one happened. Not therapy, not coaching, no advice on what the goal should be. Just the structure, held by a person. Brief first, price by email, nothing charged until you say yes. The how it works page walks through the first call.
Two more books, and one tool
Launch list
Be there on day one.
One email when the book opens on Kickstarter. Nothing else. Already reading the book? Your Cheat Sheet is at wisdomdeck.com/free.
Coming soon on 
The book itself — 40 laws in ten parts, 320 pages, each ending with The Work — is funded first on Kickstarter.
