The first step to effective goal setting? Write them down

by Mervin Straughan
February 2021

There’s a saying in personal development circles that unless a goal is written down, it’s only a dream. 

The organisational strategist Jan Torrisi-Mokwa and author of Building Career Equity wanted to know how many people set goals and whether or not they wrote them down. She found that: 

• 16 per cent of people had goals
• 4 per cent wrote them down
• 1 per cent had written goals and reviewed them regularly.

On the same subject, a study published in the European Journal of Social Psychology set out to find out which people were more likely to succeed at their goals. 

It found that the success rate for people who are have their goals written down clearly is 91 per cent. For those who rely on memory, the success rate is only 35 per cent.

What sets the more successful goal setters apart is that they can state their goals clearly and tell us when and how they will achieve their goals. It’s clear they have specific action plans which they monitor and review regularly.