Achieve Your Goals Faster with Clearer Tasks

Some people need no plans. And some people DO.

But what good are plans if we do not accomplish them?

Over the years, through constant practice and failure, I have developed a system that has helped me achieve in a month what previously took me years. Here are some key insights to help you improve instantly and accomplish your goals as efficiently as an assembly line.

Log your goals and tasks

One of the most important things is to write them down to track, analyze, remind, and motivate yourself.

Writing down individual tasks and following them (not rigidly, though) is fundamental to achieving your goals. You cannot remember everything, and why should you? A simple paper or app is enough. I used paper for years but switched to Obsidian for obvious reasons. Instead of striving for perfection in writing goals, focus on practicing awareness and getting them down.

When you first think of wanting something, it often comes as a raw thought—rarely a well-defined goal.

For example, you might write down:

• I want to learn Korean
• read more books
• cold exposure
• vacation

Some of these are tied to bigger goals, some are ultimate aspirations, and some are just random ideas that passed your internal filter as being important enough to write down.

The main problem with these examples is that you cannot tell when the task is finished.

That is why most people have them in their queue forever.

• Learning a language: How can you tell when you truly “speak” it? How many words do you need to learn? How many hours of active listening are required?
• Reading: What books? How many?
• Vacation: Where? With whom? For how long?

Rephrase the raw thoughts

Ask yourself “What does this thought even mean?”.

Sometimes, you write down a task in a hurry or in a vague way that makes it difficult to understand later. This was a common problem in my early stages of learning to write goals effectively.

Practicing this process will help you gain clarity, so eventually, you won’t need this step as often.

Also, ask yourself these questions:

• is it important?
• is it urgent?
• does this task help me get closer to my bigger goals?

Think of this as a primary filter for you tasks.

Be Brutally Specific

If you want to complete a task or achieve a goal, be as specific as possible at the time¹.

Vagueness means you don’t care enough about the quality of performance or results, which suggests that the task might not actually be important to you.

Being specific magically solves confusion and procrastination. It also saves enormous amounts of resources like money and time because you know exactly what you want—and just as importantly, what you don’t.

Vague tasks are the most common reason people never finish them.

Tip: Use verbs - they imply action, make them clearer and motivational.

Define Achievement Criteria

Whatever your goal is, phrase it so that you can clearly tell when it’s finished.

Use your imagination. Write out a detailed story of what achieving the goal looks like. Train your brain to think this way.

Break Goals Into Atomic Pieces

Obviously, something like “Pass B2 Korean exam” or “Go on vacation to Spain for 4 days in May” is not a single step task. These require multiple steps, so you need to break them down into smaller pieces.

Tip: Once you’ve rephrased the goal, defined achievement criteria, and made it specific enough, create a separate note or document for that goal. Each goal should have a individual note.

Now it’s time to brainstorm the steps between now and the final step of the goal.

Example

Title: Go on vacation to Spain for 4 days in May

Achievement Criteria: We’ve just landed in Spain for vacation

Tasks:

• Research potential places I want to stay in
• Set up a budget
• Rent an appartment
• Buy flight tickets
• Check Passport validity
• …
• …
• Go to the airport

Notice: Each step starts with a verb.

If the goal is still too big, break it down further by adding subtasks.

Something like this:

• Goal #1
  • task #1
    • subtask #1.1
    • subtask #1.2
    • subtask #1.3
  • task #2
  • task #3
    • subtask #3.1
    • subtask #3.2
  • task #4

I use Obsidian because organizing tasks there is easier than handling a stack of papers. But whatever tool you use, structuring tasks this way keeps them actionable and achievable.

Keys to remember

• Write you goals and tasks(paper, notebook, app)
• Filter the initial thoughts(importance, urgency, relevance)
• Rewrite them to be specific
• Know the finish line(achievement criteria)
• Break big goals into tasks and subtasks

Let me know how this system works for you. I’m always open to feedback and suggestions.