A Simple 7-Step Plan to Achieving Any Goal

Get that winning feeling

Achieving goals feels good, that’s why people do horrible crazy things like marathons, climbing mountains and triathlons. They don’t love being in pain and out of breathe, probably. But they love that feeling of accomplishment when they’re done.

Now that we know why people like to achieve goals, lets find out how they do it.

Not all goals are sporting, they’re just the ones I found easiest to get examples of. Your goal could be getting your product to market, solving a business problem or passing an exam.

The Navy SEALs have a 7-step plan to achieve any goal. It’s so simple you could start using it right now.

Ask Clarifying Questions

In order to succeed, you need to know what success is. If it’s a 10k run, success could be crossing the finish line, finishing in a certain time or beating a certain individual. Find out which one is your measure of success.

Identify All Your Resources

How much will it cost? What technology can you use? What skills do you have? What can your network offer you?

Clarify Roles and Responsibilties

If you have a team, they should all know exactly what to and when to do it.

Each member of your team should know when they can and can not act and they should know how what they do will affect the mission.

Focus Relentlessly On Your Goal

There are no excuses. You must reach your goal. Finding it too hard? Push through, or lean on your teammates. Can’t solve a certain problem? Attack it from a different angle or see if someone in your team can solve it.

Think Through All Possible Contigencies

Try to predict any issues you may face. Now think of ways around them. You can avoid many problems and roadblocks by trying to predict them.

Train Until You’re Stress Proof

The more you train a skill, the less effort it takes, the faster you can do it and the fewer mistakes you will make.

After-Action Reviews

Don’t blame anyone. Everyone did their best, but some things still went wrong. Figure out what went wrong, then figure out how to do better next time.

Now you know the 7 steps to achieve any goal, try them out and let me know what goals you want to achieve below.

What I discovered When I Tried Warren Buffett’s 5/25 Rule


I saw a video recently about Warren Buffett’s 5/25 rule in which it is claimed that Buffett once had a conversation with his pilot. For anyone who doesn’t know, Warren Buffett is one of the most successful investors in the world and has been top of his game for decades. After realising he’d had the same pilot for 10 years, he was perturbed to find that the pilot had not moved on in all that time. I will be paraphrasing, but Buffett says something along the lines of “if you’ve been working as my pilot for 10 years, I must not be doing my job right” so he instructs the pilot to write down 25 career goals and that he can write anything he wants.

Next Buffett tells the pilot to prioritise the top 5. This is more difficult, but the pilot does it. Now, Buffet asks him

“What will you do with the other 20?”

The pilot says “I will treat these as 2nd best and work on them when I have spare time”

Buffett replies “No. You avoid those at all costs, until you had achieved your top 5.”

Buffett explains that spreading yourself too thin means you don’t make any significant progress towards any of your goals. Focusing on a goals instead, is the key to making progress.

This doesn’t mean that you are limited to do just 5 things for the rest of your life, never trying anything new, just repeating the same cycle of days for the rest of time. BUT you can’t do number 6 until you have achieved ONE of the top 5. This is the crux of the idea.

This idea can be applied to any area of life where you have too many options. Too many options meaning there are multiple things you want to achieve, but you never quite seem to get any of them done, they just remain on a wish list for all time. For example, do you have too many hobby projects you never complete? Too many career skills, so none seem to improve all that much? Too many new business ideas, but you don’t ever seem to start any? All of these can be whittled down to your top 5, allowing you to focus and make real progress.

I tried this for myself. I don’t have 25 career aspirations, so I wrote down 25 things I want to do in my life in general from hobbies, to work, to travel. The top 5 I prioritised, see below:

  1. Improve my writing
  2. Improve my blog
  3. Exercise regularly
  4. Travel outside Europe
  5. Start a Side-Hustle
  1. I have been reading more and more lately about the benefits of being able to write well, which was part of my inspiration to start a blog, so that was always going to end up on this list.
  2. This blog is new, there’s lots of room to grow and improve, but I’m enjoying the process so far With a lot of practice I hope to be writing better articles, have a better website and anything else that would make the blog better.
  3. I have been trying to do this for years, but I always give up a few weeks in. I was recently pointed towards “Couch to 5k”, which aims to make running a habit by easing you in. Instead of going too hard too soon and quitting, as I always have done in the past, you build up to longer runs until you can do 5k even if you started from a point of doing no exercise at all. The best part for me has been the structure the app provides, as I tend to just run hard, then get tired and never want to run again.
  4. I love to go on solo-travel trips, but I have played it pretty safe so far, going to European cities where pretty much everyone speaks English and the culture isn’t too different to our own. I want to go further away and experience more, even if it is a little scary to not speak the language or know all the customs, that’s part of the fun, right?
  5. I recently read a fantastic book by Chris Guillebau, in which he describes the merits of having a “side-hustle” and how to start one. The book is very clearly written and inspiring, with great advice. I aim to write a post on it someday soon. The main reason the idea drew me in, is it allows you to have a project of your own, that gives you a sense of achieving something of your own. Guillebeau says it’s not about workaholism, having a second job would be a nightmare for many people. Side-hustles come come in many different forms, as you can see on his podcast it’s a creative outlet for some people for others it gives them a sense of independence. It’s a great way to do some work you enjoy, just for you, without going all in and quitting your job to start a business.

If this post or the original video inspires you to try the idea for yourself, please let me know in the comments below, how it worked out for you!