Goal Breakdown

Imagine you want to ﬁnd a new job. This is a big goal with many time-consuming steps. Such a

major goal can be very stressful, or even overwhelming. This is the type of goal that you will

always start “tomorrow” or “next week”, but those times never seem to come.

Learning to break your goals into small tasks will help you overcome the stress and

procrastination they create. For example, ﬁnding a new job can be broken down like this:

Goal Task Time Required Schedule



Research job interests and write a list of

careers that interest me.

1 hour

Sunday

afternoon



Revise resume by adding recent job

experiences.

1 hour

Monday, after

dinner



Spend 45 minutes looking at job openings. 45 minutes

Wednesday,

after dinner

Tips for Breaking Goals into Tasks

Avoid creating tasks that require longer than one hour, unless absolutely necessary.

If you ﬁnd a task is difﬁcult to start, it might be too big. See if it can be broken down further.

For example, “practice playing guitar” can be broken down to “practice the beginning of a

song”.

Long tasks that cannot be broken down further should be set to a time limit (e.g. “Spend 45

minutes looking at job openings”).

The tasks you create are not set in stone. If a task is more difﬁcult than expected, break it

down further or spread it out over more time. If a task is easier than expected, combine it with

other tasks.

Protect the time that you schedule for tasks. Turn off your phone, go somewhere with few

distractions, and set a timer to keep track of how long you’ve been working.