The argument in brief
The question
How do we turn an ambitious goal that feels out of reach into a strategy people believe in and act on?
The claim
A list of target numbers is more a wish than a strategy, and asking “Can I…?” limits our thinking. Framing the goal as a “How can we…?” question, and repeating it at each objection, prompts the ideas that become a concrete strategy and brings people along with it. Confidence: A practical recommendation from my own experience of setting goals and working with teams. No studies are cited, and the examples are illustrative.
The evidence
  • My own observation of how people phrase their goals, and of teams working to quarterly objectives.
  • Worked examples (a YouTube subscriber goal and a daily video habit) that are illustrative, not results from a real project.
  • No studies or measured outcomes.
The best counter
Some goals really are unrealistic, and a stream of “how” questions can make any target look achievable by piling on work or cost. Asking “Should we?” or “Is this the right goal?” may matter as much as asking “How?”.
What would change my mind
Evidence that teams who reframe goals as “how” questions don't generate more or better options, follow through no more often, or end up committing to goals they should have dropped.

The questionHow do we turn an ambitious goal that feels out of reach into a strategy people believe in and act on?As we set our own goals we start to ask the question, “Can I achieve…?” I often see people say, “Can I get to 4,000 Twitter followers by the end of the year?” or “Can I make $1,000 monthly revenue on my product?”

While these types of questions are great, Claima practical view from experience, not testedunfortunately they limit your thinking, making you less likely to find a way to achieve the goal.

Goals vs strategy

Now think of working with a team who have quarterly objectives. Their goals may be set out like the following:

  • To increase website traffic by 10%
  • To get 20 signups a day to the mailing list
  • To get 20,000 monthly YouTube views
  • To get 500 social likes in a 28 day period

LimitsThese goals, and the examples later on, are illustrative. They aren’t from a real team or project, and I haven’t tested the method against another way of planning.If you see a strategy that looks along these lines, Claimmy argument; a distinction rather than a findingthen consider that it’s more of a wish than a strategy.

A failure to believe the goal

An assumptionI’m assuming that disbelief in the goal is what leads to procrastination and weak support. Unclear priorities, lack of time or other work could do the same, and I can’t separate them here.If you’re now faced with the task of making the goals happen, it is easy to feel that they are unattainable. You may believe that they are too ambitious. You may not know how to action them. The consequence of this is that you’re unlikely to put the time and attention in to make it happen. You’ll procrastinate. And you’ll fail at your goal.

Others may look at the strategy, conclude that it’s just not possible, and fail to support it in the way it deserves. Imagine you’re pitching to your boss to implement a new social media strategy to get 50,000 new fans for the brand. Your boss may simply disbelieve that it’s possible and not support the project.

Frame it as a how question

I’m a believer that you can unlock a much better strategy by framing the goal as a question. As a “how” question. And let everyone involved be part of the process to get their buy-in.

Let’s look at an example.

Goal: Get to 100,000 YouTube subscribers

You can now frame this as a question:

How can we increase the number of YouTube subscribers to 100,000?

It now prompts more thinking to solve the problem. You (or your team) may now start to come up with ideas like these:

  • Make daily videos
  • Make 70% of the videos based on topics that people search for
  • Create a better hook to improve watch time
  • Improve the editing and storytelling to improve watch time
  • Relate videos to keep viewers watching related content on the channel

A competing explanationSome goals really are unrealistic, and a “how” question can make any target look reachable by piling on work, people or cost. Asking “Should we?” or “Is this the right goal?” may matter as much as asking how.Hopefully you can see now that it’s no longer an abstract goal but a more concrete strategy, all by framing it as a how question. These ideas now form part of the strategy.

A second layer of resistance

As you elaborate on the solutions, you may start to see a second layer of resistance. For example, “There’s no way we can make a video a day.”

Now you repeat the process:

How can you produce daily videos?

The solution follows the same process of coming up with ideas to overcome the limitation:

  • Batch the recording and editing
  • Outsource the editing
  • Hire more talent to work on it
  • Create pillar content pieces, then edit them into daily YouTube Shorts

By doing this Claima practical recommendation from experience, not testedyou start to break down the objections that limit thinking, and you get to fully explore more novel ways to achieve ambitious goals.

The ah-ha moment

What would change my mind?Evidence that teams who reframe goals as “how” questions don’t come up with more or better options, follow through no more often, or end up committed to goals they should have dropped.Don’t just have a wish list of goals. Instead frame each one as a “How can I…?” question and explore many different ways to solve it. Repeat the process until you have clear and concrete actions for you to take, no matter how ambitious the goal.

Books behind this essay

Not sources for any claim here. These are books I have finished that shaped how I think about this question. Where I rely on evidence, it is cited in the text.

The whole shelf