Too Many Goals?
For anyone with a long list of things they are working on, and the uneasy feeling that none of them are actually moving.
You have too many goals when you are busy on all of them but finishing none, when you cannot say which one matters most, or when every week feels like starting over. Fix it by listing everything, choosing the one or two that would make the biggest difference, putting the rest on a someday list and giving your top goal a protected time slot. Fewer goals is not settling. It is how anything actually gets finished.
In the early days of the startup I helped run, I was doing everything: HR, compliance, sales, marketing. Whatever needed to be done, I did it. There were days when I felt like I was learning an entirely new job every week.
When everything needs you, it is easy to believe everything is a priority. But a list of ten priorities is not a plan. It is a list.
Saying not now to a good goal is not giving up on it. It is giving the most important goal a real chance.
There is a cost to juggling. Researcher Sophie Leroy found that when people switch from one task to another, part of their attention stays stuck on the first one, which she called attention residue. Spread across too many goals, that residue means none of them get your full focus.
If everything is a priority, nothing is.
How to cut your goals down to what matters
Write every goal down
List every goal you are carrying, big and small: work, health, family, side projects, the book you keep meaning to write. Seeing them all at once usually explains why you feel stretched.
Look for the warning signs
You probably have too many goals if you are working on all of them but finishing none, if you cannot name your top one in five seconds, or if each week starts with deciding what to work on instead of doing it.
Choose one or two
Ask: if I made real progress on only one of these this year, which would make everything else easier or better? Circle it. Then pick, at most, one more.
Make a someday list
The other goals are not dead. Move them to a someday list and agree to revisit it once a quarter. Parking a goal on purpose feels very different from letting it quietly die.
Give the top goal a protected time slot
Put your top goal on the calendar before anything else, at a time you will defend like a meeting. Our schedules usually reveal our priorities better than our intentions do.
Review every quarter
Every three months, check the top goal and the someday list. Finished something? Pull the next one forward. This keeps your list short without losing anything important.
Saying not now to a good goal
gives the best goal a real chance.
Is having fewer goals settling?
No. Settling is giving up on what you want. Focusing is deciding the order you will go after it. The people who get the most done over a lifetime usually work on fewer things at once, and finish more of them.
Related reading: Goals vs Systems, How to Figure Out What Actually Matters and How to Set Goals You Will Actually Keep.
Common questions
How many goals should I have at once?
Most people do best with one or two main goals at a time, plus a someday list for the rest. More than that usually splits attention so much that none of them move.
How do I know if I have too many goals?
Warning signs include working on everything but finishing nothing, being unable to name your top goal quickly and starting each week by deciding what to work on instead of doing it.
How do I decide which goals to drop?
Ask which goal would make the biggest difference if it were the only one you moved forward this year. Keep that one, add at most one more and park the rest on a someday list.
Is it bad to have a lot of goals?
Having many things you want is fine. Working on all of them at once is the problem, because switching between them leaves part of your attention behind each time.
List every goal, pick one or two that matter most, park the rest on a someday list and give your top goal a protected time slot.
You Are Capable
of More.
Ten principles for becoming the person you know you are capable of being, built from real stories of people who doubted themselves and did it anyway. Winner of the How-To category at the 2026 Paris Book Festival.
When I’ve got something worth sending.
Just a story or an idea I picked up that I think will help you.
Sometimes that’s twice in a month. Sometimes it’s not for a while.