Setting goals? How to use the rule of thirds

Setting goals sets us up to fail – it’s statistically true: We don’t achieve 92% of them.

Nevertheless, we persist.

Many of us diligently identify our next goal – from fitness to family, health to careers- every new year, month, birthday or quarter. The urge is baked into who we are, delivering purpose, motivation and a roadmap to plan and prioritise against. 

Goals are good!

Goals aren’t the problem; our optimism bias is. Most of us overestimate the likelihood of positive experiences and underestimate the potential for bad ones. This beautiful trait usually serves us very well, but sometimes, we need to polish our rose-tinted glasses to see the future more clearly.

Whether your goals are hard-coded or vague, you’re on the right track. Simply combine your current ambitions with some tweaks to your approach, and you’ll vastly improve your chances of success.

We’ve already covered the powr of reflection to understand the all-important ‘why’ behind our intentions. If you’re a Powrsuiter, you also know the importance of breaking big ambitions down into small steps (and celebrating along the way). Little dopamine hits keep you motivated after the initial spark of excitement fades. 

But there’s a third element to setting successful goals – and the clue is the word ‘third’.

Humans love threes

Human brains crave patterns. Patterns turn the daily avalanche of data we face into simple rules, saving us effort and processing power (while creating unconscious bias!). 

Three is the smallest pattern: The simplest form of the simplification of data. And by golly, do we love it. Artists compose in threes, storytellers construct in threes, and quotes regularly include threes (good things come in it, after all).

This leads us to the three that make our goals way more achievable: the rule of thirds.

Third time’s a charm

When Alexi Pappas was struggling with training in the leadup to the Rio Olympics, her coach told her not to worry:

“When you’re chasing a big goal, you’re supposed to feel good a third of the time, okay a third of the time, and crappy a third of the time…and if the ratio is roughly in that range, then you’re doing fine.”

You’re only meant to feel good a third of the time. For us overachievers, that reality hits home.

Progress isn’t linear

We all imagine a smooth path to success when we should be embracing the rollercoaster. Think about every three walks towards your fitness goal, every three presentations you give, and every three networking conversations you have. One of them should feel downright crappy, and another one should be an exercise in mediocrity. 

Only one of them should feel great. 

By mentally preparing ourselves for the ups and downs of progress, we don’t get discouraged when things don’t go well – we expect it.

A new rule of thirds: Prepare, progress and plot

We’re huge fans of the fresh start effect – embracing a new time period to set our ambitions higher. However, if you, like us, want to actually achieve your goals this year, remember our newly coined rule of three™️:

Prepare: Embrace reflection to understand the why (and any lessons) behind your goals.

Progress: Break your goals down into smaller ‘non-scale’ milestones and celebrate hitting them along the way.

Plot: Plot your progress into thirds; you should feel good, average and bad in roughly equal proportions.