Unclear Goals Are The Best Way To Not Achieve In Life

Unclear goals are silently sabotaging your success. Let's talk about how to rewrite them and take action that actually gets results.

If you say your goal is to “be successful,” cool, but what does that even mean? And how will you know when you’ve made it?

This is the trap most people fall into. They have big dreams and vague plans. Goals like “get healthy,” “make more money,” or “find purpose.” They sound nice. But they mean absolutely nothing without specifics.

You wouldn’t get in a car and say, “Take me somewhere good,” and then be shocked when you end up lost or stuck in traffic. But that’s exactly what you’re doing when your goals are blurry.

Unclear goals are like punching fog. What I mean by that is you’re putting in effort, but nothing connects. You’re working hard, but you’re not getting anywhere because you haven’t actually defined where you’re going.

And the worst part? You start thinking it’s your fault. That you lack discipline. That you’re just not cut out for success.

No. You just don’t have a clear target.

In this post, we’ll break down exactly what makes a goal vague and useless, why that’s sabotaging your progress, and how to rewrite your goals so they actually lead somewhere.

Because you don’t need to try harder. You just need to aim better. Let’s fix that.

What Is An Unclear Goal?

Unclear goals are the reason you're working hard but feeling like nothing’s happening. They're the “do better,” “try harder,” “someday” promises you make to yourself that never go anywhere.

They sound motivating. They feel big. But they’re empty.

A goal like “I want to feel more confident” or “I need to sort my life out” might sound like a step forward, but it’s not a goal. It’s a vague wish. Your brain doesn’t know what to do with that. There’s no finish line, no direction, and no plan.

So What Exactly Makes a Goal Unclear?

Unclear goals are missing the what, the how, and the by when. They’re all desire, no structure. You don’t know what success looks like, how you’ll measure it, or when it’s supposed to happen.

It’s like telling your GPS “somewhere better” and wondering why it doesn’t know where to take you.

Here’s an example:

Unclear: “I want to get fit.”

Clear: “I want to be able to run 5km without stopping by the 15th of July.”

See the difference? The second one tells your brain exactly what you’re doing, where you’re going, and when it needs to happen. That’s how you create momentum.

Why Unclear Goals Don’t Work

When your goal is unclear, your brain doesn’t take it seriously. It doesn’t kick into action mode. It stays in default mode - distracted, confused, overwhelmed.

You end up doing a little of this, a little of that, jumping between ideas, and finishing nothing. Then you wonder why you don’t feel motivated.

I’ve seen this happen so many times with clients, with friends, and honestly, with myself. I once set a goal to “level up my business.”

Sounds ambitious, right? But I didn’t define what “level up” actually meant. More clients? Higher income? More time off? I had no clue. So I worked a lot but got nowhere.

It wasn’t until I wrote down the clear goal “earn £5,000 a month from coaching clients by June 1”, that everything clicked. I had something I could build toward. Something to measure. Something that made the next steps obvious.

How Unclear Goals Make You Feel

Unclear goals create a constant low-level sense of failure. You always feel behind, even if you’ve been “working on things.” You struggle to track progress. You feel like you're spinning your wheels.

And worst of all, you start to doubt yourself. You think you’re not disciplined or focused. But the real problem isn’t you, it’s the foggy target you’re aiming for.

When goals are vague, progress feels invisible. And invisible progress kills motivation.

Unclear goals aren’t harmless

They’re one of the most common forms of self-sabotage. You can be the most capable person in the world, but if you’re aiming at nothing, you’ll hit it every time.

If you want real progress, you need goals that are clear, specific, and actionable. Not just “more,” “better,” or “someday.”

Because a dream without a plan is just another thing you’ll feel bad about not doing. Let’s change that.

Why Having Unclear Goals Is Self-Sabotage

Hear me when I say this: Keeping your goals vague isn’t you being flexible or chill. It’s self-sabotage in disguise. You’re not giving yourself freedom. You’re giving yourself an escape route.

You say things like “I just want to see how things go” or “I don’t want to put too much pressure on it.” Translation? I don’t want to commit, because if I do… I could fail.

So instead, you live in this grey zone - not really in, not really out. Kind of trying, but kind of not. Working hard, but with no real direction. And it feels exhausting.

You Think You’re Staying Open But You’re Just Staying Stuck

Unclear goals give you a permanent excuse to delay action. You can always say “I’m figuring it out” or “I’m still working on it,” even when months have passed and nothing has changed.

That vague dream feels safer than setting a specific goal that might not work out. But here’s the problem; you can’t track progress if you don’t know what you’re progressing toward. So you stay in motion, but not in momentum.

You’re working. You’re thinking. You’re journaling, planning, hoping. But you’re not moving.

No Direction = No Progress

Without a clear destination, you end up overwhelmed by possibilities. Every new idea feels like something you should explore. Every setback makes you question your entire plan, because you never really had one.

You waste time on the wrong things. You lose focus. You change your mind every other week. And slowly, you stop trusting yourself to follow through on anything.

Clarity isn’t just helpful. It’s everything.

Unclear Goals Kill Motivation

Think about the last time you said, “I don’t know what I’m doing with my life.” That didn’t feel empowering. That felt heavy. Uncertain. Like you’re behind and can’t explain why.

Unclear goals create constant self-doubt. You don’t feel proud of your progress because you’re not even sure what progress means. You keep wondering if you’re doing “enough.”

Well, you know what? When your goals aren’t defined, nothing ever feels like enough.

This is where burnout starts. When you’re working, trying, doing… but not moving forward. Because “forward” hasn’t been clearly defined.

Perspective shift incoming

Unclear goals aren’t a softer, more creative way to approach life. They’re a mental trap. They protect your ego from failure, but they also block you from success.

If you’re tired of feeling lost, overwhelmed, and like you’re not reaching your potential, you don’t need more motivation. You need clarity.

It’s time to stop floating and finally decide what you’re building. Because vague dreams don’t change your life. Clear ones do.

How to Set Clear Goals You Can Take Action Toward

If you want to stop feeling stuck, unmotivated, and constantly behind, you need to make your goals so clear they leave no room for confusion. No vague hopes. No abstract dreams. Just focused, actionable direction.

And look, I know how tempting it is to keep things vague. For years, I told myself I had “big plans.” I was “working on things.” My goal was to “build a successful business.”

But I had no clue what that actually meant. What did success look like? How much income? From what offers? By when?

I stayed in that fog for months, constantly working, constantly thinking, constantly stressed, with very little to show for it. The moment I got specific, everything shifted. Not because I suddenly worked harder. But because I finally knew what I was aiming for.

Here’s how you can do the same.

Use the “From X to Y by When” Formula

This is as simple as it is game-changing. Take your vague goal and reshape it like this:

Where you're at, to where you want to be, by this date. Like this: From 3 clients per month, To 10 clients per month, By August 1

Now your brain knows exactly what to do. It has a target. A timeline. A reason to take action. This kind of clarity helps you reverse-engineer your goal into actual steps instead of just daydreaming about “growth.”

Make Your Goals Specific and Measurable

Vague: “I want to grow my Instagram.”
Clear: “I want to reach 5,000 followers by October 1, posting 4 times a week and engaging daily.”

Bonus point if you can include the action you'll take in the goal.

Specific and measurable goals give you a clear sense of what to do, and a clear way to track if it’s working. Without that, you’ll always feel like you’re not doing enough, even when you’re actually doing a lot. You've heard of SMART Goals, right?

Break Big Goals Into Milestones

One of the reasons we avoid clear goals is because they feel too overwhelming. So break them down.

Let’s say your goal is to launch a coaching offer in 90 days. That’s great, but where do you start?

Try this:

Week 1: Define your offer

Week 2: Create your outline

Week 3: Write the sales page

Week 4: Start soft outreach

Week 5: Build launch content
...and so on.

Every big goal is just a bunch of small ones stacked together. When you break it down, it becomes manageable, and suddenly your brain stops panicking and starts executing.

Create a Plan, Then Take Imperfect Action

You don’t need a perfect plan. You just need a plan you can start. That’s the difference.

Most people keep planning because they don’t want to “waste time” on the wrong move. But the only time you’re wasting is the time spent waiting for the perfect moment.

Once I started setting clear goals, I stopped hiding behind endless planning and started testing things. I launched before I felt ready.

Some things flopped. Some worked. But I finally had data, and direction! You can’t adjust what doesn’t exist.

Review and Adjust Weekly

Clarity isn’t a one-time thing. Goals evolve. Life changes. You learn new things. But once you’re in motion, it’s easier to shift than to start from scratch.

Check in with yourself weekly. What worked? What didn’t? What’s the next best move? This keeps your goals aligned with your reality - and keeps you from falling back into vague territory.

If you ask me...

Setting clear goals isn’t restrictive, it’s empowering. It gives you focus. It helps you measure real progress. And it quiets that part of your brain that’s always yelling, “You should be doing more.”

You don’t need a million goals. You just need one clear one. Something you can see, aim at, and take action toward. Once you have that, everything else gets easier.

Something To Think About

If you’ve been feeling stuck, scattered, or unsure of what to do next, it might not be a motivation problem. It might just be that your goals aren’t clear.

You can’t reach a destination you haven’t defined. You can’t take focused action when you’re not sure what you’re building. And you definitely can’t feel confident or accomplished when you don’t know what “success” even looks like.

So ask yourself: What goal have I been vaguely working toward? What would it look like if I made that goal specific, measurable, and time-bound, starting today?

You don’t need to rewrite your whole life. Start with one area. One goal. One clear sentence that gives your brain something solid to work with.

Set the goal. Write it down. Break it into steps. Give it a deadline. Then move - imperfectly, consistently, and with intention.

Because once you get clear, things start happening. You stop spinning. You stop second-guessing. You know what matters and what doesn’t. And suddenly, that dream that’s been floating in your head becomes something real, you’re actually building.

Clarity isn’t about doing more . It’s about doing what matters, on purpose.

You’re not lazy. You’re not unmotivated. You’re just one clear goal away from real momentum.

So go set it. Then start. Everything else will follow.

This post was all about unclear goals secretly screwing you.