Brian Tracy's 10 Goals Method: A Step-by-Step Guide

The Brian Tracy 10 goals method is one of the simplest goal-setting routines there is. Every morning you take a blank page and write down ten goals you want to reach in the next twelve months, as if you had already reached them. Then you pick the one goal that would change your life the most, and you do something about it today. That’s it. No vision board, no planner system, no special software.

Simple is not the same as easy, though. Writing 10 goals every day asks for a few minutes of honest attention, every single morning. This guide walks you through the method step by step: where it comes from, how to phrase your goals, the question that turns a list into a priority, and a 30-day plan to get started.

What is Brian Tracy’s 10 goals method?

It is a daily writing practice. You write your ten most important goals, in the present tense, without looking at the list you wrote the day before. Over days and weeks, the act of rewriting sharpens the list. Vague wishes turn into specific targets, and the goals you keep forgetting quietly fall away.

The method has three parts:

• Write: ten goals, personal, positive and in the present tense, each with a deadline.
• Choose: the one goal that would have the greatest positive impact on your life.
• Act: take at least one concrete step toward that goal today.

The writing gets the attention, but the choosing and acting are what make it more than a journaling habit.

Where does the 10 goals exercise come from?

Brian Tracy is a Canadian-American author and speaker who has taught goal setting for decades. He describes the exercise in his book Goals! How to Get Everything You Want, Faster Than You Ever Thought Possible (first published in 2003), and he repeats the core of it on his website.

In his article on the “golden hour” morning routine, Tracy recommends writing your top 10 to 15 goals in the present tense, exactly as if you had already achieved them. He adds a detail that matters a lot: rewrite the list every morning without referring back to the goals you wrote the day before.

In The Law of Clarity, he asks the question at the heart of the method: which one goal, if you accomplished it, would have the greatest positive impact on your life? The same article tells you to set a specific deadline and to do something every day that moves you toward your goals.

A word of honesty. You may have seen the claim that people who write down their goals are “42% more likely” to achieve them. That number comes from a small, unpublished study, so it isn’t solid evidence. The case for this method is more modest: it forces you to decide what you want, every day, in writing. Try it for a month and judge it by what you actually do.

How to do the 10 goals method, step by step

Here is the full daily routine. The first few mornings take longer while you work out what you want. Once the habit settles, it takes about five minutes.

1. Pick a time and a place. First thing in the morning works best, before email and messages pull your attention elsewhere. Keep a notebook, or an app, in the same spot every day.
2. Write today’s date at the top. A dated page makes each day’s list its own entry, not an edit of the last one.
3. Write ten goals from memory. Don’t open yesterday’s page. Write whatever comes up first, for the next twelve months, in any area of your life: work, money, health, relationships, learning.
4. Phrase each goal as if it were already true. Start with “I”, use the present tense and state it positively. “I weigh 75 kg”, not “I will stop eating junk food”.
5. Add a number and a deadline. “I read 24 books by December 2027” tells you exactly when you’re done.
6. Choose the one goal that would change everything. Read your list and circle the goal that would have the greatest positive impact if you achieved it within 24 hours.
7. Decide on one action for today. Write down one concrete step toward that goal. Send the email, book the call, run the first 3 km. Then close the notebook and go do it.

If you can’t reach ten on day one, that’s fine. Write what you have. The empty lines tend to fill up over the first week.

How should you phrase your goals?

How you word a goal changes how it feels to write it every day. “I want to get fit” reads like a wish. “I run a half marathon in under two hours by October 2027” reads like a decision.

The three Ps: personal, positive, present

Tracy’s rule of thumb is to write goals in the personal, positive and present tense:

• Personal: start with “I”. You can only write goals for yourself, not for your partner or your boss.
• Positive: say what you want, not what you want to stop. “I am a non-smoker” instead of “I quit smoking”.
• Present: write as if the goal is already done. “I earn”, not “I will earn”.

The present tense can feel strange at first, like you’re claiming something that isn’t true yet. Think of it less as a claim and more as a clear picture of where you’re heading. If you want to go deeper into this style of writing, our guide to keeping a manifestation journal covers it in more detail.

Make it specific and time-bound

Tracy also talks about SMART goals: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound. You don’t need to run every goal through a checklist. Just make sure each one has a number and a deadline, and that it’s ambitious but not absurd.

Before (a wish)	After (a goal you can write every day)
I want to make more money	I earn $120,000 a year from my consulting business by December 2027
I want to get fit	I weigh 80 kg and complete my first half marathon by September 2027
I want a better job	I work as a senior product manager at a company I admire by June 2027
I want to learn Spanish someday	I hold a 30-minute conversation in Spanish by March 2027
I want to save money	I have $30,000 in my investment account by August 2027

If a goal feels far too big for twelve months, pick the milestone that fits. “I run a marathon” might start life as “I complete a half marathon by September.”

Which one goal would change everything?

This is the step people skip, and it’s the one that gives the method its power. Once your ten goals are on the page, ask yourself:

If I could achieve just one of these goals in the next 24 hours, which one would have the greatest positive impact on my life?

Usually one goal jumps out. It’s often the goal that would make several others easier: the income goal that pays for the trip, the health goal that gives you the energy for everything else. Circle it. In Tracy’s framing, that goal becomes your major definite purpose, the thing you work on first.

Don’t worry if your answer changes from day to day. Priorities shift with what’s happening in your life. What’s interesting is the pattern over weeks: the goal you circle most often tells you something about what you really want.

In Tenly this daily choice is called the Magic Wand goal. You mark it each morning, and over time your reports show which goals you chose most often.

Why rewrite your goals from memory instead of copying them?

Copying yesterday’s list is faster. It’s also where the method quietly stops working.

When you rewrite from memory, you have to decide again, every morning, what belongs on the list. That small effort does three things:

• It filters. Goals you don’t really care about are the first to slip your mind. After a few weeks, your list is made of the goals that kept coming back.
• It sharpens. Each time you write a goal, you tend to word it a little more clearly. Numbers get more precise and deadlines get real.
• It keeps you honest. Copying turns into a ritual you can do half asleep. Recalling forces you to think.

On paper, the only thing stopping you from peeking is willpower. That’s why Tenly takes the temptation away.

Try it in Tenly: Tenly hides your past goal entries for 30 days, so every morning you write your ten goals from memory, just as Tracy recommends. Then you pick your Magic Wand goal and you’re done. See how the lockout works, or read the full walkthrough of how Tenly works.

Should you re-read your goals in the evening?

Tracy’s core routine happens in the morning. Many people who practice it add a short evening habit: re-reading the day’s list before bed. It takes a minute, and it closes the day by reminding you of where you’re heading, instead of whatever was on your screen last.

The key is to read, not rewrite. Tomorrow morning you’ll still write the list fresh from memory. The evening read is only a quiet look at today’s page.

Tenly builds this in as the Evening Review: from 8 pm to 11 pm you can open a read-only view of today’s goals, and a notification lets you know when it opens. If you like to end the day with a few lines of gratitude as well, these gratitude journal prompts pair well with it.

Common mistakes with the 10 goals exercise

Most people who give up on the method run into one of these:

• Writing wishes instead of goals. “I want to be happier” can’t be measured or reached. Ask what “happier” would look like in numbers and dates.
• Copying yesterday’s list. It saves a minute and loses most of the value.
• Stopping at the list. Writing without choosing and acting is just journaling. The circled goal and today’s action are the point.
• Using negative phrasing. “I don’t feel anxious at work” keeps the focus on the problem. “I feel calm and confident in meetings” points somewhere.
• Trying to be perfect. Some mornings you’ll write eight goals, or messy ones. Write them anyway. Consistency beats polish.
• Judging it too early. A single morning feels like a list. The pattern only shows after a few weeks.

A simple 30-day plan

You don’t need to change your whole morning. Start small and let the habit settle.

Days 1 to 7: build the habit

Write every morning, even if you only reach five or six goals. Don’t edit. Don’t look back. Focus on showing up at the same time each day.

Days 8 to 21: sharpen the goals

Now work on the wording. Add numbers and deadlines to anything vague. Keep choosing your one goal each morning and write down a single action for it.

Days 22 to 30: look for the pattern

Notice which goals have appeared every day, and which you circled most often. After 30 days, look back at your first list and compare. Many people find a few early goals vanished on their own, and one or two became clearer than they expected.

Paper or app: what’s the best way to write 10 goals every day?

Both work. Pick the one you’ll actually use every morning.

A paper notebook is what Tracy himself suggests: in his golden hour routine, you write your goals in a spiral notebook. Writing by hand slows you down and there’s nothing to distract you. The downside is that yesterday’s page is always one flip away, and a notebook can’t remind you or show you patterns over months.

An app is always in your pocket. It can remind you in the morning, count your streak and keep your history safe. The risk is that most apps make copying yesterday’s list effortless, which undercuts the method.

Tenly was built to keep the method’s rules while adding what paper can’t do. It locks past entries for 30 days, asks you to choose a Magic Wand goal every morning, and gives you an evening re-read. If you want to know more before you start, the FAQ about the method answers the most common questions.

Whichever you choose, the method is the same. Tomorrow morning, take five minutes. Write ten goals from memory. Circle one. Do one thing about it before the day is over.