Brian Tracy’s 10 Goals Technique: A Daily Practice That Actually Works

Tracy has founded three companies. His estimated net worth sits around $50 million. Pretty much everything he touches turns a profit. So what’s his edge? One of his core methods is a dead-simple daily goal-setting technique he swears by. Let’s break it down.

How Can 10 Goals Change Your Life? 

Tracy developed his 10 Goals technique through years of trial and error. At his seminars and coaching sessions, he constantly recommends it — and even offers a money-back guarantee if it doesn’t work. Bold claim, right? He says he’s personally used this practice every single day for almost 30 years.

Here’s the gist. Every day, you write down 10 goals in a notebook. Sounds basic? That’s exactly the point. Thousands of coaches, business speakers, and self-help gurus have been preaching the power of writing down goals for decades. So why does this particular version deliver results? Let’s walk through it step by step.

What Do You Actually Do? 

Every day, for at least a month, write down 10 goals in a notebook. Do it first thing in the morning, before the day pulls you in a hundred directions. And here’s the key — don’t look at what you wrote the day before.

Tracy’s reasoning is that this daily repetition programs your subconscious mind. When you compare your goals from the beginning and the end of the month, you’ll notice something interesting: the wording has shifted. Your goals will have become sharper, more specific. The phrasing will have evolved on its own.

What Kind of Goals Should You Write? 

We’re talking about long-term goals here — the kind that might take a year or more to achieve. This isn’t meant to be a daily to-do list. Your goals can cover anything: financial targets, personal growth, health and fitness, business milestones. Whatever matters most to you. You can write 10, 12, even 15. The important thing is making the writing itself a daily habit.

How you phrase your goals matters too:

1. Start every goal with “I.” This tells your subconscious exactly who is going to make it happen.
2. Include a deadline. A target date gives your brain a sense of urgency and a finish line to work toward.
3. Write it as if you’ve already achieved it. For example: “I increased my annual income to $90,000 by December 31, 2026” or “I got accepted into an MBA program by August 2026.”

How to Actually Achieve Your Goals 

Tracy argues that when you write your goals first thing in the morning, your brain spends the rest of the day spotting opportunities to make them happen. But writing alone isn’t enough — you have to take action. If there’s one goal on your list you want to go all-in on, Tracy recommends running it through his 12-step process:

1. Desire. This is the fuel that keeps you moving when things get tough. Your desire has to be stronger than your fear. When it isn’t, fear wins — and you stall out.

   To build that kind of desire, your goal needs to genuinely excite you. It should give you goosebumps. The mere thought of achieving it should fire you up. How do you get there? Try framing it using the D.U.M.B. (Dream-big, Uplifting, Method-friendly, Behavior-driven) goal-setting method.

2. Belief. Your mind has to see the goal as realistic and attainable. That means don’t set goals that are wildly out of reach from where you are right now. If you’re earning $60,000 a year, don’t write down that you’ll be making a million by December.

   Instead, aim for a 20%, 30%, or even 50% increase. Hitting $78,000 or $90,000 a year feels achievable. A million? Your subconscious won’t buy it.

3. Write it down. An unwritten goal isn’t really a goal — it’s a wish. When you put pen to paper, you make it real. The more detailed, the better. Not “I want a new car,” but “I bought a 2026 Porsche Cayenne in Arctic Grey with a leather interior and 21-inch wheels.”

   An unrecorded goal is just a fantasy. It can vanish from your mind in minutes. But once it’s written down, it becomes tangible. You can see it. You can hold it.

4. List the benefits. Write out every possible advantage and reward you’ll get from achieving this goal. Be specific. Be thorough. When you’re done, you’ve got yourself a motivation list. The longer the list, the stronger your drive.

5. Assess your starting point. Before you charge ahead, take an honest look at where you are right now. If your goal is to grow your income, start by tracking your current earnings, building a financial snapshot, and then mapping out your next moves.

   This becomes your baseline. Even if you don’t hit 100% of your goal by the deadline, you’ll be able to see exactly how far you’ve come.

6. Set a deadline. Every goal needs an expiration date — a specific day when you can measure whether you made it or not. Without a deadline, your brain relaxes. There’s no urgency, no pressure to push forward. The SMART technique describes how to do this.

   Make sure your goal is framed so you can instantly tell whether you’ve hit it or not.

7. Identify obstacles. Figure out what’s going to stand in your way. If there are no real obstacles, it’s probably a task — not a goal.

   Once you’ve listed the obstacles, analyze them. Most will turn out to be pretty minor. For the big ones, you can build a plan to overcome them. This exercise alone shows you that the goal is doable and every barrier is beatable.

8. Take stock of your resources. What do you already have, and what do you still need? What skills, tools, or knowledge gaps need to be filled?

9. Map your support network. You’re not going to reach big goals alone. Think about who can help — colleagues, mentors, family members, industry experts.

   What advice do you need, and who’s the best person to ask? Are there organizations, communities, or professional groups worth reaching out to?

10. Build the plan. Now, using everything from the previous steps, create a detailed action plan. What needs to happen, and in what order? What will each completed task get you closer to?

    As you execute, you’ll gain new knowledge and experience. Some milestones will already be behind you. Review your plan regularly and adjust it as you go.

11. Visualize. Picture your goal as already achieved. Do this again and again until the image is locked into your mind.

    Visualization activates your subconscious and sharpens your thinking, helping you spot more opportunities to make that picture a reality.

12. Persistence and commitment. Back up all the previous steps with sheer grit. Make a promise to yourself: you will not quit.

    If you stay persistent and refuse to give up, you’ll get there.

How to Put the 10 Goals Technique Into Practice 

In SingularityApp, you can create a dedicated project for Brian Tracy’s technique. Write your 10 goals in it every day. At the end of the day, clear the list — archive or delete them. That way, the next morning you won’t see yesterday’s goals and can write your 10 fresh ones from scratch.

Want to go deeper and work through all 12 steps for one specific goal? Create a separate project for it. Break your achievement plan into tasks. Use sections to organize your obstacles, support network, and skills you need to develop.

If your plan includes tasks that need to happen on a regular basis, use the habit tracker. The tracker color-codes the days you completed each habit, so you can see your streaks and progress at a glance.

How to Keep Up With Daily Tasks While Chasing Big Goals 

Let’s be real — Brian Tracy’s technique has its limits if it’s the only planning method you use. If you spend every morning focused exclusively on long-term goals, you risk dropping the ball on short-term tasks and everyday responsibilities. In SingularityApp, you can create separate projects for your routine work. Add individual tasks and task lists inside them so nothing falls through the cracks.

If you have tasks that repeat every month, week, or day, set them to recur automatically. Pick the task, set the repeat schedule and duration, and you’re done. No more wasting time recreating the same tasks over and over.

With SingularityApp, all your goals and tasks live in one place. It doesn’t matter which productivity technique you follow — what matters is consistency and daily progress toward your goals.

P. S. Singularity is closer than you think.