Here’s some bad news. Research suggests that only a small percentage of people write down their goals.

According to studies and anecdotal evidence, it's commonly cited that a little less than 3% of people write down their goals regularly.

A specific study conducted at Dominican University of California by Dr. Gail Matthews found that people who write down their goals are significantly more likely to achieve them.

In Dr. Matthews’ research on goal setting, she found that people who wrote down their goals were 42% more likely to achieve them compared to those who only formulated goals in their head.

A Harvard and Yale Goal Study (often debated), conducted in the 1950s showed that 3% of students who wrote down their goals became significantly more successful than the 97% who didn’t. While no documented evidence of this study has been found, it has served as a popular reference for the value of written goals.

Underutilized

While keeping all our plans and strategies just in our head is challenging and tiring to say the least, goal setting and specifically writing down goals is still an underutilized tool.

Most people either don’t set clear goals or keep them in their heads, which usually leads to a major lack of follow-through.

Write Them Down

Writing down our goals, reviewing them regularly, and creating steps to get them accomplished is one of the most powerful ways we can increase our likelihood of achieving our goals.

In the book, Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill emphasized the importance of setting clear, written goals as a fundamental step toward success.

Hill’s book was first published in 1937. It was inspired by Hill’s personal interviews with successful individuals, including Andrew Carnegie, Henry Ford, and Thomas Edison.
Hill wrote the book as a guide for readers to achieve personal success, particularly financial wealth, by applying certain principles of mindset, desire, and persistence.

It outlines 13 principles that Hill believed were essential for accumulating wealth and success in any field of life.

The purpose of the book was to help individuals harness the power of positive thinking and goal setting to manifest their desires into reality, emphasizing self-discipline, imagination, and organized planning.

Hill’s philosophy was built around the idea that “thoughts become things,” and one of his core principles was the necessity of definiteness of purpose.

He argued that having a clear, written goal gives you a direct path to channel your thoughts, energy, and actions toward achieving it.

Various research studies have reported different figures, but generally:

• Approximately 3% of adults have written goals.
• Around 13-14% have goals, but they are not written down.
• The remaining 83-84% of people have no any clearly defined goals at all.

In 1979, a Harvard MBA study, claimed that graduates who wrote down their goals were significantly more successful than those who did not.

Although the specifics of the study have been disputed, it aligns with the broader body of research which suggests that written goals lead to higher success rates because it brings clarity, focus, and commitment.

Why not put yourself in the small minority - the 3% of folks who take this powerful step of writing down goals to help them realize their ambitions?