Simplify Your Success: Use Bright Line Rules for Effective Goal Setting

Let me tell you about bright-line rules and how they can help you achieve your goals.

Ages ago, I was working on habit change with a client who wanted to achieve new goals, and they’d had some great results improving work routines by implementing a few standard change strategies I shared with them.

At the end of one session they announced they wanted to cut out sugar. They felt they had a really bad sugar habit and urgently needed to remove it. Cut it out from their life completely.

I found myself wondering if sugar was an addictive substance or if my insurance covered any sort of sugar withdrawal induced medical situation. Knowing next to nothing about sugar I felt I should read up on the subject. 

Set Goals To Change Habits

I bought a few books about the white stuff and dove in. One was The Sweet Poison Quit Plan by David Gillespie. The title kind of gives away the author’s feelings about the substance. He has, to put it mildly, a real downer on sugar.

Interestingly, he wasn’t a doctor or a nutritionist but a corporate lawyer which gave him an out of the box, sideways view on the topic. 

Once he’d made his case and established that sugar was enemy number one he addressed the problem of why so many people find it very hard to kick. 

The main conclusion he arrived at was that all of the diet plans and advice from nutritionists were too complex, making it hard to achieve success. Complex ideas are confusing to fully understand, tricky to remember, and too difficult to implement, especially when trying to break goals down into smaller steps.

People needed simple rules that are manageable. Rules that they could follow and implement into their personal and professional life.

At this point he changed into his single breasted, notched lapel lawyer suit, opened his briefcase and introduced exhibit A: 

Bright-line Rules, m’lud.

Bright Line Rules

Bright-line rules “occur when, given some objective facts, the outcome is known and predictable every single time, no matter what else is happening.”

He explains that we “experience bright-line rules every day. For example, the law says that if you exceed the speed limit, you have committed an offence. There are no special circumstances to take into account. All the enforcer needs to know is the speed limit and your speed.”

In a thirty mile an hour stretch, if you’re driving at thirty miles an hour or less you’re not breaking the law. If you drive at thirty one miles an hour, however, you’re breaking the law. There’s no inbetween.

Fine. So far so lawyer-like. But what’s any of this got to do with sugar? Or habits or goals?

Goals Need To Be Clear

Well, his beef with the doctors and nutritionists and authors of diet books is that they don’t use bright-line rules. The guidance that they give is very wishy washy, like advising that you should only eat sugar in moderation. 

From a bright-line perspective that’s no good at all because moderation is not a clearly defined state. Everyone’s definition of ‘moderation’ can be different, but we know it’s important to set clear standards to reach your goals.

So through the book he shares a load of bright-line rules for cutting out sugar. He considers specific, potentially confusing situations like visiting a fast food joint. 

“The danger in takeaway food lies largely in the condiments, the desserts and the drinks. 

Here are a few simple bright line rules for takeaway.

- Stay away from the drinks fridge – there’s nothing to see here (unless you feel like paying a lot for water). 

- Don’t even think about the ice-cream fridge. 

- Don’t buy sauces to go with the meal and if the sauce usually comes on board (such as with a hamburger), ask for your meal to be made without sauce.”

He makes it very black and white. 

These fast food bright line rules might or might not be useful for you but I’m not sharing them for dietary success. I’m bringing them to your attention to highlight that black and white quality of how they work.

There’s no leeway involved. He identifies the red flags and then gives you simple rules to follow so you can avoid them. You’re either following the rules or you’re not.

Better Goal Setting

When we set New year resolutions, or goals at any time, too often we don’t make them clear enough.

We set ourselves goals like:

- I’m going to exercise more

- I’m going to eat healthier

- I’m going to earn more

- I’m going to get more clients

It's so easy to fall into the trap of thinking that by setting these goals we'll make some progress towards them. But you already know what I'm going to say don't you?

These type of goals are far too wishy washy. It's not clear exactly what the goals are.

And if you don't know exactly what your goals are then how can you work towards them? Do you know what steps you need to take? How can you stay motivated and make progress towards them if you don't know exactly what they are?

Let's break down those goals I've just listed and see how far they work - do they lead to personal growth or success?

Reach Goals Using Bright Line Rules

What does 'exercise more' really mean? It's nowhere near being a smart goal (you make your goals smart when they are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound) but not all goals need to be so tightly formed. But 'exercise more' is really too woolly. To have the greatest impact setting and achieving goals needs a different approach.

Does running up the stairs once mean the fitness goal has been achieved? Well, maybe because that could be classed as 'more' exercise than the day before. But a bright-line rule of going to the gym at 7am every Monday, Wednesday and Friday will make your exercise goal clearer and better defined and help you achieve your real desired outcomes.

Does having a banana for breakfast mean you’re 'eating healthier'? Well, maybe. But if you set a bright-line rule to ‘have a banana and porridge for breakfast every weekday’ that will make it more specific. It's easier to track progress and to know if you achieve the goal or not. You’ll easily know whether you passed or failed the rule. You'll know for sure that you are setting and working towards goals in a more effective manner. 

What about 'earn more'? Does making £10 more than you did last year mean you smashed that earnings goal? Technically yes, but if you really want a substantial change then you need to set clearer rules with numbers involved. Really think of your long-term vision and break down large goals into tiny steps that you can clearly understand you are doing. This will help you review your goals, measure your progress and make better decisions to prioritise your goals.

If you want a 20% income increase then you need to work out what that number is and calculate a way to make it happen through the year. Create and plot progress of clear goals and clear rules that will make it crystal clear whether you’re on track to earn that specific amount or not. Successful goal setting requires clarity and bright line rules give you that.

How many 'more clients' do you want? You could set a bright line rule to make it clearer. ‘I will reach out to eight new clients a month’. That’s a very specific goal that you can either reach or not. It’s an output goal rather than an outcome goal but if you do achieve it then your outcome goal of ‘eight new clients’ has a better chance of being achieved. You can prioritise your time and focus on making progress towards your goal.

Specific Measurable Achievable Relevant Time-Bound

So whatever you’ve got lined up to achieve take a moment to reflect on how specific your goals are. You no doubt already know about making sure they're SMART but would bright-line rules be useful? I think they could be.

You might realise that your goals are too weak and that you need to set new goals.

If so take a few minutes to write them out and then find a place where you’ll see them all year round. Setting achievable goals, especially big goals, is going to allow you to have a clear sense of accomplishment when you ultimately achieve success, so it's well worth the effort. Take the time to reflect, adjust your plan and focus your efforts on reaching them. Good luck!