Being Coachable -- Why Writing Down Your Goals Changes Everything
The Goal That Lives Only in Your Head Is Not Really a Goal
I talk to faculty members every week who can tell me exactly what they want. More protected research time. A leadership role. A healthier relationship with clinical work. They know what they are after. But when I ask them to show me where they have written it down, the room gets quiet.
There is a significant difference between thinking about a goal and committing it to paper. Writing goals down is one of the simplest things a physician can do for their career, and one of the most consistently skipped.
What the Research Actually Says
Dr. Gail Matthews at Dominican University of California conducted a well-known study on goal achievement. Participants who wrote down their goals were 42 percent more likely to achieve them than those who simply thought about their goals. That is not a marginal difference. For physicians navigating the complexity of academic medicine, that kind of clarity advantage matters.
Writing forces specificity. "I want to be a better leader" becomes "I want to complete a leadership development program by December and apply for the division chief search in the spring." The second version is something you can actually work toward.
Why Coachable People Write Things Down
Being coachable is not just about accepting feedback. It is about creating the conditions for growth. When you write your goals down, you give yourself and your coach something concrete to revisit. You create accountability that does not depend on memory or mood.
Think of it like a quarterback studying the playbook before game day. The plays already exist in the coordinator's head, but writing them down is what makes execution possible under pressure. Goal clarity works the same way in your career.
Start Smaller Than You Think
You do not need a strategic plan. You need a piece of paper and five minutes. Here is what I recommend to the physicians I coach:
- Write down three professional goals for the next twelve months. Not ten. Three.
- Make each one specific enough that you could explain it to a colleague in one sentence.
- Revisit the list once a month. Ask yourself what has changed and what has not.
That is it. The practice of writing goals down builds the habit of goal clarity, and goal clarity is what turns vague ambition into a physician career you actually want.
The Coachable Move
Most faculty members I work with are not short on ambition. They are short on structure. Writing down your goals is not about motivation. It is about giving your future self a map to follow.
If your department is looking for ways to build this kind of intentional goal setting into its culture, learn about coaching for departments.
