Powerful ideas from top nonfiction
Try Blinkist to get the key ideas from 7,500+ bestselling nonfiction titles and podcasts. Listen or read in just 15 minutes.
Get started
Blink 3 of 8 - The 5 AM Club
by Robin Sharma
Listen to the Intro
Big Goals summary
Caroline Adams Miller
The Science of Setting Them, Achieving Them, and Creating Your Best Life
18 mins
Brief summary
Big Goals by Caroline Adams Miller emphasizes the importance of setting audacious goals, using grit and positivity to achieve them. It provides actionable strategies to inspire achievement and foster a sense of purpose.
Table of Contents
Big Goals
Summary of 5 key ideas
Audio & text in the Blinkist app
Key idea 1 of 5
The reasons we need better strategies
There’s no shortage of self-help books out there trying to motivate you to achieve your goals. But the fact is, most of them are either incomplete in their approach, or simply founded upon ideas that haven’t been proven effective by any serious research.
And yet, perhaps now more than ever, we need an effective strategy for accomplishing our goals in life. Many millennials grew up in environments that minimized competition and protected them from failure, leaving them unprepared for life’s inevitable challenges and setbacks. Social media, with its images of curated perfection, has only added to rising rates of anxiety and depression, particularly as young adults navigate the pressures of work and relationships.
Meanwhile, women in midlife often struggle with "diseases of despair" – with symptoms like depression and a loss of purpose – and this too comes from having a lack of tools to set and pursue fulfilling goals. For the most part, women have been left out of the equation when it comes to achieving goals in the modern professional landscape.
This gets to the larger point: While traditional advice about achieving goals, like making vision boards or writing lists, may inspire, it often fails to address the deeper science of success. Academic research offers valuable insights but is frequently limited to isolated aspects of goal-setting, leaving gaps in practical application. Women and other underrepresented groups face additional barriers, shaped by societal expectations and workplace biases. More inclusive strategies are essential for addressing these challenges and unlocking the potential of diverse individuals.
Now is the time to reimagine success. By blending lessons from the past with cutting-edge research, we can create a future of goal-setting that is inclusive, sustainable, and deeply human. It’s not just about climbing higher alone but about building bridges that elevate everyone, creating lives and workplaces filled with purpose and possibility.
In the next section, we’ll look at how we can build that new vision on the foundation of Goal Setting Theory, a methodology that has a basis in the science of human behavior.
Want to see all full key ideas from Big Goals?
Key ideas in Big Goals
More knowledge in less time
Read or listen
Get the key ideas from nonfiction bestsellers in minutes, not hours.
Find your next read
Get book lists curated by experts and personalized recommendations.
Shortcasts New
We’ve teamed up with podcast creators to bring you key insights from podcasts.
What is Big Goals about?
Big Goals (2025) looks at the science behind setting and achieving goals that truly matter, offering practical strategies backed by psychological research. Whether you’re chasing a personal dream or striving for success in your career, it helps you turn aspirations into reality by aligning purpose with action. Packed with actionable steps, it is designed to motivate you to push past limits and unlock your full potential.
Who should read Big Goals?
- Ambitious professionals
- Entrepreneurs
- Coaches and mentors
Categories with Big Goals
Book summaries like Big Goals
People ❤️ Blinkist
Sven O.
It's highly addictive to get core insights on personally relevant topics without repetition or triviality. Added to that the apps ability to suggest kindred interests opens up a foundation of knowledge.
Thi Viet Quynh N.
Great app. Good selection of book summaries you can read or listen to while commuting. Instead of scrolling through your social media news feed, this is a much better way to spend your spare time in my opinion.
Jonathan A.
Life changing. The concept of being able to grasp a book's main point in such a short time truly opens multiple opportunities to grow every area of your life at a faster rate.
Renee D.
Great app. Addicting. Perfect for wait times, morning coffee, evening before bed. Extremely well written, thorough, easy to use.
People also liked these summaries
4.8 Stars
Average ratings on iOS and Google Play
35 Million
Downloads on all platforms
10+ years
Experience igniting personal growth