Yup, and even if the stat were true the presentation is textbook conflation. Did the 3 percent "succeed" because they wrote down their goals, or did they write

Yup, and even if the stat were true the presentation is textbook conflation. Did the 3 percent "succeed" because they wrote down their goals, or did they write down their goals because they were driven to "succeed"? Do we seriously think that if every one of the 84 percent were tasked with sitting down and writing goals they would have morphed into 10x earners? A few would, sure, but not most or even many. I also personally object to the singular focus on monetary income (I want numbers on how many of the 3/84 percenters reported being happy, doing work they considered important, fulfilled, etc.) but that's just a side note. It's standard cherry-picking fare for this kind of advice.