Anchor Baseline and Delta

Name where you are now and the specific change you want, so progress means something.

Six months ago you resolved to "sleep better." Tonight you honestly cannot say whether it happened. Some weeks felt okay, others were wrecked, and without any record of where you started, every judgment is vibes. The goal never said what better meant, better than what, or by how much.

Anchor Baseline and Delta fixes vague goals by specifying the current state and the meaningful change sought. The cue is a goal built on comparative words, better, more, less, improved, with no reference point attached. Run it in three steps. First, measure or estimate where you are now: say, 6.2 hours a night with three awakenings, from a week of notes. Second, name the direction and size of change that would actually matter: seven to eight hours with no more than one disruptive awakening. Third, state the move question's answer in one line: from what observable baseline, in what direction, by how much. What changes when it works: progress becomes checkable, and you can tell a real improvement from a good week. The boundary to respect: don't invent precision your measurement can't support. If your data is a rough guess with natural night-to-night swings, set a range, not a decimal.