The More-and-Better Goal Model
Chase more and better at once, and only set goals you actually control
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~ongoing to results
- Steps
- 4
- Confidence
- 78%
Brownlee's model starts from a tradeoff: try to do more of something and you tend to do it worse; try to do it better and you tend to do it less often. The strategic move is to build capacity, usually a skilled team, that lets you break the tradeoff and do more and better simultaneously, which he treats as the real definition of success. The second half of the model is a locus-of-control rule: he refuses goals like a specific subscriber count because how people respond isn't his to command. Instead he keeps goals inside his control, doing more and better, and asks only that the overall trend stay generally positive. This makes goals both motivating and immune to the anxiety of spiky, uncontrollable metrics.
Origin
Extracted from Deep Dive with Ali Abdaal. Brownlee contrasts his approach with creators who reverse-engineer exact subscriber targets, explaining he keeps goals to 'more and better' because outcomes aren't in his control.
Core principles
- 01Doing more of something usually makes each unit worse
- 02Trying to do better usually makes you do it less often
- 03The rare win is a team or system that delivers more AND better together
- 04Set goals inside your control; outcomes like subscriber counts are not
- 05Keep the trend line generally positive rather than chasing exact numbers
How to run it
- 1
Surface the tradeoff
Acknowledge that in your work, pushing volume tends to cost quality and pushing quality tends to cost volume.
- 2
Aim to break it, not pick a side
Set the goal as doing more and better at the same time, which forces you to build capacity rather than just work harder.
Pro tip A skilled team is the usual mechanism: it lets you produce more things while each is better than you'd manage alone.
- 3
Rewrite goals as controllables
Replace outcome targets you can't command with process goals you can, such as cadence and craft quality.
Pro tip Ship every week is a controllable; hit twenty million subscribers by a date is not.
Watch out Setting uncontrollable numeric goals invites anxiety and a sense of failure when spiky results don't cooperate.
- 4
Watch the trend, not the point
Treat external metrics as a general direction to keep positive rather than a specific figure to guarantee.
In the wild
Asked how he sets goals, Brownlee says he deliberately avoids targets like hitting a specific subscriber count by a date, because he has no idea how he'd guarantee it. His channel is spiky, and whether a device clicks with viewers isn't up to him. So his goal is simply more and better, delivered by a team skilled enough to raise both at once, with the only external ask being that the trend stays generally positive.
→ Durable motivation and low metric-anxiety despite an unpredictable, spiky growth curve.
Common mistakes
Setting numbers you can't control
Committing to an exact subscriber or view target makes success hostage to audience behavior you don't command, breeding anxiety.
Optimizing more at the cost of better
Chasing volume alone quietly degrades each piece, defeating the point of the goal.
Is it for you?
Best for
Creators and makers who want durable, low-anxiety goals tied to their own effort.
Not ideal for
Contexts that genuinely require hitting a hard external number by a fixed date.
From the transcript
“if you try to do more of something, you probably do it worse. If you try to do better at something, you probably do it…”
“I like to keep them in our control. So the goal is more better.”
From the episode
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MKBHD