Sub-Goal

A sub-goal is a part of an overall goal. CF’s key move is to identify it with a decision factor: every factor you weigh when choosing among options is really a sub-goal, because doing well on that factor is one component of succeeding at your overall goal. If a factor were not a sub-goal — not something you actually want — there would be no reason to take it into account. Reframing factors this way is what lets CF replace “how much does this contribute?” with “is this sub-goal met, yes or no?”, fitting its binary method.

Treating sub-goals as binary has structural payoff. Each one gets a clear definition of what counts as pass or fail. An option is then evaluated against each sub-goal as pass/fail, and the results combine by multiplication: one failure makes the whole product fail. The overall goal is thus a multi-dimensional combination of its binary sub-goals, and an adequate option must succeed in every dimension. This is the same structure CF uses in its Idea-Goal-Context evaluation, where passing all sub-goals means there is no decisive criticism — the option is non-refuted.

Sub-goals are also recursive. A sub-goal that is still too big splits into sub-sub-goals, and so on, which is how CF turns daunting projects into a chain of small, individually judgeable wins. CF cautions against over-planning: rough out sub-goals, then break them down further only as you reach them, since planning a branch you may never start is wasted effort.