Three goals: The Goldilocks zone.

When setting development goals, focus on only three goals at any time. More may be counterproductive and divide your focus and energy. On the other hand, too few may cause you to miss opportunities to broaden your impact and increase performance.

For example, a mid-career professional might want to work on being a better coach for employees, broaden her network of contacts in the industry, and improve her enterprise-wide focus in leadership meetings.