There's a version of goal setting that feels responsible but is actually just safe.
It's the revenue target you know you'll hit if nothing goes wrong. The plan requires everything to go reasonably well, but nothing exceptional. The version of the year ahead that you'd be happy with but wouldn't surprise you.
I've set goals like that, more than once, hit them, and felt almost nothing when I did.
The problem with ‘good enough’ goals isn't that they're wrong. It's that they're self-fulfilling.
You aim for comfortable, you build for comfortable, and comfortable is exactly what you get. It shouldn’t be a surprise that after a few years of that, comfortable starts to feel like the ceiling rather than the floor.
The first time you set a comfortable goal and hit it, it feels fine. But the second time it's a little easier to aim low. And the third time, you don't even notice you're doing it.
What changes isn't just the goals, it's your sense of what you're capable of. Every time you aim for what you know you can do, you reinforce the idea that the bigger version isn't really for you. Not yet anyway, maybe next year. When things settle down a bit.
It just gets a little lower each time, and you don't notice until it's already happened.
It's not about setting targets so big they feel meaningless. Just be honest about the gap between what you're planning for and what you think might actually be possible if things went well.
If we're honest, we know the difference. There's the number we'd put in a plan, and the number we'd put on the wall if nobody else was watching. The stretch version we keep to ourselves because saying it out loud feels like tempting fate.
That's the number worth paying attention to. Not because you'll definitely hit it, but because building towards it changes what you do. The clients you approach, the work you take on, and the decisions you make about where to spend your time.
Look at whatever you've got planned for the next twelve months and ask yourself (honestly): is this what I think is possible, or is it what I know I can deliver?
If it's the latter, reevaluate. Set the target based on your potential, not your history.
Want to think through what you're actually capable of and what's been keeping the goals where they are? Let's talk.
Set the goal for the win, not the safety net.
Here's to aiming higher,
Writer, The Success Method
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