Jim Collins, author of the bestselling business management book entitled Good to Great, talks of having "big, hairy, audacious goals."[i]  Others call them stretch goals, or goals that you probably won't be able to hit, but things that are worth striving for.  The idea is that if you set your sights too low, you will never even try to reach further.  By setting a big, hairy, audacious goal, you are motivated to try harder.  Even if you don't reach your goal, you will have gone further than you ever expected to under your old goal paradigm.

In The Think Big Manifesto, Michael Port tells the story of Alice Coles, a 45-year old single mother with an income of $5,000 a year.  When the state of Virginia decided to build a new prison in her downtrodden town of Bayview, she spearheaded an effort to revitalize the town, making it less attractive to prison officials, who then changed their plans.  She was able to accomplish this without a college degree, without any money, and without any political clout.  All she did was think big, and she made her community better because of it.[ii]

In Think Big:  Unleashing Your Potential for Excellence, Ben Caron tells how he brought himself from the bottom of his fifth-grade class to be the youngest ever head of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital, and (not incidentally), the only black man to have held such a post at a large institution.[iii]  The key to his success:  thinking big!

These are just a few examples of people who have achieved great success because they dreamed big dreams.  Don't let yourself be caught aiming for only the next rung on the ladder - visualize yourself instead at the top of the ladder.

As you set goals for yourself and your business, step back and ask yourself if you're thinking big enough.  For example, if you are just starting out, you might set a goal of turning a profit within one year.  A laudable goal to be sure, but why not think big?  Why not set a goal of turning a profit in your very first month?  Why not set a goal of earning a million dollars during your first year?

It is vital that you not let your goals limit you in any way.  If you're nervous about setting goals because you're afraid of what might happen if you don't reach them, don't be.  Here's a little secret:  if you think big and set a big, hairy, audacious goal, all that happens when you don't meet it is that you set it again for a longer period of time.  There is no "un-met goals monster" who comes out of your closet at night and terrorizes your family.  There is no real consequence for not meeting a goal that you set to motivate yourself to reach more than you otherwise might have.  So dare to think big from the get-go.