Big Goal Too Slow?

You set a big goal. You get excited about what might be possible. Then you look at your progress and decide you aren't moving fast enough.

Suddenly, the goal that was meant to inspire you becomes a reason to feel inadequate.

That misses the point.

I don't encourage big goals so you can achieve them easily and feel good about yourself. You can set a small goal you already know how to reach if that is what you want.

A big goal asks you to grow. It gives your brain something new to solve for.

Remember why you chose something big

Big goals help you think better. They ask you to expand your mind, explore creatively, and consider possibilities beyond your current capacity.

They also give you a chance to practice believing in yourself before you have evidence.

You can create emotion from your imagination and future instead of relying only on your past. That is a skill you can keep using as you evolve.

The third reason is that a big goal loosens your grip on having only one how.

If you know only one way to reach the result, you may quit when that way doesn't work. A result you have never created will probably require trying several approaches.

The goal gives you a reason to keep discovering them.

Celebrate what you have done

I coached a woman who had set a million-dollar goal for the year. A little more than halfway through, she had made four hundred thousand dollars and felt discouraged.

First, I wanted her to appreciate that accomplishment. Four hundred thousand dollars in half a year was extraordinary.

Second, the million-dollar goal wasn't there so she could beat herself up, quit, or decide she had failed as a person.

It was there to help her think in new ways.

She already had a product, customers, a niche, and evidence that she could sell. Those were assets she could use as she worked on the next part.

You can feel amazing about what you have created and still ask for more. You don't have to diminish the accomplishment to stay ambitious.

Use the gap as a problem to solve

The distance between four hundred thousand and a million gives the brain direction. It tells you what you are solving for.

Without that goal, she could celebrate what she had made and continue comfortably. With it, she could ask what might be possible in the remaining months.

What would need to happen? Which strategies were working? What else could she try?

A goal is your servant. It provides somewhere to focus. It should never become a weapon you use against yourself.

The math can help you define a question instead of deliver a verdict on your worth.

Change the thoughts that create pressure

Don't use a goal to demand ridiculous hours, hustle energy, or stressful work fueled by inadequacy.

Some people lower their goals to relieve pressure. But the goal isn't causing the pressure. Their thoughts about it are.

The goal can go in the C line. What are you thinking about it? What feeling is that thought creating?

A tight timeframe can ask you to think better without requiring you to hurry or punish yourself.

If December arrives and you are five hundred thousand dollars short, asking how to create that amount in a month gives your brain a different assignment from declaring the year over.

What would the offer be? What price? How many leads and conversions would you need?

Whether you create the whole amount isn't the only point. Asking the question brings you into creative thinking.

You can also choose to take December off. Just make that a choice you want, rather than an escape from exhaustion caused by attacking yourself.

Keep more than one how available

One attempt not working doesn't mean there is nothing left to try.

When you tell yourself you have exhausted every option, notice how much possibility you are closing off.

You don't know the exact how before creating a new result. You try, learn, and try again.

Come up with seven different ways. Try them. Keep creating ideas and combinations.

The goal helps you focus that creativity. It asks your brain to work at a level it wouldn't need to access if you stayed only with familiar results.

Through that process, you can discover capacities you didn't know you had.

Check what is fueling your action

You may tell me you believe in your goal. Look at your A line to see whether your actions reflect that belief.

How are you showing up? What is fueling the work?

Fear, doubt, and worry create a different experience from confidence, determination, and excitement.

Belief isn't something you only do in your head. It affects how you act, talk, deliver, and present.

I go through this, too. My belief ebbs and flows. I try things that work and things that don't. Then I think of another layer of possibilities and keep going.

Whether or not I achieve my hundred-million-dollar goal in the timeframe I choose, having it makes me more creative, capable, and thoughtful.

Let the future encourage you

I don't need a hundred million dollars to feel worthy or have enough. I want the goal because of who I will become while working toward it.

What will I learn? Which insecurities will I work through? How will I lead my team and use my brain differently?

I imagine my future self looking back at me with delight, seeing how seriously I take things and how much I worry.

She isn't using my present struggle against me. She is encouraging me to keep going.

Look at your own goal. Have you stopped talking about it, changed it, or diverted attention because you don't think you will reach it?

Notice that without judgment. Then give yourself permission to explore again.

Stay with the goal to the last minute. Celebrate what you have done, keep asking your brain for more, and let the process help you become the person you want to be.