Setting Business Goals - Should You Go Big or Go Home?

The question came up in our mastermind call today, and I think it's a perfect one to address here.  When it comes to setting goals how do you know when to go big versus small?

The truth is that going too big will make the whole thing overwhelming, and you will have a harder time getting momentum and getting things done.  Many times you'll end up in paralysis analysis and the amount of decisions that have to be made will cause you to not make any.

On the other hand, if your goals are too small how do you dream and get to the bigger picture?

My answer is simple.  Why can't you have both? 

In fact, I believe you can't do one without the other.

Let me take a step back and share a story.  When I started this business we had some pretty big dreams about buying massive winery property, and even had these listed on our vision boards, etc.  I would go to bed every night visually sipping a glass of wine from my property sitting in the hills.  It was glorious.  It was invigorating.  It drove me.  I knew the amount of money I was going to need to make to get there.  I worked my way backwards.  What would I need to make in year 1, then year 2?  If I had a five-year plan what would my business have to look like, the products launched, etc, in order to get there.

The map was made.  One large goal, broken down in segments not just in years, but in months.  I was on a mission.

Then stuff happened.  Some laws were changed in California that made it not such a desirable place, and we had to make some goal changes.

The problem was, we didn't have a fire under us for any other place than California.  And when that dream fizzled out, so did everything else.

I realize it's crazy to go from we're going to make millions, here's our plan, to not being as focused.  In reading this, I would ask the question too, how do you just lose it? The fact is, we did.  And it was really hard to get back.

We looked at Portland, and I spent time mapping out where we could live, and areas outside that were huge wine areas, but it wasn't the same.

We looked at Hill Country outside of Austin.  Yes, it looked enticing, but it wasn't the same.

Without that large goal, everything fizzled out.  Our drive went from through the roof to nothing.  I had to sit down with JJ and say tell him that we needed something big again on the map.  We had to set another big goal again in order for the smaller goals to make sense. 

Goals are a strange thing.  Without them life really isn't worth living, and I can say that because I was living like that once.  However, a goal without plans to back it isn't worth putting together either.  You'll never achieve it.

So your mission should always be large goals with small goals/action plans to back them up.  Too large of a goal with no action, you'll never achieve it.  Too small of goals with nothing large to look forward to isn't worth putting the day in and day out work to do.

I suggest dreaming big, like all out, 10X dreams that scare you a little.  I want something in the back of your head that’s questioning if you really can achieve that because then as you start knocking out the smaller goals to get you there, you can tell that small voice in your head to go to hell.

10 years is a long time.  I personally love to start with five-year goals, and work my way backwards to figure out the micro goals that will get me to that big one.  Track it down to what you will be required to do within a year, and what your weeks should look like, along with the days within that week.  Don’t leave time and resources up to chance because they will never be used wisely. 

Big starts, and little leads to them.  Always.  Never have one without the other.

I would love to hear from you.  What is a goal or two that scares you a little, but you know you can accomplish it, and you're ready to set the required steps to get there?