Goals are important. That’s not news to anyone. But every goal in your professional life should have another goal hiding in quiet parentheses behind it – the Big Hairy Audacious Goal, or BHAG.
Hit the http://www.thankgoditsmonday.com/blog/wp-admin/post.php?post=3635&action=editgoal set by the boss and everything’s fine. But don’t watch for fireworks and champagne corks after you hit the goal. Instead, if you make a habit of hitting those BHAGs, it’s a massive and ongoing opportunity to be noticed.
If your goal is 20 closed deals in a given period, hear that as 25 or 30. Don’t even THINK about the number 20. Consider the BHAG your actual goal and move heaven and Earth to get there.
The BHAG gets you out of the habit of thinking too small. It changes your own sense of urgency and possibility. So hit the real goal, by all means. But always put a BHAG in its shadow, ready to break free. Then create an ironclad plan to make that happen.
Your work and your life will never be the same.