If you’ve ever thought about goals for your business or brand, you’ve probably come across SMART Goals (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Timely). And that’s all well and good and, wait for it, smart.

But was Oprah’s dream to have a daytime talk show empire “realistic”? Was it really measurable and timely? I’m not even sure what timely means in this use.

When Richard Branson ran a magazine and decided he wanted to build a major airline, do you think people saw that as “attainable”?

Let me say what you might be thinking. We are not all going to be Oprahs or Bransons. I know that. But we also don’t have to settle for small, safe dreams, either!

I love how years ago Gary Vaynerchuk started claiming he’d own the NY Jets one day. It’s huge and probably scary for him to keep claiming out loud. Or maybe he has no doubt and is never scared. Neither would surprise me. But you can learn from this because:

This goal is big enough to keep him inspired for a long time.

This goal is not something you can talk about to feel accomplished. Saying “I’m writing a book” is a train you can ride until you die, book never finished, never published.

You either own the NY Jets, or you don’t. Period.

If you find yourself losing inspiration and motivation, maybe it’s because you’re staying too small, too safe, and too smart. Get crazy and bold with your dreams! Make some claims that you’ll have to work at for a long time. That’s what I am doing with The Pursuit. Eventually I want to have a network talk show all about entrepreneurship and pushing ourselves. I will be working towards that for years. I have a memoir I’m working on that I don’t plan to finish until I’m 40, because I want to accomplish a lot of things in the next decade and I want them all to go into said memoir.

Yes, I’m a little crazy. So is Gary Vee. So is Oprah. So is Branson. You don’t have to be crazy to reach your goals for success. You don’t have to dream giant dreams either, but I beg you, don’t limit yourself! Don’t play small because of fear or laziness. At the end, I don’t think we ever look back on our lives and think, ‘hm I wish I’d played a little smaller and dreamed a little less.’

I believe in you!

My Insiders get extra reading materials and insights for my posts, don’t miss out! Subscribe here!

Watch the video I made a few weeks ago that inspired this post: