Define A Stretch Target For Your Core Metric

What's your stretch target? You can't create that massive growth you're going to show on stage in 3-4 months, but you can start the curve. You can change it from growing incrementally, to growing exponentially (see below).

Here are three ways to come up with a good stretch goal:


1. Historical method. Assuming your first month will be a modest improvement over this month (even flat or a bit down as you invest time working on this plan), that next month is between 15% and 25% better, the third month is at least 2x better than this month, and the last month 1.5x to 2x better than the previous month. Add the four months together:

mth1 + mth1x1.2 + mth1x2 + mth1x2x1.75

... and then round up to a nice round figure (if the total is 9,686 then make it 10,000).

2. Guesstimate Method. Similar to the previous model, but use estimates of how many you think you could achieve in the first month. When you come up with your first month number, divide it by 30. Does the result sound plausible in a single day? Don't be too aggressive for your first month. Then apply the formula to the subsequent months.

3. NFW method. Come up with a nice round number in four months that's really big for your industry. Tell your team. If the general feedback is "No F----ing Way!" - than you have a stretch goal :->

Think about it for awhile. It should be scary, but almost conceivable.