Stop Dreaming Big

Many of us grow up hearing a similar mantra echoed from teachers, coaches, and parents alike: “Dream big.”

There’s a reason it’s a catchy phrase. It’s inspiring, uplifting, ambitious. Why wouldn’t you want to dream for the biggest outcome possible to your goals? Big has a naturally positive connotation.

And, we’re assured as sponge-brained kids, that even if we miss our “big” goals — we’ll probably just land somewhere semi-big (“shoot for the moon and you’ll land amongst the stars”), an achievement nonetheless.

But recently, I’ve been spending quite a bit of time mulling this over and I’ve come to a new conclusion, a new mantra, at least for myself, this year: dream small.

Now, before you roll your eyes, close out of this post, and go on with your lives, hear me out.

In business, bigger is definitely glorified. Bigger addressable markets. Bigger customer bases. Bigger revenue streams. Bigger profit. Bigger growth. But what about the products? In many cases, the interactions that customers have with your products remain in a much smaller sacred world—their homes, their cars, even their pockets. You may dream big about the total number of people who use your product, but in the end, the interactions you care about are on a much more granular and personal level—they’re small. A click or a swipe here. A tap or a share there. A mention at a dinner party. A photo posted. A heartfelt review on your website.

How about in the world of social media? How quickly did the big platforms rush to gain hundreds of millions of users? Billions in ad revenues? But where do many of us still feel the most comfortable engaging with friends online? In our text messages—a small space that’s remained largely unhindered over the last decade. Even offline, we feel most heard in small settings, where the characters engaged are known, trusted, empathetic.

So this year, I challenge you to try something a bit different—dream small. Dream about the ways in which your work can affect people on a smaller, more intimate and impactful level. Let’s agree to destigmatize “small.” These days, as more of the world around us comes to our beck and call, we’re noticing the small again.

Dream small.