定个小目标

What does 定个小目标 mean?

Wang Jianlin, China's richest man at the time, said it without irony: young people should set an achievable small goal, for instance earning one hundred million yuan. The gap between 小 and 一个亿 did all the work, and the internet has been borrowing the frame ever since. Students set small goals like passing the retake; office workers promise to stop checking their salary app; bloggers aim for one viral post. The joke is never the number alone, but the confident tone wrapped around it.

Where does 定个小目标 come from?

The line came from an interview on the talk show Lu Yu's Date with Big Shots (《鲁豫有约大咖一日行》) in late August 2016, when Wang Jianlin, founder of the Wanda Group, offered advice to young entrepreneurs. Clips of the 一个亿 remark spread within hours; 21st Century Business Herald reported on the line on 2016-08-29, and China National Radio's site followed the next day. People soon began posting goals of their own with the same deadpan structure, and the phrase stuck as the standard opener for a goal that is anything but small.

How to use 定个小目标

• 新学期我定了个小目标：先做到早上七点起床。
  Xīn xuéqī wǒ dìng le ge xiǎo mùbiāo: xiān zuòdào zǎoshang qī diǎn qǐchuáng.
  New semester, new small goal: get up at seven in the morning. That's it.
• 老板说今年先定个小目标，我们以为是多拿一个项目，结果他说是营收翻倍。
  Lǎobǎn shuō jīnnián xiān dìng ge xiǎo mùbiāo, wǒmen yǐwéi shì duō ná yī ge xiàngmù, jiéguǒ tā shuō shì yíngshōu fān bèi.
  The boss said we should set a small goal for the year. We assumed one extra project; he meant doubling revenue.