小目标xiǎo mù biāo

A small goal (like 100 million yuan)

xiān dìng yí gè xiǎo mù biāo.先定一个小目标。First, set a small goal.

小目标 means “a small goal”, but since 2016 it carries a joke: a goal that is in fact enormous, or a tiny goal announced with a tycoon’s confidence.

Took off: 2016
Started in: A TV interview
Today: A classic

What it means

In plain Chinese, 小目标 is a modest target. The meme turns it around. When someone says 先定一个小目标, “first, set a small goal”, everyone hears the rest of the line: “say, earning 100 million yuan”.

The magazine 咬文嚼字 put it this way: the meme means the opposite of the words, a “big goal” that ordinary people can hardly reach, said with irony or as a joke about yourself.

How people use it

It is a classic. People still use it, most of all about money: 定个小目标, plus a number. With a tiny real goal, it is a joke about yourself: 我的小目标是早起一次, “my small goal is to get up early once”.

亮亮

新的一年有什么计划？
xīn de yì nián yǒu shén me jì huà?
Any plans for the new year?
先定一个小目标，挣它一个亿
xiān dìng yí gè xiǎo mù biāo, zhèng tā yí gè yì
First, a small goal: earn a hundred million.
哈哈，那你先把这个月的房租交了
hā hā, nà nǐ xiān bǎ zhè gè yuè de fáng zū jiāo le
Ha ha, then first pay this month’s rent.
好吧，小目标改成交房租
hǎo ba, xiǎo mù biāo gǎi chéng jiāo fáng zū
Fine. New small goal: pay the rent.

More examples

我今年的小目标：存够一万块。
wǒ jīn nián de xiǎo mù biāo: cún gòu yí wàn kuài.
My small goal this year: save 10,000 yuan.
先定一个小目标，比如这个周末不看手机。
xiān dìng yí gè xiǎo mù biāo, bǐ rú zhè gè zhōu mò bú kàn shǒu jī.
First, set a small goal, like no phone this weekend.

Where it came from

In August 2016 the businessman 王健林, then China’s richest man and head of the Wanda Group, appeared on the talk show 鲁豫有约. He said young people who dream of being the richest in the world have the right direction, but should first set a small goal they can reach: “say, I’ll first earn 100 million yuan.” Then, he said, aim for one billion and ten billion.

The line filled WeChat Moments within days, according to The Paper. In December 2016 咬文嚼字 put 小目标 on its list of the ten popular phrases of the year.

The original. A clip from 鲁豫有约 in August 2016 in which 王健林 tells young people to start with a small goal of 100 million yuan. Jiemian quotes his full answer. Jiemian (in Chinese)