Your quota is the number that your company assigned to you. It’s your revenue goal or, in some cases, it might be a goal assigned to profit. Your number is what your company needs from you, and they have attached a certain commission or bonus to that goal. Your company wants you to max out your compensation, but your number has a certain income attached to it.
That income is what your company wants for you. Honestly, they hope you make more, but they’re not counting on it. This means that your quota belongs to your company, and it shouldn’t be your real goal.
Your Real Goal
Your real goal is what you want for you. That goal doesn’t have much to do with what your company expects from you.
- What results are you capable of producing? If you were to do your very best, regardless of your company’s quota, what would your goal be?
- When you think about the income you want to make, how much more would you have to do to earn it? What would it take for you to earn that much?
- If you look at the people above you on the leaderboard, what is it that they believe about their goals that is different from what you believe? What actions do those beliefs drive, and how do those actions allow them to generate better results?
Your company wants you to succeed, and they want you to do well. But what you want for yourself is much more important. You cannot allow what someone else believes you are capable of or demands from you to dictate your results, your income, or your happiness.
When you act on your interests, the nature of your work will change, and you will feel different about your quota. You’ll also find that you’ll have a lot of help reaching those goals when people see you striving to do your best.
