Anyone who reads this blog knows I’m a fan of Big Hairy Audacious Goals. BHAG’s are particularly motivating when you communicate them to others. That way this ultimate goal is out in the ether, and all those friends, family members and associates who know about said goal will hold you accountable to it.
But crossing the divide from setting BHAG to announcing it to the world can be a very scary step or, more accurately, daunting gulf.
The second you stand up and stake your claim to an audacious goal is also the second when (gulp) you stake your claim to that audacious goal!
So all at once this very act can be both energizing AND terrifying.
We have so much to gain, and yet so much to lose.
The fear that can be our undoing – preventing us from setting the BHAG in the first place — is often purely psychological in nature, with little real rationale behind it. The mountain of work we create in our minds may be the size of Everest, when that investment of time and sweat equity is, comparatively, a molehill.
The imaginary mountains of our own creation are harmful, as they block from accomplishing what we sincerely, deep down, most want in our lives. Another way that we may sabotage ourselves from attaining that BHAG is by succumbing to “distractions.”
You know what I’m talking about, right? Distractions like;
- skirting a critical conversation,
- falling prey to procrastination or other bad habits,
- holding on to something safe (relationship, position, engagement or contract) for too long,
- or simply becoming complacent.
Reaching for the moon requires one part verbally staking your claim to this BHAG and one part getting disciplined about that well-communicated goal. Serious follow-through means removing both real (i.e. that voluntary activity that detours you from your training or goal) and imagined (“I’m simply not strong enough, smart enough, etc. etc.”) obstacles to shooting your performance out of the stratosphere.
Are you boldly pointing at the horizon? Or sitting on the sidelines?
