BHAG= BIG HAIRY AUDACIOUS GOAL

As you get to writing and reviewing your goals every three months and resetting them every year, it helps to look at the overall vision you have for your life. This is where a BHAG comes in. Is there something you can see in your future, even if it seems like a complete stretch, that you find incredibly exciting and are willing to work hard enough to make it your reality?

My BHAG is this: By 2050, Brett and I have directly financed $50B and 50K hours of education/speaking transitioning the globe to clean technology in our lifetime.

As I worked out my goals for 2011, I took a look at my BHAG and realized it has many other goals embedded within it. I am currently 50 years old (which I think is a cool number) and I started to think about what my life would be like in another 50 years… what would I want to complete in my life by the time I am 100 years old?

If I am to achieve my BHAG by 2050, I will be 90 years old. So what do I need to do in the next 40 years to make this happen? There are many important ideas and declarations embedded in my BHAG. For example, to live this long I must have a healthy and productive lifestyle. If my work is integrated with my husband’s work then I need to have a happy and resilient marriage. If I am able to finance $50B, whether it’s my money or from the government or private donors, I know that I am a leader of faith in the business community to have created this success.

I share a collaboration goal with the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) that also plays a role in my BHAG. RMI has a 40-year goal set to “reinvent fire.” Amory Lovins is working to educate engineers to easily make the change from fossil fuels to clean renewables. In my own vision, RMI has invited me to work with them on their global education initiative because they need someone to think big and who doesn’t mind putting in the work. This part of my vision becomes embedded in my BHAG and becomes critical when you do the math: If Brett and I want to spend 50K hours educating and speaking about clean technology and we divide it by 40 years, then I need to be teaching, starting right now, 24 hours per week… for the rest of my life if I live to be 90 and attempt to do this all on my own. Therefore, the idea of reaching other people, through projects such as those initiated by the RMI, through enrolling companies in my igolu program, and through my husband’s clean tech investment company, suddenly becomes possible and fundamentally embedded in my goals.

So my BHAG has reaching other people who will educate and inspire others to continue the cycle automatically embedded into it. The process of setting a BHAG lets me think of myself in a much bigger way and now, when I say it, I don’t even feel shy about its boldness. I no longer second-guess its accessibility. It feels more and more real each day. Accomplishing my BHAG allows me to leave this earth with the feeling that I’ve done a beautiful job handing it over to my children’s children and nothing in my life has been left undone. I encourage you to see if you have a BHAG and see how it will impact your legacy.

Celebrating a Success…

One goal that I am particularly proud of accomplishing last year was successfully raising over $30K to support the efforts of imagine1day. Because I had a written goal surrounding this, it was easy for others to step up and offer their support. I am grateful to all my event managers that helped make my Liv’N It Up workshops such a success: Danielle Hartman in Vancouver (Spring), Amanda Casgar in New York City, Danielle King in Toronto, Cheryl Byrne in Santa Monica, Jocelyn Ling in Vancouver (Summer), and finally, Sapna Dayal in Ethiopia. 

Recognizing a Psychological Barrier…

For over a year, I had the goal of biking to the studio where I teach my NIA class. This seemed like a reasonable goal; the studio is only 16 flat blocks away. However, it wasn’t until two weeks ago that I actually started doing it. I realized I had some psychological barriers that were preventing me from accomplishing what I thought was a fairly simple goal. These barriers were only a matter of logistics. I realized I needed to trade in my purse for a messenger bag, get my own lock and a helmet that actually fits. A new seat that isn’t torn and rock hard was a necessary upgrade as well. As soon as I took active steps to get these things done, my goal that I had delayed for nearly a year suddenly became possible to achieve. I hope this helps remind you all that if you have a goal you know you can accomplish, but are having trouble making it happen… either get it off your list… or determine what your psychological barrier might be and get it done!

Fantasy Goal…

Sometimes, goals are accomplished faster… sometimes a little slower. This past year, I earned my Black Belt as a NIA instructor, 11 months quicker than I’d planned. WHOO HOO. This year, I did not, however, pay off my home mortgage as I’d written in my 2010 goals. This last one is what I call a “fantasy goal” since I am not even close to a payoff point. When we set a “fantasy goal,” we are expressing something we want but haven’t conditioned ourselves yet to achieve.  What I need to do to get serious about accomplishing this goal is to create a separate financial goal that I can break down to determine what I need to earn each month to pay off my home at a faster rate. This sort of breakdown will provide me with a more reliable “by when” for this goal. Because I have been goal setting for so long, I know to have a lot of mercy and patience with myself. It is important to know the “by when” is there to support you, not dominate you. So let’s all remember to set ourselves up for greatness while practicing a little patience in the meantime!

Finding the humor in a failed goal…

I did not succeed in my goal to attend the TED 2011 conference. However, strangely enough, at a New Year’s Day party I hosted, my friend Steve Glenn told me about an event he is hosting in his home this year called… FRED. FRED stands for Friends Relating and Engaging in Dialogue and is an opportunity for those not invited to attend TED to get together and share the interesting things they are up to. So… while I was not invited to TED this year, I will most definitely be attending FRED. Having a goal and failing at it can still produce a result along the lines of the goal’s original intention. It’s important to celebrate that! Stay tuned for my fame at FRED, this year at Steve’s house.