Boldly Go

How does being 'realistic' get in the way of success?

Here's an article I wrote back in 2003 that I found and posted on my website:

Boldly Go

(...) To boldly go where no part of me has yet been, requires big dreams. Or, in the words of James Collins ('Built To Last'), 'Big, Hairy, Audacious Goals'.

Big, Hairy, Audacious Dreams make space for Big, Hairy, Audacious Goals, which set me up to take Big, Hairy, Audacious action steps. Am I 'guaranteed' to hit these outrageous goals that I declare? No. Can I hit them? Maybe, but probably not. So what. The action steps that spin out from my Big, Bold goals will most likely land me much closer to what I really want, compared to the safe, timid action steps that ooze from realistic goals. And that's all that's important for me.

If I stay within what is 'realistic', my future is limited to just being an extrapolation of the results I am currently getting, which pretty well guarantees me that I'll always get what I've always got. Small dreams spawn small goals, which results in staying in my 'zone of everyday results'.

The key to successful Big, Hairy, Audacious Dreams and Goals is to just focus on the 'WHAT' and ignore figuring out the 'HOW', at least for now. If I know how to do it, then the dream is still within my 'zone of everyday results'. Bold Dreams need to be so far out there that the means to make them happen are, up until the moment I declare my dream, unthinkable. Reaching to realize my goal must require me to invent new ways of thinking, doing and being, if I am to really step out of my everyday results and into a new reality.

Read the full article here.