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Lesson 7 – Goals 2
Last time, we talked about Goals and in particular -–
Big Hairy Audacious Goal. This lesson
continues that.
First – you don’t
have to pursue money and a high position as goals. Being a great father or a great mother, a
great little league coach, a great teacher, a great public servant are all very
good goals. If you run a restaurant, a
very appropriate goal might be the best customer service in town. In my lifetime, one of the most celebrated
people was one who was a Catholic nun serving the poorest of the poor in Calcutta
India – Mother Teresa. She delivered compassion,
hope, healing and love. That is a
worthwhile goal as well.
Second – you may
have a fantastic goal. Maybe your goal is to be the CEO of Apple by 2045. But, how many others also have that
goal? If there are 130 million college
students currently, the odds are very high that more than one will be highly
qualified to be the Apple CEO> If you
don’t get to be the CEO of Apple, but become a senior vice president in that
organization or another organization, that might be as valuable.
Third – you will
need to reevaluate your goals based on where you are and changes in your
life. We talked of complex adaptive
systems. Maybe as you were working your
way up the corporate ladder, you volunteered for Habitat for Humanity and that
really changed your viewpoint and you are considering becoming a coordinator
for that organization.
Fourth – don’t
abandon your goals too easily. Again
taking the example of having a goal to be CEO of Apple and in your senior year
of college you interview with Apple and don’t get hired. There have been many cases of where an
individual gets hired by a company for a leadership position after working up
to leadership positions in another company.
Fifth – make your
goals large, a challenge, but don’t make them so challenging that you can’t
ever achieve them. If you are a male 5
foot 8, it would most likely be impossible for you to be the starting center on
the Boston Celtics Professional Basketball team.
Sixth – are you
willing to pay the price? Let’s say your
BHAG is to be contra master (contra mistress) of the New York Philharmonic. To achieve that goal, you will have to
practice 5 to 8 hours every day. Do you
want to do that? To be the CEO of Apple,
you will have to know a lot about technology, about business, about futurism
and trends. You will have to really know
some many things quite well. Are you
willing to take the time to REALLY learn and know the business, organization
and position you are aiming for? To
achieve some significant goals may mean that you have to leave your family
alone for a while, work very long hours and in many cases go through divorces
and family problems.
Assignment:
- Review your goals from lesson 6: Take your primary BHAG and do an in-depth analysis of what you will have to do to reach that goal.
- What time commitment is needed?
- What knowledge / degrees must you have?
- Are you really willing to “pay the price” to reach your goal? Will it compromise your values and ethics to get to your goal?
And a quote
from Harry Browne: “Everything
you want in life has a price connected to it. There’s a price to pay if you
want to make things better, a price to pay just for leaving things as they are,
a price for everything.” –Harry Browne
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