Big Hairy Audacious Goal. BHAG.

Even saying it out loud can be slightly scary.

This is a good thing though.  It is that hitch in your breathing, in your thinking that makes it big.  And I do say go big or go home!

For years I wasn’t much of a goal setter.  I had been a fastidious goal setter throughout high school, but I fell out of the habit when I starting studying, and never really got back into it while I was working.

Not that I drifted, I still remained focused.  I had a great job and a solid career.

But that focus was on the here and now, not the ‘there and then’.  I was moving forward but perhaps not as fast as I wanted and sometimes, perhaps not even in the direction I should have been moving.

When I sat down earlier this year to define my own BHAG, the audaciousness of it made me challenge my own sanity!  I was a Head of Marketing, but I needed to shift lanes if I wanted to achieve my BHAG in 15 years.

Yep, that is the other thing – this is a BHAG for more than a decade away.

It means that not everything I do has to fulfill this goal, but it is the yardstick against which I can measure this step, and the one that follows.  It helps me remain on track, and to pursue big and little elements to fit together to achieve the goal.

A BHAG isn’t writ in stone and tattooed on your forehead, it can change (and mine might).  But if you don’t have one, you can’t change anything – your goal, vision, actions or attitude.

Are you ready to develop a BHAG?  To write down your audacious goal?  To tell someone about it?

This post was originally published on LinkedIn.