You may know him better by his alter ego, Bob. If it can happen to Bob, it can happen to anyone. To what “it” am I referring? Life happens, indiscriminately it to the best of us when we least expect it. It’s easy to think that the good times will never end, that the bank account will never run dry, or our vitality will never wane. But life can be fickle, can’t it? So who is Bob? For starters, there is a little of “Bob” in all of us.
This week, we will not be delving into the applicability of Maslow, Krauthammer, Harold or the mice and little people. If you have been reading my posts these past few weeks, you may have noticed that I have rediscovered a long forgotten passion, one that I have neglected for far too long, one that I would not have dared to share but for my Parkinson’s. I will let you in on a little secret; when I start writing my post each week, I have no idea where my thought process will take me. Typically, I have a glass of wine and start typing random, rambling thoughts. I tried scotch but it didn’t work as well for a lot of reasons that you can figure out for yourself. This writing for an audience is still new for me and I am delighted that you find this content interesting. My goal each week is to leave you with a thought, or a message, that you can strive for an extraordinary life. You see, each day I have to remind myself of the same; I have to decide not to let my disease define me, describe me or deny me of what I really want. I might as well include you in on the discussion.
One person’s treasure is another person’s dumpster fodder. My 13-year old son thinks that I’m a hoarder; in some respects I may be. After all, I have books older than him, and no I don’t know why I would have saved my textbooks for that long.
No, a BHAG is not the sound someone makes after a sneeze. It is not something that inflates out of the steering wheel of a BMW after an impact. It is an acronym for Big Hairy Audacious Goal. These are goals that are visionary, long-term in nature and are emotionally compelling. Yes, a BHAG is a good thing and everyone should have at least one; they drive passions, releasing energy and creativity in ways that few other things can.
I was first made aware of these as a strategic planning tool while at Notre Dame studying Strategic Management. I thought of so many ways that I could apply them into my personal goals that I created a folder on my computer to save my BHAGs for when I had time to…you get the point. It will be twelve years this year since I graduated and I have done little more that move these files from one computer to the next after each hardware upgrade. Recently, I opened the folder on my computer that housed my BHAGs and found that most of them were either related to something that I no longer found to be relevant or were too abstract to be actionable. For example, 12 years ago one of my goals was to create a platform by which medical records could be digitized and shared between health care providers and patients. At the time, a colleague of mine and I saw it as a pressing need in the medical community, now its common place. You could say that I fell asleep on that one and that business plan can safely be deleted.
When my daughters were younger, on occasion, I would read to them at bedtime. I confess this was not as often as I should have. I wanted them to be cultured so I would stick to the classics. My book of choice, Harold and the Purple Crayon, by Crockett Johnson. If you are familiar with this book, please feel free to skip this paragraph; I know that your time is valuable. If not, read on!