The first step in achieving great things is having great goals. I don’t mean good goals; I’m talking big, hairy, audacious ones.
Establishing a Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG) is about creating a future that’s big enough to exert its own gravitational pull, drawing you forward despite challenges. A BHAG isn’t just any goal; it’s an extraordinary, bold vision that ignites passion, focus, and discipline.
A compelling BHAG can transform life, pulling us out of stagnation and propelling us toward our true potential.
Why Having a Big Hairy Audacious Goal Matters
A BHAG creates a future worth striving for — one so big and exciting that it demands your best. Smaller goals, however admirable, often lack the payoff to keep us invested. A BHAG, however, offers a sense of purpose and direction that fuels persistence even when the road gets tough.
Achieving any meaningful goal requires patience and grit. This is why a BHAG needs to be bold enough to inspire commitment. We need a goal (and a payoff) that’s big enough to maintain our belief that it’s worth achieving.
Noticing Progress: The Key to Staying the Course
Setting a BHAG is just the first step. The second, equally important step is noticing progress toward that goal. Without this, even the most ambitious goals lose their appeal.
Humans are spatially oriented creatures. Our nervous systems constantly search for data to orient ourselves in time, place, and rank among our peers. The need to know where we stand is hardwired into us.
If we don’t notice forward motion toward a goal we’ve set for ourselves, we get discouraged, losing the belief that we should continue the journey. The most important element, then, is learning how to notice progress correctly.
While we need big goals to chase, we can’t measure our success against the goal itself. Why? Because a Big Hairy Audacious Goal is often far in the future and an idealistic, perhaps unachievable vision.
Instead, we need to measure backward. In other words, we measure by the ground we’ve gained from where we began, not by the gap that remains between us and our goal. The progress we see when measuring backward fills us with a sense of movement that helps us stay the course.
The Momentum Trap
No one achieves a Big Hairy Audacious Goal if they wait until they “feel like it.” In my experience, the momentum people wait to feel is a lagging indicator; it’s a consequence, not a cause, of taking the right action repeatedly over time.
Consider a person with fantastic financial or physical health. You might think it’s easy for them to maintain their discipline because they’re already fit or financially secure. But they began their journey without those advantages. The momentum they now enjoy came after consistent action, not before.
Momentum isn’t what gets us going. It can, however, keep us going. Once we build up momentum through discipline and commitment, momentum can be the force that drives us through a rough week, a loss of focus, and other potential setbacks.
Past Glory vs. Future Self
My perspective on the future and past might sound a little odd: I believe they’re both largely made up. The past comprises experiences seen through our point of view and the meanings we’ve assigned them. The future is equally constructed, and we have little real control over outcomes.
That’s not to say our past and future are unimportant. Both can serve us powerfully when used correctly.
The past should serve as a teacher, not a residence, informing us of lessons learned. Our ideal future self — the one who’s unstuck, who has all the love and connection we desire, and who’s already achieved the BHAG — guides us toward a path that leads to where they are.
Of course, our past can hinder us if we’re shackled to the memory of a previous success. Especially for those who achieve impressive feats early, it’s easy to feel like the best days are behind — a dangerous and momentum-killing proposition.
Being intentional about creating a bigger and better future than the past we’ve come from rescues us from stagnation. This is the purpose of the BHAG; it aligns our identity more with our ideal future self, toward which we can build momentum.
Fear and the Big Hairy Audacious Goal
Some might ask, “What if the BHAG is too big? What if I fail?”
In a way, this is the point. An ideal future is just that: ideal.
Ideals aren’t typically achievable — and that’s okay. In goal-setting, our future ideal is a North Star that guides our progress. We’ll never touch it, but we’ll make far more progress than if we were navigating in the dark.
Experiencing some fear or anxiety regarding a BHAG is natural. If the goal didn’t feel risky or at least somewhat out of reach, it wouldn’t qualify as big, hairy, or audacious. Before you have the capability, before you’ve achieved much progress on the journey, you’ll likely feel vulnerable and doubt whether you have what it takes. The key here is courage.
Setting out to tackle a BHAG requires courage. It means stepping into a pursuit despite the risk and fear. For those struggling with these feelings, approach the situation with curiosity and without judgment.
What in your past might be holding you back from courage? Are there any limiting beliefs beneath the surface? You may need to address issues like these before you’re fully released to pursue your future.
Big Hairy Audacious Goals: Making Future You Proud
They say hell would be meeting the person you could have become but didn’t. This idea resonated with me and prompted me to consider what ideal future me would look like. What would he value? How would he measure his life?
This type of reflection is crucial. If you aren’t clear on your values, you could set — and achieve — a perfectly legitimate BHAG that doesn’t actually mean much to you. You’ll have success, but you won’t have fulfillment.
It took me nearly 50 years to get a clear picture of who Aaron Wenzel really is. When I did, my core values rose to the top. I could see who my best self was and who I wanted to be.
The more time I spent with that ideal future me, who fully lived out his values, the more I realized how much he could inform my decisions today. I consider how he would feel about a situation. What would he tell me? How would he think about this?
It may sound strange, and it’s a muscle that takes time to develop. But clearly seeing our ideal future self and allowing that person to inform our decisions today helps us map our life toward a BHAG that aligns with our values. It helps us achieve a life not only of success but of fulfillment.
Dr. Aaron Wenzel is a concierge physician specializing in the care of fast-moving entrepreneurs, executives, and public figures in the Nashville, TN area. Dr. Wenzel’s diverse life experience and extensive training in family medicine, emergency care, nutrition, and hormone replacement therapies give him the unique platform to provide unmatched care for his patients.
