🎯 Create Your BHAG: How to Set Massive Goals That Energize You

PROGRESSION: The Road to Ironman Championships, Vol. 2

We’re seven weeks out from the Ironman 70.3 World Championships in New Zealand. Two weeks ago, I changed my newsletter format and kicked off this email series. As promised, today’s edition is going to tackle how to set big goals that energize you. 

Swinging for the fences

But first, let’s go back to 2016. I’m in an HR role at LinkedIn living in Santa Clara, California. My wife and I just had our third child. I love LinkedIn, but it’s become clear that I’m not going to learn and progress as fast as I want. We’re living in one of the most expensive areas in the nation. Our small home is feeling smaller every day and I have mouths to feed. If things are going to work out, I need to swing bigger. 

So, I started interviewing at tech startups. Two looked very promising: DoorDash and Company X. I neared the offer stage with both and reach out to my friend Mike, a partner at a top VC firm. Mike tells me:

• Company X has a high chance of success, with a pretty high likelihood of a $1 billion exit.

• DoorDash is far from a sure thing, but the opportunity is massive. If it hits, it will hit big.

I joined DoorDash. 

I’ve learned that It’s easier to hire people if you have a crazy, ambitious idea because top talent will be drawn to the challenge and potential for making a significant impact. People want to be a part of something groundbreaking. The more exciting, the better. Enter, the BHAG. 

The term BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) comes from Jim Collins’ 1994 book, Built to Last. His research found that BHAGs were a key characteristic of companies that achieved long-term success. BHAGs are designed to be bold, challenging, and inspiring, and to stretch an organization beyond its current capabilities. BHAGs energize everyone.

What’s your BHAG? 

Leading up to the 2023 St George Ironman, I put together one of my best training blocks. It was my fourth time completing a triathlon of that distance. I set a personal best and was happy with my race. My brother and I stuck around to watch the awards ceremony. We knew that top performers in each age group would be awarded slots to the World Championships held in Finland. I watched each athlete walk to the podium as their name was called. I saw the smiles on their faces. Man, that’s gotta feel good. I wanted that feeling for myself.

The following year, the World Championships would be held in Taupo, New Zealand. I decided then and there, I wanted to qualify. This would be my BHAG. 

And it was definitely a BHAG! While a strong swimmer, I’ve been a below average cyclist and even worse runner, at least relative to triathletes. I’d been training consistently for two years, but I knew this goal truly was big, hairy, and audacious.

The next day, I got on Amazon and ordered a massive New Zealand flag. I hung it in my garage. Every time I got in and out of my car, I saw the flag. Every time I went on a bike ride, I saw the flag. This flag was a constant reminder of my goal. It was a constant reminder of the person I wanted to become. 

I changed my screensaver to a picture of the New Zealand coast. I estimated what my race time would need to be in order to qualify. I put sticky notes of that time throughout my office. Reminders were everywhere. My conscious and subconscious were flooded with my goal of qualifying for Worlds. I couldn’t hide from my goal if I wanted to. 

Of course, it’s one thing to set a massive goal. It’s a whole different thing to create a plan to achieve that goal. We’ll tackle this fully in the next email, but I do want to make one callout. 

Big goals lead to big energy

I mentioned earlier that companies with a huge, disruptive idea will attract stronger talent. DoorDash is a prime example and it had the long-term vision of becoming the “FedEx of local delivery.” When I was hiring for my HR team, I would tell candidates that eventually DoorDash would be able to deliver EVERYTHING to your home within 45 minutes. This was a bold claim, especially back in 2016. But it was a big reason why we out-recruited top tech companies despite lower cash compensation. We were selling the dream and people wanted to be a part of it.

The same goes with goals we set for ourselves. Small goals lead to small energy. Big goals lead to big energy. For years, my health goals looked something like, eat healthier or lose weight or exercise more. I mean seriously, how motivating are those? It’s not surprising these goals did not lead to progress. 

While a massive goal will lead to massive energy, it’s important that your path to achieve it should start with small steps. Too often the gap between where we are and where we want to be becomes daunting. Creating a plan that leads to consistent progress toward your goal will help you maintain motivation. We’ll dive deeper into this in two weeks.

Life is an endurance sport. Train accordingly. 

Invitations to Act

• Big goals are more energizing than little goals. What’s a BHAG that will push you to be the person you want to become?

• Once you’ve set your BHAG, how can you create constant reminders for yourself?

What I’m Learning

• Cynicism is literally killing us. There’s a widely adopted belief that cynicism is linked to wisdom and better decision making. In this clip from the Huberman Lab podcast, Dr. Jamil Zaki argues that this belief is false. 

  • And it gets worse. Cynics have lower levels of happiness, greater loneliness, and a greater risk of depression. 

  • They also have a greater risk of heart disease and mortality. 

• 📕 A friend recommended the book, Your Next Five Moves by Patrick Bet-David. The first section, Master Knowing Yourself, is so so good. Here are two quotes that have stuck with me. 

  • “If someone is winning at a higher level than you are, either lower your expectations to match your work ethic or increase your work ethic to exceed your expectations. If you do neither, you’ll be miserable.”

  • “Those who can tolerate pain the most—the ones with the most endurance—give themselves the highest chance of winning in business.”

• 📕 I just finished Hero of the Empire: The Boer War, a Daring Escape, and the Making of Winston Churchill by Candice Millard. It’s a biography that reads like a novel. I’m surprised at how unapologetically ambitious Churchill was, even at age 24. Highly recommend it. 

Gratitudes

I’ve found power in regularly expressing gratitude so I’ll continue the habit. I’m grateful for youth sports. Last week, this quote was sent by the commissioner of my son’s flag football team: 

“Your child’s success or lack of success in sports does not indicate what kind of a parent you are.  But having an athlete that is coachable, a great teammate, mentally tough, resilient and tries his or her best IS a direct reflection of your parenting.” 

Youth sports give kids the opportunity to learn critical life skills including mental toughness, being a good teammate, resilience, and so many others. These lessons are best learned through personal experience and athletics is the perfect arena for this.  

If you've read anything worth sharing I'd love to hear about it. As always, thank you for reading.  

All the best, 

Nathan

Read my book, The Unconquerable Leader | Learn about coaching 

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