BHAGs

This past Saturday I ran the fifth race in our summer race series.  Only ten hours earlier, I had arrived home on a train from a 10-day trip to Boston and New York City, so I was tired.  The sticky heat of Virginia seemed oppressive.  And here I was, standing at the starting line of a 5-miler in the early morning, remembering my goal:  to run all seven races in the series and to run them hard, to the best of my ability.

As I stood there trying to muster up enthusiasm, I couldn't help thinking, "You know, I couldn't have simply decided to DO the series?  I had to say I'd race it hard, too?  I had to set that extra hard goal??"

It took a lot of self-discipline, but I ran as hard as I could and thus, stayed on track to achieve my long-term summer goal.  I ran a 40:05, for an average 8:01/mile pace, and I am proud of how hard I worked for it.

Today as I practiced piano, I set a new summer goal for myself:  to learn all the notes of Liszt's B minor Sonata by the end of July.  I think it's an attainable goal, but it's not an easy piece and I will have to be very disciplined to get it done... just like with the race series.

After I finished practicing for the day, I posted my latest goal on Facebook.  One of my pianist friends made a comment about my BHAG and wished me good luck.  I had never heard this acronym before, so I googled it.  BHAG stands for Big Hairy Audacious Goal.  It's "a long-term goal that changes the very nature of a business' existence."

I think SparkPeople might just be the largest online community of BHAG-setting people.  As I peruse the community feed or member blogs, I am struck by how many people have made or are in the process of making huge changes in their lives.  Some people are trying to lose a lot of weight.  Others are trying to cut out a bad dietary habit.  Others, like me, are trying to raise their fitness level.  Even though we all have different goals of varying degree, there's one thing that's all the same.  We're trying to change for the better the very nature of our existence.

Let's all embrace our BHAGs!  We can do it!