Sep 28, 2019

So what is a BHAG? Well I am going to tell you but first I have to tell you about why it is on my mind.

The extent of my daily news intake comes from a quick scan of the local paper while I eat breakfast. Today there were two articles on health and fitness. While neither article said anything that wasn’t true, I found them annoying and still false. Two reasons:

One article considered “older adults” anyone over 40. I am 62 so that was just irritating.

The other reason is how uninspiring both articles were. In both cases the approach was just to start slow with a fitness plan, do a little something, do not set unrealistic goals, etc. Okay I get it. Start slow and work into more, but who is going to stick with a program that isn’t inspiring and will yield such a slow return? If I get a chance to write an article like that my message is, “Hey, you are not too old! What would you like to be able to do? Let’s get you out training for the Spartan, hike the Pacific Trail, or get some ripped looking abs!” Now isn’t that kind of message more inspiring?

A few minutes later I was reading from “The 4 Hour Work Week” and saw this comment:

“Goals have to be unrealistic to be effective.” Timothy Ferris
As I jotted that down I noticed the quote of the day in my planner:

“Go for the moon. If you don’t get it you will still be headed for a star.” -Willis Reed
And from my own files:

Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men’s blood. -Daniel H. Burnham
All of this reminded me of the acronym BHAG proposed by Jim Collins:

“Big Hairy Audacious Goal”
Everybody should have BHAG’s, not just in business, but in all areas of life. You won’t believe what you can accomplish by attempting what appears to be the impossible. I always require my personal coaching clients to have a “bucket list” of at east 50 things

to do
to have
to be
before we move on to other things. I hope they will build that list to at least 100 items.

Maybe you are wondering what’s on my list. I just added this: enter the fitness model or bikini division of a fitness competition just to say I did it (remember I am 62). It will take a modeling coach and a lot of courage but hey, like we say at FitMania,

“You can always do more than you think you can.”

By Sherry Stirling Fernandez