Setting Sail

My friends' Big Hairy Audacious Goal

This week, my friend, Erin, is embarking on an adventure.

She and her spouse have already quit their jobs and sold their home. They’ve sold most of their belongings and put the rest in storage. They’ve been crunching numbers and making plans for quite some time all in order to take the trip of a lifetime and sail around the US and the Caribbean for the next two years.

I’m in awe. I’m enthralled by their journey.

The couple met sailing and just celebrated their 10^th wedding anniversary. He’s had his captain’s license for six years, and they’ve owned their own boat for about three. Over those years, they’ve spent weekends and free time rehabbing the boat, fixing it up and putting in all the creature comforts they’ll need to live in a small space for two years. They’ve used spreadsheets and budgets to plan ahead for their living expenses and contingencies. They’ve read books, gone to workshops with other sailors, and joined online communities. And it’s all falling into place this week.

Jim Collins calls this kind of wild dream a Big Hairy Audacious Goal, the kind of goal that is so big it takes years to work towards and continuous commitment and strategy to pull off. It’s so big and audacious that it might not happen.

Sure, we can all feel really strongly about something and work toward it. I had my eyes set on running a marathon for a few years before I put in the time and commitment to train and cross the finish-line. I also set a goal of running a half marathon in less than 2 hours and kept trying and training until I finished in 1:57:52!

I’m not only impressed with my friends’ consistency and steadfastness through the years that it took to make this dream a reality - though, that really is impressive. It’s also that they didn’t get derailed either by big life events or the everyday inertia of life’s little moments. Life happens: companies fold, markets go up and down, health issues arise, families have major changes. Any of these big things could have made them decide to scrap the whole idea.

But the little things also could have made them lose steam. Just the day-in and day-out routines of life, jobs, and family have a power all their own to keep us where we are. “What is important is seldom urgent; what is urgent is seldom important.” (Thanks, Eisenhower, for the reminder.) They could have made thousands of little decisions that made achieving this goal harder. But instead, they made thousands of little decisions that made it possible to quit everything and live on the water for 28 months.

If we’re asked to dream big, most of us can come up with a wild and audacious idea. Maybe even a reach goal that’s more achievable.

Erin and Steve’s big adventure has taken more than just the courage to dream big or the strategy to put a plan in place. They’ve re-committed again and again in big and small ways to making it happen, and the time is finally here.

And I can’t wait to see where the seas take them next!

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~What I’m reading~

The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

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