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Having big goals and stating them proud
- Mc_Big_G 16y agoSame goal I posted on the blog post: To steal the high-ticket classifieds market from craigslist and ebay.
- dmix 16y ago> If we’re going to turn 37signals into a $100 million/year company Posting generic self-help articles would be a good first step towards this goal.
- dhh 16y agoYou wouldn't believe the millions we bring in on free web articles. Or, I should say forecasted millions. They don't make any real money right now, but I'm sure we'll make it up on bulk!
- dmix 16y agoI was being facetious about it being a serious business. But I was serious about this post being straight out of a self-help book. Although self-help has consistently been one of the top selling topics on Amazon, right below romance novels. So the former might have somes grounds as well.
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- edw519 16y agoSo what’s your big goal? Make it public and we’ll egg you on. I'm going to buy the Pittsburgh Steelers and beat the New York Jets so badly that we'll make Gary Vaynerchuk sorry he ever made his big wish. (Are you sure you want to egg me on?)
- revorad 16y agoTwo of my favourite internet people head to head. Oh yeah bring it on!
- umjames 16y agoAny chance you want to buy the Philadelphia Eagles and turn them into a Super Bowl-winning franchise? But seriously, does that mean you are actively working towards that goal now? Do you think you can realistically achieve it?
- mjfern 16y agoCollins and Porras suggest companies should establish Big Hairy Audacious Goals: A BHAG is "...an audacious 10-to-30-year goal to progress towards an envisioned future...A true BHAG is clear and compelling, serves as a unifying focal point of effort, and acts as a clear catalyst for team spirit. It has a clear finish line, so the organization can know when it has achieved the goal; people like to shoot for finish lines. A BHAG engages people—it reaches out and grabs them. It is tangible, energizing, highly focused." A few examples of compelling BHAGs that guided and motivated people: - John F. Kennedy's BHAG of landing a man on the moon by the end of the 1960s - Microsoft's BHAG of placing a PC on every desk in every home - Google's BHAG of organizing the world’s information and making it universally accessible and useful
- cglee 16y agoI think you left out the most important thing - a BHAG focuses money. It's a giant bet. SCO's BHAG is the lawsuit, Netscape's BHAG was the browser, Pets.com's BHAG was serving every pet - all bets that didn't pay off.
- mjfern 16y agoEstablishing a BHAG per se does not mean you've selected a good goal or that you will achieve the goal.
- Eliezer 16y agoIt's always nice when someone starts a contest you've already won.
- Kutta 16y ago^I laughed out.
- T_S_ 16y agoUnderpromise, overdeliver.
- gruseom 16y agoI suppose "ly" is considered harmful as a suffix now too then?
- hugh3 16y agoUsing adjectives as adverbs is apparently acceptable English in the dialect of the American South. I'm not sure why DHH is using it though.
- mrduncan 16y agoLet's get this started - what's your big goal?
- jordanroher 16y agoPutting Square Enix out of business.
- dmix 16y agoThat sounds like a big corporations goal, not a startups.
- jordanroher 16y agoTrue. But startups can turn into big corporations eventually.
- sahillavingia 16y agoWaking up in the morning without a big goal. :)
- msg 16y agoIn other words nirvana. I prefer to wake up with a goal that is too big for one lifetime.
- kilian 16y ago...except that announcing your goals makes you less likely to follow through with them. This TED talk by Derek Sivers explains it far more eloquently than I could: http://www.ted.com/talks/derek_sivers_keep_your_goals_to_yourself.html http://www.ted.com/talks/derek_sivers_keep_your_goals_to_you...
- dhh 16y agoGood pitch, I haven't personally found this to be true with the goals I've shared with other people. I get much more fired up to prove that I'm actually going to do it once it's out there. But obviously the science shows that might not be true for all.
- zck 16y agoIt makes a difference that you're a polarizing person -- there will be people next week mocking you because 37signals isn't a $100million company yet, so you have more impetus to actually achieve it compared to a person who tells his or her friends, who will be supportive and forgetful of failures.
- oscardelben 16y agoI guess it depends on people. For me announcing goals make them a lot more likely to happen. Also, from what I remember about that TED video, the studies were not really convincing to me. Anyway, see what works for you, that's what's important.
- hasenj 16y agoDidn't watch the video yet (I'm at work and no ear phones atm), but I think it depends on your personality type. Announcing your goal might work for some people, probably the extroverted ones. For me I think it won't work. Announcing my goals always drains my energy; I will have to argue with people and tell them how full of shit they are, and I have to listen to them ridiculing my ideas, etc. I just hate doing that.
- xenophanes 16y ago> announcing your goals makes you less likely to follow through with them But people aren't probabilities. Our destiny is a matter of choices not random chance. So that doesn't really make sense.
- Aetius 16y agoThis works, but only for natural extroverts, politicians, and DHH. For you, hacker, much better to keep a low profile until you've got something to announce.
- farawaygarry 16y agoI can see why stating one’s goal is a good starting point : it helps getting the right mindset to then actually work to achieve this goal. But in everything I've done, talking about something not achieved yet brings unneeded attention and stress, that one doesn’t need in his process of accomplishing something. I'm not saying to hide while working on stuff, but I'm not sure making a lot of noise about it is helping the actual progress of the project.