Originally, the title was going to say “Be Aspirational, Not Stupid,” but I decided not to be that harsh.
I spend a lot of time encouraging people to be aspirational with vision and to set Almost Impossible Goals (read more here). But some people only hear part of the message. I also say that when you set a goal that has a 1% chance of succeeding, this means it has a 99% chance of failing. It's solid math.
And – you should not set an Almost Impossible Goal that you are unwilling to fail at. Thoughtfully consider the worst probably outcome if you failed at the goal. Would it really be that bad? With the proper safeguards, probably not.
Example.
So you want to set an Almost Impossible Goal to increase your annual fund by 150% in hopes that it will spur new innovative ideas you have never tried before? Great! Just don’t put that number in your budget. That would be st . . . foolish! Budgets should be conservative.
The purpose of Almost Impossible Goals is to get you to think of new and creative ways of accomplishing what is most important to you. Set the goals, brainstorm, and – if you come up with something you think has promise then test it out. If the test looks good then expand your experiments. Be responsible about it.
Dream Big! You can be a responsible dreamer. It’s called leadership.
