I have just been at a conference called Think Unreasonably which looked to push my thinking about my life and my business. It was confronting, engaging, mind blowing and also a little emotional. Put it this way, I am not used to crying in front of a room full of people but more on that later.
So back to my original question – what will you be doing on this day 2027? Have you ever given it even the slightest thought? Why does it matter? Do we not think about it because it’s a scary thought? Just working out how old I’ll be makes me want to run and hide!
So why is it important to set a ten year goal? Hush to those people that said “I could be dead by then”. Yes, you might, but you might also be living your dream life. In the Jim Collins and Jerry I Porras book, ‘Built to Last’, they confirmed that businesses that have endured for decades, all consistently set massive 10-25 year goals. At the Conference, they pushed us to think about goals across a number of categories such as health, money, business and family, etc. We then had to come up with a Scary Goal, an Unreasonable Goal and an Impossible Goal and a strategy for each category.
So why haven’t you got a ten year plan? I will tell you why – from my experience it’s bloody hard work. At the end of Day one, I had nothing on my page – zip – nada. It was challenging to be creative and I definitely was not thinking BIG enough. My mind kept jumping to ‘how will I do that?’ Like most people my brain works on the negative, self-limiting beliefs – “of course you can’t do that Natasha”. Then it went to self-sabotage mode – “if someone else hasn’t done that yet, why do you think you could?”
So what were my goals around Giving Back or Contribution? Well, at the moment, we donate to B1G1 and we want to do more so:
Scary: by 30 June 2018, we want to raise our giving to 1% of revenue to help empower women to protect their families and start or run successful businesses
Unreasonable: by 30 June 2019, we want to raise our giving to 5% of revenue
Impossible: by 30 June 2020, we want to raise our giving to 10% of revenue!
So why did I cry in front of a room full of people? Well the answer is that we were also pushed to think about – what am I ignoring, not saying or not doing at the moment? My realisation was that I am working too hard – and for too many hours (worn like a ‘badge of honour’), to the detriment of my husband and three children – and it’s no good sailing around Greece on my 55ft yacht on my own – because I have taken my family for granted.
So what is your BIG HAIRY AUDACIOUS GOAL? Fancy coming sailing with me and my family in Greece?
