November 12, 2008

What’s Your Best Advice on Hitches, Glitches, and People Who Don’t Show Up?

ME Liz Strauss wrote this at 9:32 am

Even Big Hairy Audacious Goals Get Stuck

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What makes me think that everyone has been here?

We get an idea. The concept seems whole, simple, brilliant. We can’t wait to start. So we set a dream on the horizon, and we go for it. Enthusiasm, drive, and determination propel us.

We set a plan.
We get to work.
We talk about what we’re doing.
Things are rolling
until …
a hitch, a glitch, someone doesn’t show up.
Now what?

Gotta Get a Big Hairy Audacious Goal

Putting a dream on the horizon and moving toward it is a start, but it isn’t quite enough. We need to make it a Big Hairy Audacious Goal.
Suzie Cheel and Glenda Watson Hyatt live by their Big Hairy Audacious Goals. Lots of folks believe in BHAGs. Tim O’Reilly and Rosa Say blogged about their value. Geoff Livingston wasn’t shy about explaining what he why he thinks big hairy audacious goals make things happen.

When they name the BHAG, marching orders crystallize. It’s messy and non-linear, but voracious. Just the ticket for a little magic. The Buzz Bin

I agree. Big hairy audacious goals are messy and nonlinear. The very “big, hairy” name makes it clear that they’re likely to offer deadends, detours, and doers who don’t do what they said they would. Those big hairy interruptions are when too much thinking can get us stuck.

It’s the thinking … questioning?
Is it us?
Is the goal too big and too hairy?
Are we up to the struggle?
That’s the danger. The goal didn’t change, nor did it’s value. What changes is our resolve. Enthusiasm, drive, and determination fade into black and we’re left with voices saying we might have misjudged.

Hitches, Glitches, and People Who Don’t Show Up

I said I’d tell you about the barns and bridges project as things moved forward. It’s been a week since then.

Here’s what’s going on.

  • Hitches: People are asking how to help and I don’t have a system for answering them.
  • Glitches: Bad code stole time from the project and other work needs to get done.
  • People who don’t show up: My designer has gone into the code cave. I think I need to find a new one.
  • What’s on track: conversations with possible sponsors are moving forward, I’ve got help forming the message and the documentation they’ll need to see the project clearly and know their part.

As my friend, Lorelle, often tells me, “You’d be brilliant for other folks, now’s the time to be brilliant for yourself.” With that in mind, I’m offering these plans for now.

The next few days, my free time will be about: keeping the sponsor conversation alive; planning out how to get 2 or 3 key volunteers committed to help manage the project for 2-3 hours a week; start the quest for a new designer; finish the details left open by my computer mess.

Action has always been my best response to making sure a big goal doesn’t get stuck. That’s my advice for me. What’s yours?

Here’s the keys. I hand it over to you …

What’s your best advice about hitches, glitches, and people who don’t show up? What action steps should come next to keep this Big Hairy Audacious Goal of Raising Barns and Building Bridges moving forward? What good things have you been doing that we don’t know about?

Looking forward to what you write in the comment box.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

Related:
Why Play the Game, If We Aren’t Playing for Keeps?

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29 Comments to “What’s Your Best Advice on Hitches, Glitches, and People Who Don’t Show Up?”

  1. November 12th, 2008 at 9:38 am
    Daniel said

    If I have time, I always like to take a step back and talk to some folks who have absolutely nothing to do with whatever the task is.

    It’s funny where inspiration comes from, and it usually is sprouted from people who don’t think like you.

  2. November 12th, 2008 at 9:45 am
    Tim (@Twalk) Walker said

    Two things:

    1. (Echoing you…) ACTION. When in doubt, TAKE SOME ACTION. This means making decisions, even — or especially — when you can only do it by trial and error rather than a finely-conceived 17-step plan. “Action in the face of uncertainty” would be another way to phrase this.

    2. Plaster a silly grin on your face, or, failing that, just commit yourself to remaining upbeat. Enlist perennially upbeat friends, if need be, to give you transfusions of their optimism. Listen to the most upbeat music you can stand. Tell jokes. Make fun of your own foibles, if it helps.

    These two things, taken together, have gotten me through any number of tough spots. And when I find I’m really STUCK, I find I’m always lacking one or both of these.

    Good luck! Go get ‘em!

  3. November 12th, 2008 at 10:46 am
    Rebeca Trautner said

    At the risk of sounding trite - what about that song that really gets you going? It amazed me how on a simple monotonous drive to work this very morning, one of those songs popped up and completely shifted my way of thinking.

    I could say almost exactly what Daniel shared: “It’s funny where inspiration comes from”

    Sometimes a song will come on that re-energizes me enough to get over the hitch that completely deflated my drive. It reset my viewpoint enough to think about my situation a bit differently - a bit more positively. I felt so much better prepared to deal with the task at hand afterward.

  4. November 12th, 2008 at 10:50 am
    ME Liz Strauss said

    Yeah, Daniel. I’m lucky to be able to find lots of folks who don’t think like I do and I rely on them to keep me grounded whenever I can.

    Good advice.

  5. November 12th, 2008 at 10:51 am
    ME Liz Strauss said

    Hey Tim!
    What a great plan to keep the darkness from closing in around us. I think I’ll be calling you next time I’m feeling like a slug. :)

  6. November 12th, 2008 at 10:56 am
    Karin H. said

    Hi Liz

    Take a deep breath first, then raise your head and look again at that top of the mountain that is the end-goal. Savour that moment you are again reminded of the glorious sight.

    Then take another deep breath and take the first new step. It might be on another path you first thought would guide you there, but it might also be climbing that boulder on the same path which you hadn’t noticed was there when you looked before.

    The top of the mountain hasn’t changed, nor has the way you have already come so far. It’s just the route from here to there that has changed a (little) bit.

    Start walking again ;-)

    Karin H. (Keep It Simple Sweetheart, specially in business)

  7. November 12th, 2008 at 11:01 am
    Tim (@Twalk) Walker said

    Liz — You can always DM me on Twitter when you’re feeling blue — I usually have plenty of optimism to spare. ; )

  8. November 12th, 2008 at 11:21 am
    Christa said

    I like working with my collaborator, who does think the way I do - almost exactly so; we are very much on the same creative wavelength.

    Why it works: I can work myself up but good, fretting about every little thing, but he is able to put things back into perspective and remind me to solve the problem the way I would anyway, had I been thinking clearly. Of the two of us, he is certainly the more relaxed!

    Best of all? People who think nothing like you, and 1 or 2 who totally get you.

  9. November 12th, 2008 at 11:40 am
    Jannie said

    I think like anything worth working towards, it’s THE HOURS we must face. The minutes that add to hours that add to getting us where we want to go. It all adds up, step by step.

    People that don’t show up are soooo frustating. Three strikes - you’re out!

    Just make sure in whatever you do YOU show up (advice to me.)

  10. November 12th, 2008 at 1:14 pm
    Richard Reeve said

    I’ve been reflecting on the idea that: the inner conflict I do not make conscious, comes at me in the outer world as fate (paraphrasing Jung). The go-to person that is not reliable, where was I not clear in my expectations about doing business together? How did I miss the lack of reliability in considering this partnership? What qualities are essential in my next go-to person so this doesn’t happen again?

    As one sitting in the field, ready to lift some cross beams…perhaps you could generate a to do list for participants to begin exploring topics or ideas or practices. The hardest aspect of pulling off a community barn raising is keeping the resources that arrive early engaged and making progress. Even if these initial forays are “alpha” or “beta”, let’s get to work.

  11. November 12th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
    Amy Derby said

    The hard part about being brilliant for yourself like you are for everyone else is you live in your own head. We’re brilliant for others, because we’re not emotionally attached. It’s easier to break someone else’s baby. Plus when it’s someone else, we’re not distracted by all the thoughts that think us out of stuff when it’s our own project.

    My advice is always this: sit down with someone who gets you and loves your idea but is emotionally detached. Together draw a map of the big picture and how to get there… which things need to be done before the next thing can happen etc… in small pieces that are easy enough to do in a few hours each day.

    “This is what I can do right now” is much less scary than “these are the 40 things I’m not doing because I have to do these 10 other things but I can’t do some of those either because people keep asking me how they can help and someone’s in a cave and I’m having a cow.”

    I’d ask how I can help, but I don’t want you to have to add “slap Amy” to your already long list of things to do.

  12. November 12th, 2008 at 3:46 pm
    ME Liz Strauss said

    Hi Christa!
    I was thinking that I would write about just that sort of thing tomorrow. You confirmed it for me. :)

  13. November 12th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
    ME Liz Strauss said

    Richard,
    I think your point is well taken and that’s just what I’m trying to figure out … The hardest aspect of pulling off a community barn raising is keeping the resources that arrive early engaged and making progress.

    Would you want to help me do that?

  14. November 12th, 2008 at 3:50 pm
    ME Liz Strauss said

    Amy,
    You walk in every time saying the most brilliant things, then discounting them. Come back here and listen to me (and everyone) applaud.

    You hit the reasons and the remedy right where it needs to get said.

    Thanks for that. Don’t think I won’t put you to work. :)

  15. November 12th, 2008 at 3:54 pm
    ME Liz Strauss said

    #6
    Hi Karin,
    I read your “mountain picture” earlier and actually thought I’d responded to it. Thanks for the image that will always come back to me now when “keep walking and keep climbing” is the next logical best step.

  16. November 12th, 2008 at 3:55 pm
    ME Liz Strauss said

    #8
    Hi Jannie!
    You’re good to notice that it’a a pain. I should put you in charge of asking folks if they’re in for the “short haul” of the entire project. :)

  17. November 12th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
    Scott McLeod said

    BHAGs are very tough. Who’s to say it’s a BHAG? Is it the right one? And so on. Getting it just right is extremely difficult. And THEN you have to persuade everyone to go for it! Yikes.

    Thanks for the link. I’m off to explore the rest of your blog!

  18. November 12th, 2008 at 4:39 pm
    Amy Derby said

    Liz, you can put me to work any time. You’ll be a nice break… :-)

  19. November 12th, 2008 at 6:16 pm
    Richard Reeve said

    Yes, certainly. Excited about the opportunity and I will do my best not to over promise. I think that relationship is of equal importance to content and value highly the opportunity to collaborate. In the new media space, it’s not so much where we play “for keeps” as how. We can pack our bags and do good work in so many places, across so many platforms. Point me in a direction…

  20. November 12th, 2008 at 9:36 pm
    John Haydon said

    Liz,

    Great post - and very timely. I’ve recently developed some “big hairy goals” for my consulting and blogging business. A very familiar voice shows up that says “Don’t kid yourself… it won’t happen…”

    I’ve gotten to know this voice pretty well and fortunately have just enough wisdom to know what to do:

    1 - Take action (”Action has always been my best response to making sure a big goal doesn’t get stuck”) Action is undeniable. No matter how doubtful or fearful I might be, the action says “Screw off fear and doubt! You have no power!

    2 - Set up external controls. This is about committing a specific goal to a friend, or agreeing to a deadline. In my case, I have scheduled monthly consulting calls with Michael Martine to keep my big hairy goal on track.

    I’ve got lot’s to learn, but have just enough wisdom and self knowledge to get me to the next page in my story.

    Thanks again for another great post.

    John

  21. November 12th, 2008 at 9:37 pm
    ME Liz Strauss said

    Hi Scott!
    Welcome!
    Hope you like what you find here. I’m thinking you fit right in with this crowd.

  22. November 12th, 2008 at 9:54 pm
    ME Liz Strauss said

    Richard,
    Your value is so apparent. I hope you see it as well as I do. We need builders who can talk as plainly and as thoughtfully as you do. You are an agent of change. :)

  23. November 12th, 2008 at 9:56 pm
    ME Liz Strauss said

    Ah John,
    How lovely to hear that we share Michael Martine as a friend.

    Your insight into action with control underscores exactly what I’ve been saying to myself all day.

    I’m lucky to have you and the people on the other end of the phone. :)

  24. November 12th, 2008 at 10:04 pm
    John Haydon said

    Liz,

    It’s great that you have this venue for us all to lean on each other and be honest about our fears.

    A fear looked directly in the eye is just a helpless child.

    John

  25. November 12th, 2008 at 10:24 pm
    Lucretia Pruitt said

    “What’s your best advice about hitches, glitches, and people who don’t show up?”

    Oh I see we’ve been living in parallel universes again! I’ve been trying to figure this out today.

    This is not my strong suit - hence why I say all too often that I’m not an entrepreneur - ideas? I got ‘em… the drive to plow thru obstacles? that’s another matter.

    BUT fortunately, I just remembered today what I do. I reconnect with those people that inspire me.
    I reach out and say “arrrrrgh!! Remind me again - what am I supposed to be doing right now??”
    And the answer, inevitably, is ‘go with the flow - it will happen if you keep moving forward.’

    There are a thousand little things in any BHAG that need doing - and we always feel like there’s never time to do them - so I try to remember to take the time to do them when I have it. (Sometimes I’m better at that than others… the little things are always tough to get motivated about.)

    Don’t worry - some of us are still engaged and will be here.
    There’s a Barn to be raised! ;)

  26. November 13th, 2008 at 5:09 am
    ME Liz Strauss said

    Hi John,!
    That’s a great outlook for facing down fear. I’m going to remember that one. :)

  27. November 13th, 2008 at 5:15 am
    ME Liz Strauss said

    Hi Lucretia,
    Ah, keep moving forward. Sometimes that can seem like walking through molasses, can’t it? It’s our enthusiasm, determination, and drive that makes the path and fuels the journey.

    I stand close by your resolve to be here when the barn raising strarts.

  28. November 13th, 2008 at 10:04 am
    John said

    Liz,

    Perfect because then you can remind me the next time I’m freaking out.

    John

  29. November 14th, 2008 at 5:00 pm
    Debbie said

    I like to state (out loud) “I know there is a solution”. Then I try to do something else unrelated. When I come back to the issue, the insight seems to kick in.

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