“The greater danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.”
- Michelangelo

For a guy who was so lazy that he would lay down on the job every day for four years, Michelangelo sure talks a good game. Sure, he was a few stories up in the air laying on a scaffold and painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel at the time, but I’m sure he snuck in a nap every now and then when he was supposed to be working. Slacker…

Seriously though, I think the reason I like that quote so much is that it sells the idea of overreaching as a virtue. Said differently, you may not actually believe something is possible, but that shouldn’t necessarily prevent it from being your goal. Several great leaders of our time shared that virtue and used it as a motivational tool, a corporate vision, or a rallying cry. John F. Kennedy might not have believed that it would actually be possible to land a man on the moon and return him safely to earth by the end of the 1960s, but he laid out the vision anyway. Bill Gates may not have thought he’d ever be able to see a personal computer on every desk and in every home, but that’s been driving Microsoft for decades. And former Michigan head football coach Lloyd Carr might not have thought he’d be able to win more than one game against Ohio State head coach Jim Tressel, but… wait… never mind.

Business leaders sometimes call stretch goals BHAGs, which is an acronym for “Big Hairy Aggressive Goals.” I think that sounds weird, so my creative marketing mind came up with the idea to call them GOALS, which is the capitalized version of “goals.” If you are in the CW (“corporate world”) and need GOALS to be an FLA (“five letter acronym”) for something in order for you to understand the concept, then you’ll have to come up with your own acronym. C’mon people… you’re killing me.

To illustrate what I’m talking about, here are a few examples of GOALS throughout my life:

When I was in kindergarten, my GOALS included meeting Big Bird, being the best kickballer in my class at Fairfield Elementary and being able to burp the alphabet. I was 1-for-3 back then, but lost my ability to burp the alphabet before third grade in a freak skim milk accident.

In middle school, my GOALS were to maintain a GPA above 3.75, to date Samantha from “Who’s the Boss” and to convince everyone that meeting Big Bird had never really been one of my GOALS. Again I was 1-for-3, and I’m certain that Alyssa Milano now regrets not responding to my letters.

When I was in college, my GOALS were to grow a respectable goatee, to get the number of the beautiful Italian-looking brunette at the bar and to learn how to play the guitar well enough to get onstage with Pearl Jam. 1-for-3 again; the beautiful Italian-looking brunette is now my wife.

There are two points that I’m not so successfully trying to make here. First, it’s okay to set ridiculous expectations and stretch GOALS for yourself even if some are unattainable. And second, I agree with Michelangelo that you’re much better off reaching too far and falling just short than you are setting the bar too low and achieving an easy objective. The benefit of stretching yourself to your limit outweighs the scars of falling short as long as your aspirations are high enough.

So here are some of my key non-work-related GOALS for the year:

1. Run two half marathons in 2009 and at least three 5k races
2. Finish the Nationwide Better Health Columbus Half Marathon in less than 137 minutes
3. Reach my high school in-season weight of 160 lbs by race day in October
4. Meet Big Bird

My friend Ray writes a great leadership development blog called Seedership. In a couple of his posts, he talks about not only the importance of setting goals, but also of measuring progress toward them and reporting out on that progress in order to keep yourself honest and to not lose sight of your goals as time goes by. With that in mind, I’ve developed a report card that I will periodically share with you to review some of the key metrics toward my goals.

Eric’s GOALS Report Card

1. Run two half marathons in 2009 and at least three 5k races

Grade: A
I finished my first half marathon and ran the Race for the Cure 5K earlier this year.

2. Finish the Nationwide Better Health Columbus Half Marathon in less than 137 minutes

Grade: Incomplete
My training for a 137-minute half marathon (approximately 1-minute-per-mile faster than my pace at my first half marathon in May) is underway.

3. Reach my high school in-season weight of 160 lbs by race day in October

Grade: B+
I currently weigh 170 lbs, down from 183 lbs earlier in the year. I’ve hit a plateau over the last couple weeks and need to make some dietary and/or training adjustments to keep shedding weight.

4. Meet Big Bird

Grade: F
If I ever met Big Bird, I’d probably be too star-struck to know what to do.  On second thought, the Big Bird GOAL is coming off my list…

There you have it – my 2009 GOALS laid out and measured for everyone to see. If you’d like to force yourself to achieve a stretch GOAL or two, use the comment section below as a way to make your GOALS known. Then there will be no backing out…