Comments on: The Art of the Audacious Goal http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2011/01/21/the-art-of-the-audacious-goal/ Financial talk for the rest of us Sat, 16 Feb 2013 01:14:45 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 By: Marti http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2011/01/21/the-art-of-the-audacious-goal/#comment-936125 Marti Fri, 21 Jan 2011 22:46:35 +0000 http://www.thesimpledollar.com/?p=6533#comment-936125 Holy Wow – this post just made a lightbulb click on for me.

Thank you Trent.

]]> By: Telephus44 http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2011/01/21/the-art-of-the-audacious-goal/#comment-936107 Telephus44 Fri, 21 Jan 2011 19:31:41 +0000 http://www.thesimpledollar.com/?p=6533#comment-936107 @Steven #5 – you hit the nail on the head! I hadn’t consciously noticed it, but you are right that there is a definite dichotomy to TSD – sometimes we’re told to just chase our dreams and everything will work out, and other times we’re told to play it safe because anything else is too risky. I always think of this when people ask for advice on either buying a house or having children. If someone wants to have a child, the advice is always to go for it, the happiness it brings is worth it, and you will find a way to make it work. If someone wants to buy a house, then they better have 20% down, a 6 month emergency fund in the bank, be able to afford the payments within the 25% net income of only one salary, and even then they should wait and practise paying a mortgage payment for a few years.

More on topic, I personally find myself accomplishing more when my goals are a reach, but not audacious. I find that for myself, setting the bar really high is just discouraging and causes me to give up.

]]> By: Nick http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2011/01/21/the-art-of-the-audacious-goal/#comment-936104 Nick Fri, 21 Jan 2011 18:43:22 +0000 http://www.thesimpledollar.com/?p=6533#comment-936104 @ABQBrent #6: Let me be the first to cheer you on! We all know you can do it, because you’ve got the attitude and drive to get it done.

I’ve always found that taking on big projects like this is also an excellent time to network, as you’ll be recruiting help and support from lots of people you wouldn’t have otherwise.

]]> By: ABQBrent http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2011/01/21/the-art-of-the-audacious-goal/#comment-936091 ABQBrent Fri, 21 Jan 2011 15:56:03 +0000 http://www.thesimpledollar.com/?p=6533#comment-936091 Just what I needed to read this morning. This afternoon my boss is going to pitch the idea up the ladder that I should design the division website. This will be a solo project and the scope might be overwhelming. But today I’ve got to persuade everyone that I can do it. I doubt I’d get fired even if I completely dropped the ball on this, If its really awesome I might get lots more assignments like this and bigger chances to do cool things.

]]> By: Steven@hundredgoals.com http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2011/01/21/the-art-of-the-audacious-goal/#comment-936088 Steven@hundredgoals.com Fri, 21 Jan 2011 15:27:23 +0000 http://www.thesimpledollar.com/?p=6533#comment-936088 I think it’s a very rare thing that failure to accomplish a goal will cause your life to implode. What might be more of a risk is focusing too much on succeeding while ignoring the other aspects of your life (family, friends, health, etc.) But as far as fear of failure, when you really think about the worst-case scenario, more often than not, the risk is worth the reward. You can’t always go through life playing it safe. To me, there’s more risk in fearing failure and playing it safe than there is to chase after your goals and dreams, even if in the end they don’t work out exactly as you’d hoped. Great people did great things. They took risks, stood up for what they believed in, fought against authority, put their lives in jeopardy for what they thought was right…these are the people we read about in history books. Those who played it safe and didn’t take chances because they were afraid of failure have long been forgotten. Sometimes a person just has to face the challenge.

It’s an impossible dichotomy to play it safe and take risks at the same time…one I see you (Trent) struggle with based on your writings. One day you tell people to chase their dreams, risk it all, forget about practicality and then the next you’re telling us to hedge our bets, don’t do things that will risk [what's important to you], make sure you’re safe and secure financially. A lot of people who are successful put it all on the line without a parachute. Granted, there are many people who fail but failure is part of success. You don’t just wake up one morning and become a millionaire or the CEO of a successful non-profit organization. You don’t meet the girl of your dreams sitting at your desk replying to mindless emails. You don’t visit 100 countries without buying plane tickets.

At some point, you have to take risks in order to accomplish your goals. And yes, sometimes that means risking things that seem important today, like a steady income from a career but at the end of the day, isn’t succeeding at whatever your goal is supposed to improve your life from the one you have today? We can’t be afraid to take the steps necessary because we’d rather play it safe.

]]> By: Carmen http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2011/01/21/the-art-of-the-audacious-goal/#comment-936087 Carmen Fri, 21 Jan 2011 15:17:38 +0000 http://www.thesimpledollar.com/?p=6533#comment-936087 @#3 sjw – You know, it was so long ago that I read it. I must just remembering what I got out of it!

]]> By: sjw http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2011/01/21/the-art-of-the-audacious-goal/#comment-936085 sjw Fri, 21 Jan 2011 14:48:41 +0000 http://www.thesimpledollar.com/?p=6533#comment-936085 @#2 Carmen – I really liked To Engineer is Human, but I don’t think that was really about audacious goals. Especially given that it uses several engineering examples which cost many lives. I think the problem was that those engineers didn’t realize they were being audacious, and so didn’t put in enough checks and balances to make sure it still worked.

]]> By: Carmen http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2011/01/21/the-art-of-the-audacious-goal/#comment-936082 Carmen Fri, 21 Jan 2011 14:13:38 +0000 http://www.thesimpledollar.com/?p=6533#comment-936082 This is so true and also tied to innovation. Most innovation comes from these audacious goals. It reminds me of a book all of us engineers had to read in Engineering 101 called “To Engineer is Human”. It is all about some of the most important engineering failures and what we learned from them (think suspended bridges). You might want to add that one to your reading list!

]]> By: TC http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2011/01/21/the-art-of-the-audacious-goal/#comment-936081 TC Fri, 21 Jan 2011 14:10:05 +0000 http://www.thesimpledollar.com/?p=6533#comment-936081 Nice post, Trent!

I’ve got some goals I’m working on right now, but nothing ‘audacious’ per se. This post was a good kick in the rear to at least consider doing something *big*.

Thanks,
TC

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