Posted by Happy New Year!
Have you set yourself any goals for 2023? I’m not talking about resolutions, which are more about setting your intentions and cultivating good habits, but rather knowing where you want to go and creating a plan to get you there.
If you’ve already got some goals in place, how did you decide on them, and how are you going to set about achieving them?
In short, what’s your BHAG?
A BHAG (pronounced bee-hag) is a Big Hairy Audacious Goal – a compelling, long-term goal that drives you out of your comfort zone, and helps you create your unique strategy for success. Your strategies have to be unique: there’s very little point in copying others, because what works well for others won’t necessarily work for you.
Why do I need a BHAG?
You need a BHAG, because it’s going to become your North Star. Without one, you might find you’re a bit rudderless and just drift along with no key objectives in place. Developing a strategy to achieve your goals (and especially your BHAG) is difficult to do at times, but you need to visualize what the future looks like when you achieve everything you want to.
It’s not good enough to say, for example, that you want to develop a career in Real Estate, or that you want to build a portfolio. You need to be really specific and identify exactly what it is you want.
Is that going to come from residential property or commercial? What exactly are you doing? Are you buying and selling? Are you buying and renting? Are you flipping? All of these things are important.
Perhaps you want to build a passive income? How much do you want to make per month? How are you going to collect that?
Think about locations. Where are you going to focus your attention – your local area, or are you going to look further afield? Nationally? Internationally?
Are you doing this alone or are you going to work with a team?
These are all critical aspects to figure out when you’re creating your BHAG, as you’ll need the answers so you can build your strategy.
Without a strategy you risk working very hard, only to find you’ve built something you don’t actually want.
I think a lot of people want to make lots of money but then effectively build a trap for themselves, which makes them very, very unhappy: they’re making plenty of money, but find that they spend all of their time working in an area that they don’t particularly enjoy.
So they achieved their goal, but the goal was not what they wanted to achieve. That’s what’s key to this process: clarity and strategy.
Clarity is key to a good strategy
The first step in crafting a successful BHAG is assessing your current reality. Take a hard look at where you are now and ask yourself questions like: What are my current strengths and weaknesses? What opportunities exist for me? What challenges am I facing? Answering these questions will help you get clear on your starting point so that you can start crafting an effective BHAG. (Take a look at my SWOT analysis blog to help you answer these questions!).
Drilling down on this stuff isn’t always comfortable, but it’s a really useful exercise. You have to get clear on where you are now so you know what you need to do to get where you want to be.
When you have taken stock of your current situation, start looking ahead. Think about what I said at the start and ask yourself what kind of future you really want for yourself. Think big; don’t be afraid to push the limits of what you feel is possible – don’t let your limiting beliefs stop you before you’ve even got started!
There are no right or wrong answers here. Becoming a real estate entrepreneur isn’t necessarily what you should be aiming for: it’s all about deciding what’s best for you. The journey of a property investor doesn’t have to end with plans for global domination!
Once you’ve done that, you can start to break down this goal into smaller, achievable steps so that it starts seeming more realistic and attainable.
Once you have crafted your BHAG, the next step is making it actionable. Ask yourself what actions do you need to take in order to make this goal happen. This could include things like setting deadlines, creating milestones, or establishing metrics for measuring progress towards the goal. Having concrete steps in place makes it easier to stay focused on achieving the goal and avoid getting side-tracked by other tasks or projects.
I like to sit down early each morning with a coffee and my journal to think about my goals and how I’m going to achieve them. I find that journaling is a really useful tool to remind me that everything I do in my day needs to move me towards achieving those aims.
Coming up with a Big Hairy Audacious Goal isn’t always easy – but it’s worth taking the time to figure out what direction you should take in order to reach your full potential! By starting with a vision for where you want to go in the future, then narrowing down specific goals and creating actionable steps for achieving them – you will be able set yourself up for success in both the short-term and long-term.
The key thing is not to compare yourself with others. Don’t let other people’s goals, ambitions or plans be the things that guide you – get clear on the lifestyle and responsibilities you’d like to have a decade or two from now and get to work on your roadmap to get there.
I hope you’ve found this useful. If it’s raised any questions for you why not join me for my weekly Property Investor Roundtable, the livestream I host on YouTube where I cover property news & events impacting the market and answer your questions. Link to my channel below – hope to see you there!