Last week, I introduced a blog series about Google’s company, X, which is a “Moonshot Factory.” You can find the post here.
So what is a moonshot?
It’s a radical solution to a huge problem the world faces for which there are no good current solutions. Any one in the company can suggest a Moonshot for the company to pursue. No idea is too ridiculous (this includes but is not limited to teleportation, contact lenses that measure blood sugar in a diabetic’s tears, space elevators and cold fusion, sometimes all in one sitting).
The only requirements? X’s Moonshots are built off of a three-part formula:
1) it has to address a HUGE problem,
2) the proposed solution has to be radical, and
3) the technology it employs has to be relatively feasible.
“In other words, any idea can be a moonshot—unless it’s frivolous, small-bore, or impossible.”So what does this mean for our lives? If we learn something from the Moonshot principles and apply them to living our greatest lives possible, we can extrapolate three rules:
1) We have to dream the biggest dreams possible,
2) focus on only the greatest hindrances to those dreams, and
3) the solutions to those problems have to be achievable.
What makes our dreams big? I often discuss BHAGs (Big Hairy Audacious Goals) in my presentations and I tell my audiences that there are two rules for BHAGs. The first rule is that they have to scare you. We often dream small, attainable dreams. What we forget to see is that big dreams can be attainable too, as long as we can process the fear that comes with them.
Take out a piece of paper and write three goals for yourself to complete over the next month. Then read through them and give them a score of 1 -10: 1 being “I can complete this with my eyes closed” and 10 being “Impossible without the intervention of a divine power.” If your goals do not hit a 7 or higher, add an element of “pushing for more” to them.
For example, if you write “I want to learn 10 new words”, that is a fantastic goal. But let’s be real, you could probably step outside of the room you are sitting in and complete that goal in between grabbing a snack. But if you set your sights higher… “I want to learn a new language,” things get more challenging. You need to decide which language to learn. You need to find the resources to start learning the language. You need to carve out the time to learn the language. It will be hard, and you will stumble and make mistakes. It may seem challenging, maybe even flirting with impossible. But it is absolutely doable and the power to do it is totally in your hands.
What do we fear when we dream big? Most often we are afraid of some form of failure… making mistakes, tripping up, some stumbling block in the path. When dealing with this fear, something I have to do fairly frequently (more on that later), I like to adhere to the Two Rule: If you won’t be thinking about it in two hours, if it will not matter in two years, do not let it affect you for more than two minutes.
As humans, it is second nature to linger over the feeling of not succeeding. But we often forget that in order to fail, you have to stop trying. If Walt Disney stopped trying in 1920, he would have been remembered (or rather forgotten) as a bankrupt startup studio in Kansas City. If Oprah had listened to her first boss, she would have never become the best paid female entertainer in history. If Peyton Manning stopped trying in 1988, he would have been the rookie with one of the roughest first seasons despite being first draft pick. If we let small failures get in the way of our larger success, we will be destined to a life of mediocrity. We have to get THROUGH failure, to get TO success… repeatedly.
So do not sweat the trivial and do not let the small stop you from being great. The problems you have to focus on solving have to be ones that STOP you from achieving your goals. The ones which make you STUMBLE are planted there to make you GROW. Growing to live that dream is an imperative and growth NEVER happens in your comfort zone.
Additionally, these goals also need to have a sense of ownership; you must have the ability to complete them. If your goal is that you will be a millionaire by the end of the month, best of luck. The problem with that goal is that none of the control is in your hands. By establishing the goal, you put all the responsibility and therefore all of the control squarely in the hands of the world. Someone needs to GIVE you the million dollars. All you can do it wait. When setting goals, retain control by making the action steps your own responsibility. One of my favorite ways to do this is what I can the Thumb Principle. When something fails you, ask yourself whose fault that was, raise your thumb and point up and back…
I’ll wait.
Okay, before you get upset… I know that sucks. Who wants to blame themselves all the time? You heard me… for everything. Your assistant shows up 15 minutes late for the 4th day in a row. Your significant other nags you about the dishes yet another night. Your patient is upset that a crown did not seat. I am not saying those things are always our fault all the time. But what happens IF you hypothetically accept that they are. Your assistant is late but perhaps you have not been consistent in your discipline or worse, clear in outlining your expectations. Your spouse is an unreasonable human, but perhaps you could have worked harder to be empathetic to their needs or at least in communicating your busy schedule this week. Your patient is taking our their frustration on you but at least now you can own the problem, apologize and make it right for them. You cannot control your assistant’s habits, your spouse’s moods or your patient’s anger… but you can control you, your reaction and your response.
Our lives are not lived to their fullest potential if we dream dreams that are frivolous, small-bore or unattainable. The good news is that that life, the greatest life you are capable of living, is just as real as many Moonshots Google’s X takes on.
You just have to have a healthy disregard of the seemingly impossible.
So what is a moonshot?
It’s a radical solution to a huge problem the world faces for which there are no good current solutions. Any one in the company can suggest a Moonshot for the company to pursue. No idea is too ridiculous (this includes but is not limited to teleportation, contact lenses that measure blood sugar in a diabetic’s tears, space elevators and cold fusion, sometimes all in one sitting).
The only requirements? X’s Moonshots are built off of a three-part formula:
1) it has to address a HUGE problem,
2) the proposed solution has to be radical, and
3) the technology it employs has to be relatively feasible.
“In other words, any idea can be a moonshot—unless it’s frivolous, small-bore, or impossible.”So what does this mean for our lives? If we learn something from the Moonshot principles and apply them to living our greatest lives possible, we can extrapolate three rules:
1) We have to dream the biggest dreams possible,
2) focus on only the greatest hindrances to those dreams, and
3) the solutions to those problems have to be achievable.
What makes our dreams big? I often discuss BHAGs (Big Hairy Audacious Goals) in my presentations and I tell my audiences that there are two rules for BHAGs. The first rule is that they have to scare you. We often dream small, attainable dreams. What we forget to see is that big dreams can be attainable too, as long as we can process the fear that comes with them.
Take out a piece of paper and write three goals for yourself to complete over the next month. Then read through them and give them a score of 1 -10: 1 being “I can complete this with my eyes closed” and 10 being “Impossible without the intervention of a divine power.” If your goals do not hit a 7 or higher, add an element of “pushing for more” to them.
For example, if you write “I want to learn 10 new words”, that is a fantastic goal. But let’s be real, you could probably step outside of the room you are sitting in and complete that goal in between grabbing a snack. But if you set your sights higher… “I want to learn a new language,” things get more challenging. You need to decide which language to learn. You need to find the resources to start learning the language. You need to carve out the time to learn the language. It will be hard, and you will stumble and make mistakes. It may seem challenging, maybe even flirting with impossible. But it is absolutely doable and the power to do it is totally in your hands.
What do we fear when we dream big? Most often we are afraid of some form of failure… making mistakes, tripping up, some stumbling block in the path. When dealing with this fear, something I have to do fairly frequently (more on that later), I like to adhere to the Two Rule: If you won’t be thinking about it in two hours, if it will not matter in two years, do not let it affect you for more than two minutes.
As humans, it is second nature to linger over the feeling of not succeeding. But we often forget that in order to fail, you have to stop trying. If Walt Disney stopped trying in 1920, he would have been remembered (or rather forgotten) as a bankrupt startup studio in Kansas City. If Oprah had listened to her first boss, she would have never become the best paid female entertainer in history. If Peyton Manning stopped trying in 1988, he would have been the rookie with one of the roughest first seasons despite being first draft pick. If we let small failures get in the way of our larger success, we will be destined to a life of mediocrity. We have to get THROUGH failure, to get TO success… repeatedly.
So do not sweat the trivial and do not let the small stop you from being great. The problems you have to focus on solving have to be ones that STOP you from achieving your goals. The ones which make you STUMBLE are planted there to make you GROW. Growing to live that dream is an imperative and growth NEVER happens in your comfort zone.
Additionally, these goals also need to have a sense of ownership; you must have the ability to complete them. If your goal is that you will be a millionaire by the end of the month, best of luck. The problem with that goal is that none of the control is in your hands. By establishing the goal, you put all the responsibility and therefore all of the control squarely in the hands of the world. Someone needs to GIVE you the million dollars. All you can do it wait. When setting goals, retain control by making the action steps your own responsibility. One of my favorite ways to do this is what I can the Thumb Principle. When something fails you, ask yourself whose fault that was, raise your thumb and point up and back…
I’ll wait.
Okay, before you get upset… I know that sucks. Who wants to blame themselves all the time? You heard me… for everything. Your assistant shows up 15 minutes late for the 4th day in a row. Your significant other nags you about the dishes yet another night. Your patient is upset that a crown did not seat. I am not saying those things are always our fault all the time. But what happens IF you hypothetically accept that they are. Your assistant is late but perhaps you have not been consistent in your discipline or worse, clear in outlining your expectations. Your spouse is an unreasonable human, but perhaps you could have worked harder to be empathetic to their needs or at least in communicating your busy schedule this week. Your patient is taking our their frustration on you but at least now you can own the problem, apologize and make it right for them. You cannot control your assistant’s habits, your spouse’s moods or your patient’s anger… but you can control you, your reaction and your response.
Our lives are not lived to their fullest potential if we dream dreams that are frivolous, small-bore or unattainable. The good news is that that life, the greatest life you are capable of living, is just as real as many Moonshots Google’s X takes on.
You just have to have a healthy disregard of the seemingly impossible.