Big Hairy Audacious Goals: Why You Need One That Scares You

Everyone should have a BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal).

A goal so large, so slightly unreasonable, that it cannot be achieved by accident. Something that forces you to think long-term, act differently, and occasionally ignore well-meaning voices telling you to be more “realistic.”

My BHAG has always been simple to describe, but not easy to execute : To visit over 100 countries in my lifetime.

Now in my 50s, and having reached 98 countries, I can finally say with confidence that the goal is no longer aspirational – It is inevitable. COVID may have slowed global travel temporarily, but it also created space to build this NoRuleBook website and develop the accompanying eBooks. As is often the case, chaos doesn’t remove opportunity ; it simply reshapes it.

Where a BHAG Was Born

The seed for my travel BHAG was planted early.

The spark for my audacious plan to visit 101 countries started in my teenage years when I learned, from a ‘world-flight’ board game, how much wonder the world had to offer. Subsequent reading about amazing distant places, and how others live, opened up my eyes to what was on offer if I was willing to test my wings and explore this glorious world. beyond viewing it from the media. My first travels were in my early 20’s with short trips to Australia and Japan with friends. These early trips involved lots of partying interspersed with exploring. But something important happened – It opened my eyes to what was possible – and I was hooked.

Taking The Leap Without A Clear Path

I spent the next few years working hard and saving for my first true overseas experience. When the moment came, I bought a one-way ticket to Europe with no fixed return date. The plan was deliberately loose – More a direction than a strategy. Apprehension and nervousness racked my body as departure day drew closer. This was happening.

Saying goodbye to family and friends in a pre-internet era made the departure feel final in a way few people experience today. Letters, not messages, would bridge the distance. The nerves were real, but so was the desire to test my wings.

I started on the East Coast of USA, aiming loosely to travelling overland with a flight out of Toronto a few months later. That flexible approach, travelling without rigid itineraries, would become a defining feature of all my future trips.

London : When Travel And Work Collided

Four months later, I arrived in London, staying initially with my friend Garry – The only person I knew in all of Europe at the time. He not only offered me temporary accommodation, but helped secure me an IT role at a bank. Three months became a year. One bank became another. Before long, I overstayed my working holiday visa. (woops).

The consequence? A ten-year ban and a free flight home to New Zealand – Just in time for Christmas on the beach. I felt I had won lotto. No regrets. Incidentally, I remember at the time a friend commenting how bad this situation was for me – He couldn’t see anything but black. But it’s interesting how, with the right mindset you can accentuate positives, above any negatives – thus flipping a potentially negative situation into a great positive.

Europe Without A Script

Six months later, winter approached again and so did the urge to explore. This time I flew into Germany, estimating six months of exploring and wandering around Western Europe. No planning. No itinerary – just a rough direction of travel. My friend Pete joined me initially, and our approach to travel was so casual we once rolled dice to decide which country to visit next. That sense of freedom defined the experience then, and my approach to travel now.

After Pete returned home, I continued solo through Scandinavia and the Baltic states, eventually landing in Tallinn, Estonia. That’s where the journey paused unexpectedly – Because I was offered a job in Tokyo.

Tokyo, And The Rule I Made To Myself

Author working in Tokyo bank

Living and working in Tokyo was intense in every way. Long hours, demanding contracts, and unforgettable nights. I worked there for nine years, but I imposed a personal rule on myself : For every contract period I completed, I would reward myself by taken an equal amount of time off to travel.

That decision shaped everything in my life. It allowed me to explore both Western and Eastern Europe, most of Asia, and later South America and the Caribbean. Travel wasn’t an escape from work; It was the counterbalance that made the work sustainable.

I will always look back on this rule without regret. Sure, I didn’t make as much money as I could of, but the lifetime experiences far outweigh this.

Seeing The World Beyond The Obvious

I’ve now visited every country in Europe, with Moldova – home to the world’s largest wine cellar – being the most recent. I often hear people say they’ve ‘done Europe,’ when what they really mean is they have toured all the cliche countries in Western Europe. Eastern Europe offers a different travel experience – Many of these countries don’t get throngs of tourists so one can have a more meaningful encounter with locals.

The same applies to the United States. Flying into LA, and visiting nearby Las Vegas, barely scratches the surface. There is so much more to America. I’ve now been to 45 states, and I really believe, from deep experience, that the real America lies far beyond the tourist corridors.

Asia, South America, and the Caribbean offered similar lessons. The more deeply you travel, the richer the experience becomes. Highlights ranged from trekking to Everest Base Camp, to sleeping on mud floors whilst hiking in Burma, to playing a nationally-televised cricket game in Rajasthan (India), to randomly jumping off trains to visit towns not featured in my guide book, whilst travelling through Vietnam.

Travel As A NoRuleBook Philosophy

The more you travel, the more it becomes part of you. (yes, there is such a thing as the ‘travel-bug). I know it makes me a much more rounded and worldly person. It changes how you relate to people, how easily you connect, and how you see value. It makes you more open-minded. Experiences compound in ways possessions never can.

For me, the return on travel has far exceeded anything I could have bought or collected. I look on all the valuable experiences and connections I have made as a valuable asset I get to carry throughout my entire life.

The Take-Out : What You Can Apply

A Big Hairy Audacious Goal doesn’t have to involve travel. It simply needs to be large enough to pull you forward over decades, not weeks.

Choose a goal that scares you just enough to stay interesting. Make rules that serve your life, not ones you inherit unquestioned. And understand that progress rarely follows a straight line.

If you’re building a life, or a business, around independent thinking and long-term vision, these ideas are explored further in the No RuleBook and NoRules Start-Up eBooks, which you can get here

Audacious BHAG goals don’t restrict your freedom. They give it direction.

And direction, applied patiently, can take you almost anywhere.