Six Questions Keep Me Focused On My Moonshot Goal

To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift

Image by Author using Dall-E

The term moonshot was initially coined from the Apollo 11 spaceflight project, which landed the first human on the moon in 1969.

Today, moonshot means doing something that takes a giant leap of effort, like launching a business or a product, creating a lofty goal, or re-branding yourself.

Plato’s Famous Analogy of the Charioteer and His Horses

There is no question that pursuing goals is hard. You need both the will (motivation) and the way (skills and abilities). In Elliot T. Berkman's research paper entitled "The Neuroscience of Goals and Behavior Change," he reviews the emerging brain science on the complex behavior of setting and achieving goals.

Berkman says humans have been trying to explain what motivates behavior since the time of Plato. In his "Phaedrus" dialogue, Plato explains human nature by relaying Socrates' discussion of the chariot driver and his horses.

Imagine you're a chariot driver. You have two horses to control and direct. The disciplined horse is obedient, follows instructions, and makes intelligent decisions. The free-spirited horse is wild, doesn't listen, and makes terrible, impulsive choices.

The chariot driver is the boss that represents intellect and reason. He tries to stop the horses from going in different ways. The disciplined horse is easy to manage, but the free-spirited horse is tough to control and will try to steer you off course. This is why pursuing and achieving goals is hard.

Millionaires, sports superstars, and other high achievers have been able to steer the horses in the same direction. They stand out for their ability to set ambitious moonshot goals and relentlessly pursue and achieve them.

My Moonshot Goals

As a teenager, my moonshot goal was to escape the poverty of my childhood. Later, my moonshot goal was to own my own business. As a woman in the 1970s, I thought I could demonstrate my worth to the world better by starting my own business rather than working for a company in the male-dominated business world.

I worked on my moonshot goals with the same passion as Neil Armstrong, as if I was preparing to fly to the moon.

The Brand Called You

In 1997, Tom Peters, the renowned business management guru, published an article in Fast Company magazine entitled "The Brand Called You."

Peters confirmed my belief that it is on you to market yourself. No one is going to do it for you. He made it more memorable by giving it a clever twist, branding yourself as Me, Inc.

Regardless of age, regardless of position, regardless of the business we happen to be in, all of us need to understand the importance of branding. We are CEOs of our own companies: Me Inc. To be in business today, our most important job is to be head marketer for the brand called You. It’s that simple — and that hard. And that inescapable. — Tom Peters

He says we are in the "Age of the Individual." No matter who you are, you are in charge of creating your brand, just like companies create brands.

Start today.

Personal Brand Equity Evaluation

I committed to answering six questions from his Personal Brand Equity Evaluation every quarter. Often, the answers crossed quarters, and that's okay as long as there was progress.

One quarter's answers for me are in italics.

1. By this time next year, I plan to be known for… public speaking and my integrity.
2. My current project challenges me in the following ways…selling computer training courses and practicing excellent listening skills.
3. My self-education or classes in the last 90 days include…conversation skills and analyzing companies to invest in.
4. My public visibility program includes…customer visits, speaking in the community, and volunteering at kid's school functions.
5. My meaningful new relationships to nurture are…a customer, John, and an industry peer, Sally.
6. My principal "resume enhancement" activity for the next 90 days is…creating a marketing budget and programs.

I posted this Q&A by my desk to review it often. You can't expect to get where you want without following through and challenging yourself. I was successful because I was 100% committed to my moonshot goal.

Each question relates to two of the four success principles I followed: Grit/Guts, Skill-Building, Connections, and Collisions. I explain how these four principles worked for me in my forthcoming autobiography, "My Way Made Me Millions."

Questions 1, 3, and 6 relate to Skill-Building. I committed to life-long learning focusing on specialized knowledge, personal development, financial intelligence, and healthy living.

Questions 2, 4, and 5 relate to Connections. I committed to using superb communication and listening skills to make myself visible in my expertise.

Don't Sacrifice The Gift

I also committed to memory a quote by Steve Prefontaine. Prefontaine was an American long-distance runner who set records at every distance from 2,000 to 10,000 meters in the 1970s. He believed in himself. When asked how he accomplished his goals, he stated:

To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift.

Don't sacrifice the gift.

Don't let the statistically high likelihood of failure stop you from making and completing your goals. All you have to do is defy the odds. Give yourself a moonshot goal — then move heaven and earth to make it happen.

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