You have probably heard of “BHAGs”: Big Hairy Audacious Goals. They are game-changing objectives, monster-size ideas that are large in scope and carry tremendous opportunity for change.
Please permit me to introduce the notion of the sbug: the small bald unassuming goal.
I’m not bashing BHAGs. Frankly, I like them. They are grand and imposing, such as Ending chronic homelessness in our community within three years or Building an integrated service delivery and recreation center by the year 2020. They get underlined in documents. “Wow,” someone might say when hearing about a BHAG, “do you think it’s possible?” It’s fun to look the questioner in the eye and answer yes. It’s fun-quadrupled to actually see that possible become reality.
Sbugs don’t command the same attention. When they are achieved, they get nothing close to the same notice. “Nice” is perhaps an optimum reply to a successful sbug that someone recognized. “That could be helpful for … ” with the dots being filled in by something much smaller than an average BHAG. In other words, that sounds kind of worthwhile but it ain’t goin’ into any history books.
The sbug doesn’t make history books.
During my career, I have been seduced by the BHAG. I’ve wanted to be part of big things. I’ve wanted to leave a legacy of large accomplishment. Only lately – after years of BHAG pursuit – am I beginning to appreciate the power and beauty of the more diminutive, less flashy sbug. Which is why I offer focused improvement activities, and the more mundane efforts of daily work and life, an official moniker. It is time that small steps in the human enterprise receive their due. It is time for the small goal to get some respect.
Imagine a world without the sbug. You can’t. You need to complete basic tasks of being, each and every day. Clothes need cleaning, dinners need making, cars need gas – the list goes on. The same is true for work and careers.
Oh, you may say, those are just chores. Or those are things that need to be done. Of course I fix the faucet when it’s dripping or unclog the drain when it’s backed up. Of course I complete a report on time at the office or in school. It’s required.
No, it’s not. There is no universal force like gravity making sure that a report get done. It’s done because you get it done. You have a list of things to do. You complete the report sbug as an item on that list.
I know that the acronym “sbug” doesn’t sound impressive. Don’t let that fool you. It is the true engine of change, the shoulder on which the BHAG is able to stand. Without the sbug, the BHAG cannot be dreamed. Absent the sbug, the BHAG cannot be reached.
And we cannot become better people.
Think about this. You can aspire to large things in your personal life. For example, at a time of international strife and domestic conflict, you can decide to lead a life of virtue. “I want to become more spiritual,” you might say, “someone who actually lives holiness.” Wow. Impressive. That is definitely a BHAG of individual BHAGs. How though will accomplish it? What will you do today, in the next few hours, to help you begin to achieve it? Well, you may do something nice for someone, something unexpected. Or you may be more patient with the person driving the car that just cut in front of you on the road. Or you may smile at the unpleasant store clerk when you don’t have to. You may, in short, live the path of the sbug.
An sbug can be no more than taking a deep breath. It can be stopping and listening to the narrative inside your head when it starts to tell you how you’ve been wronged, or how you are misunderstood, or how you … etcetera etcetera. First you listen. Then you begin to change.
Bugs – the ones with wings and the like – are all around us. They are typically small, and are plentiful. They are a nuisance. Many can be squashed, swatted, or flicked into oblivion. They are forgettable.
And that is why sbug is such a wonderful name. Sbugs can have the same annoying features as insects. They are also forgettable. And they are easy to ignore. In your work, an sbug will move a project or idea from point A to point B but not anywhere close to point Z. Consequently, it won’t be remembered. In your life, an sbug will move you one step closer to a new you. Don’t want a new you? No worries. An sbug isn’t bothered by it. It’s content to just help you be a better you. A better you is still not your intent? Not a problem. An sbug will just help you live your life one step at a time.