Today, we've got our old friend, Seneca. Seneca is my fave, he's my boy. And this is from On The Brevity Of Life. It's a very short one, so I want you make sure you're paying attention. Pay attention! Life, for the book? Pay attention. Okay. How tall are you? Six foot one. Very small, man. Believe me, it's better to produce the balance sheet of your own life than that of the grain market. That is good.

Say it one more time, me really with it. Believe me, it's better to produce the balance sheet of your own life than that of the grain market. What does that mean to you? Well, what he's saying is if you were to be working on the market and every day you're taking like what's the profit, how much have I sold, you're probably not doing the same thing in your own life. You know what I mean? There's a thing that, pretentious alert,

Dostoevsky says, where he's like, man likes to count his troubles, but not his happiness. Very, very deep. Love it. So being able to just sit there and you'll people can't, I could have done being a bit better there, could have done with hitting target a bit more, but not actually going the other side. Yeah. But I'd say what I think about when I see this is driving forward with purpose in a business is really difficult, especially to get like everyone on board. You've got the guy at the front of the boat saying, come on, I need everyone to be rowing here.

You might have some guys who aren't, the boat sort of doesn't go in the right course and it all gets messy. And what we tend to need is there's a sales target that's ingrained. Obviously I'm the person I need to hit targets to keep the job and progress and all these things. And we kind of think that's enough, but then how do we build a goal that's bigger than that? What do you think about that? Well, it reminds me of the time that we went to Amsterdam on a...

beer boss and there was eight of us and you were the only one pedaling. I don't know if you remember that. I have nightmares about it. You were all hungover. were all hungover, as was I. But I don't let my hangover get in the way of pedaling. I've always loved pedaling. Yeah, that's why we both don't drink anymore. Too much pedaling. There's something called a B-Hag. I don't know if you've heard of a B-Hag before. I don't think I have. Okay, let me break it down for you. A B-Hag? Call it a North Star or whatever it is.

I it was a bee hag. Yeah, it is a bee hag. But then you said it was a North Star. Similar. They look the same, but one's a bee haggie and one's a starry. Okay. Starry, starry night. Paint your bed. A bee hag is a big, hairy, audacious goal. Okay. Okay. So I think we've listened to a few of his podcasts. You know Jamie Lang? This is where I first heard about it. I do know Jamie Lang. Candy kittens. I have some in the car.

Yeah, vegan sweets. You like them and I do enjoy them and if I see them around I say bloody Jamie's done me again. I'm to buy a pack. pound 99 Selfridges. That's where you get yours. But his b-hag was to present the Brit Awards and and when he speaks openly about it says yeah, well, what is a b-hag? I told you a big hairy audacious goal. Right. Okay. Remember when I just said it a moment ago. I thought it was a North Star. like, don't understand what it kind of is but it's a bit more than a North Star So a North Star is where you're going towards

BHAG is probably something ridiculous and it's one of those things that can probably slip into the world of finite games and infinite games and things like that. So something that actually, it is achievable, but it is a bit ridiculous. So it wouldn't be just hitting target this year. It would be getting promoted to CEO. Okay. And then what do I need to do in order to get there? So it's something so big that keeps you striving, that makes you think,

every action that I'm doing, every pedal, every row, is it consistently getting me closer to my b-hag? I like that a lot. when we started the We Have A Meeting podcast, we always have a who's the guest we to get, don't we? So at first it was Benjamin Dennehay. Yeah. Then it was Chris Voss. Yeah. And there's little bits of work that have to be done along the way to get there. But then things happen and now it's...

Rory Sutherland and Daniel Priestley and we've been able to get those guys on there, but having that North Star, that B-Hag of that's the guest that you're aiming for and then what are the blocks to get there and who are the other people you need to get on to make that happen has been one of the things that's been kind of instrumental to grow in that. Who's your B-Hag for the next big guest then? Remember what you said to me off screen? Louis Theroux. Louis Theroux. Yeah, so Louis Theroux is probably the one that would be like. Louis Theroux, if you're watching.

Anytime. Now, another thing of look at this in terms of a b-hag is my sales jobs. was typically brought in in my careers, like the hunter. So cold hunter. And what I'd always ask people is a couple of things. I'd say, what's the quickest someone's close the deal? I'd always try and beat that when I first came in. I'm that kind of guy. But the other thing I'd be like, have you got like a list of dream clients that you've never worked with? Because it's like, how can I, as a salesperson, I can give you the numbers.

and just be like the generic kind of cog in the machine. But if you want to make a name for yourself, it might be, yeah, we've always wanted to work with them, but they work with our biggest competitor. Like, well, I'm going to make some app. Give me something to do. We're going to get in front of them. We're going to give it our best shot. Or what's the quickie? Someone's closed the deal. they did it in their first month. I'll try and do it in the first couple of weeks then. And just having that goal that's outside of the sales target of that's that big, hairy, audacious goal tends to...

keep things moving. And what you notice is if it's starting to feel a bit stale in your job, but you're like, I'm doing the same things. I really know what's happening. You just don't have that big hairy audacious goal. The challenge probably isn't big enough. I said, what's the quickest anyone's been promoted? And they said six months. I got promoted in three. And then on the fourth month, they demoted me back because they'd promote me too quickly. Wow. What an inspirational story. I've been Jack Frimston. I've been Zach Thompson. Remember you would die.

Demote this man.