In an uncertain, rapidly changing climate, goals often are as slippery and
mercurial as they are critical. They often defy short-term definition let
alone engagement and capture. And survival reality is simple, if not
stark: key aspects of conventional goal-setting strategy must adapt or become
outmoded and out-dated.

Ironically, the approach needed may involve getting out of your "success"
goal box. Remember, sometimes reflexively relying on our niche of success
(if not resting on our laurels) ultimately can have you stuck in the ditch
of excess. How do you negotiate this critical crossroad?

Frequently, the challenge is to move outside your comfort zone, explore
the new or transitional landscape (and mindscape) and to "Confront Your
Intimate FOE: Fear of Exposure." Consider these steps for blending rational
goal-setting and creative risk-taking, Four Keys to "The Art of Designing
Disorder":

1. Aware-ily Jump in Over Your Head. When it come to productive
risk-taking, don't "Just do it!" Notice the above neologism: "Aware-ily" -- a mix
of aware and warily. Still, sometimes the only way to truly test the
temperature and water current is to finally jump in. (Of course, as we'd say
in the bayou, first check for alligators.) The value of emersion is that
you quickly learn your strengths along with gaps in social and technical
resources, skills, emotional hardiness and experience. You will likely have to
dance with performance anxiety and feelings of loss of control. And while
often humbling, taking the plunge surely sharpens focus and imaginative
gifts while motivating maximum survival effort.

2. Strive to Survive the High Dive. While there are no guarantees, here
are four survival measures:
a. Strive high and embrace failure. Forego perfectionist voices and
fantasies; see so-called failure as the temporary gap and transitional space
between an ideal state and your present reality. Of course, for failure to
motivate progress, distinguish among high expectation, vision and
hallucination.
b. Develop a realistic time frame. Remember, establishing a beachhead
doesn't mean you've conquered the island; recognize that many battles are
fought and lost before a major undertaking is won
c. Be tenaciously honest. If the pressure is getting to you, come up for
air and for an ear. Continuously assess the impact of actions and
outcomes, the changes within yourself and your environment, and the rules
underlying your operation.
d. Establish a support system. Risk-takers definitely need some TLC:
"Tender Loving Criticism" and "Tough Loving Care" for staying the labyrinthine
course, managing the stress of edgy living ("Hey, if you're not living on
the edge you're taking up way too much space"), and for bathing psychic, if
not physical wounds.

3. Thrive On Thrustration. Become more problem-minded, not just
solution-oriented; don't rush to judgment. Be a psychic volcano. For awhile,
tolerate the conflict between thrusting ahead with direct action and
frustration, that fertile state yet volatile state of "thrustration." Heightened
pressure and a "no exit" challenge can shake the habituated, settled mind.
And then, learn to let go. With these steps you are feeding the creative
fires and priming the imaginative, emotive and visual right hemisphere of your
brain. So take an "incubation vacation" to hatch a new perspective. Be
ready for an upsurge of repressed memories, novel images and associations
and, possibly, an "Aha!" explosion. Remember, problems are not just sources
of tension and frustration, but are opportunities for integrating the past
and the present, the conscious and the unconscious, the obscure and the
obvious. Here lies creative perspective.

4. Design for Error and Opportunity. Innovative and risk-taking
individuals and organizations are more attuned to a range of possibilities than to
"one right way" or rigidly ideal goals. These systems initiate action
without absolute predesign predictability and prefer experimentation to
preoccupation over imperfection. Having the courage to flounder through a sea of
novelty and confusion often yields new connections, long-range mastery and
an uncommon big picture. A narrow, safe course creates the illusion of
achievement and short-lived control. Of course, limited predesign means
opportunity for errors. In open people and systems, startup misplays are vital
signs for self-correcting and self-challenging feedback.

With these keys in mind, a closing message, if not passage, for valuing
both the destination and the journey:

Remember, errors of judgment or design rarely consign one to a state of
incompetence; they more likely reveal inexperience or immaturity, perhaps
even boldness. Our so-called "failures" can be channeled as guiding streams
(okay, sometimes raging rivers) of opportunity and experience that
ultimately enrich -- widen, deepen and expand -- the risk-taking passage...If we can
just immerse ourselves in these unpredictably roiling yet so often
rejuvenating waters.

Here's to double-edged and cutting-edged goal setting!