What's Your X-Prize

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Originally uploaded by CareerJoy.

Eight years after the competition was announced, the X-Prize was won. The X-Prize was $10 million for the first privately built ship to carry three people 100 km into space within a two week span. It was SpaceShipOne (SS1), built by Scaled Composites, that was the first to reach the goal.


Reaching space was only one aspect of the goal Scaled Composites set out to achieve. For them, this was a commercial venture and to be successful they needed to manage costs and attract partners. Were they successful? Absolutely.


SS1 cost close to $30 million which sounds like a lot until you compare it to a NASA shuttle at nearly $35 billion! So much for cost effectiveness, how about partners? Just this past Monday, Richard Branson of Virgin fame announced his intention to use the technology from SS1 to build five Virgin Galactic SpaceShips that will eventually provide 3-hour space flights to consumers with a lot of dough. Tickets will cost around $150,000 a piece.


SS1 has many lessons for us, I want to focus on two. First, goals are critical for success. Second, goals make us better than we are. I'll only write about the first one this week.


Careers without goals are really career accidents. Going to work everyday without an objective gets you a dollar but that's about it. When you lack direction you aren't able to capture the full value of your career. Careers are an opportunity to learn and grow in the things you love. The discipline of making goals asks us to understand the things we love, our values, and ambitions. Great goals give us a reason to count costs, dig deeper, and take risks - the ingredients of success.


At CareerJoy we can help you identify goals that will help you succeed. We can help you build a strategy that moves you forward in a successful career. Work with one of our coaches to define your X-Prize.


PS Congrats to my Dad. Last weekend he qualified for the Boston Marathon. That has been a goal of his for many years. Dad I am proud of you.


Along the Road with you...