Announcing "The Leap Challenge"

I’m willing to bet you’ve got stuff you want to do—important stuff, stuff that matters. Call it whatever you like—your dreams, your goals, your bucket list—but it’s always there: inspiring, goading, even taunting you toward something higher, something bigger, something better.

Maybe you’ve got an idea for a non-profit or a vision for expanding your business. Maybe you want to learn to play the piano or to write that book. Maybe it’s saving for that trip to Antarctica, or getting in shape.

Whatever it is, if you’re like many people I know, those dreams aren’t even on the back burner, they’re stuffed somewhere safe, in some cold, dark cabinet. They’re just waiting for you win the lottery. And you aren’t even buying tickets.

A small group of colleagues and I want to change that this year. 2012 is a leap year, but we want to make 2012 your leap year—the year you take a leap on a big dream. To make that happen we’re offering The Leap Challenge on this blog to help catapult you toward one of your biggest dreams this year.

The Challenge

The concept is simple: Do one task a day, every day, for the month of February, 2012 (Leap Month) in order to prepare yourself to achieve one of your biggest dreams. On February 29, 2012—Leap Day—you’ll start the journey toward your goal, having acquired the tools, the plan and the network needed to finally turn your ambitions into action.

Here’s how it’ll work:

1. Before February 1, 2012:

• Sign up for the Challenge by filling out the form below.
• Choose one big dream you want to go after. (Don’t worry about refining it too much, we’ll work on that in February. However, you do need to narrow it down to just one dream)
• Invite others to join!

2. Leap Month (February 1–28, 2012):

• Each day you’ll receive a short task via a blog post. Over the course of the month, these tasks will collectively guide you through the process of refining your dream, gathering expertise & support, developing a step-by-step plan, and preparing to execute with discipline & agility.
• Leverage the knowledge of others, gather encouragement, and find accountability by sharing and interacting with other participants via Twitter (using the hashtag #Leap), Pages on both Facebook & Google+, or in the comments on each blog post.

3. Leap Day (February 29, 2012): All participants begin their plans, taking the leap and accelerating toward their dreams.

4. Beyond (March – December 2012): For the rest of the year you’ll use the established networks to give and receive encouragement, hold yourself and others accountable, and celebrate individual achievements.

In addition to accelerating you toward one of your biggest dreams, the concepts you’ll learn during The Leap Challenge will help you personally apply many of the leadership principles that I blog about.

We’re excited about helping people take an extraordinary leap in 2012. Sign up today by entering your name and email into the email subscription box in the sidebar to the right and hit “subscribe”.