“As long as you’re going to be thinking anyway, think big.” A famous quote from the billionaire real estate tycoon and the 45th president of the United States. Whether you like Trump or you don’t, it doesn’t matter. The key is that when you choose to think big, you start to attract big things into your life.
One of the most important characteristics that separate successful people from the unsuccessful is their thinking.
Successful people always choose to think big. They dream big. They imagine themselves playing it big.
When you are looking for a job and you get the chance to work at Google and another small, not-so-famous company, which one will you go for?
Most people prefer to go for big companies like Google, Facebook, Microsoft, etc. The reason is that these companies are known for their visions. They have big dreams of changing the world.
And people are naturally attracted to big thinkers.
You’d rather watch a sports game in the final rather than the qualification match, right?
Like what Marianne Williamson wrote in her book, A Return to Love:
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“Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do.”
When you think big, you will start to make decisions and take action that brings you big results.
And life is short my friend, if you are going to make it, you might as well make it big.
Most people are conditioned to think small because of what they have been told and experienced in life. They tried to go big but failed. They tried to pursue their big dreams, but their parents, teachers, and friends told them to be realistic.
When you are still a child, your parents told you that you can’t do this and you can’t do that. When you raised your hand and asked a question in class, you get ridiculed when the question sounded a little silly.
All these experiences and what others have told you made you into someone who doesn’t dare to think big and dream big.
The good news is that you’re an adult right now. And you can take control of your own thinking. You can choose to think big or to shrink. You’re the one to decide on how you want to live your life.
So if you are going to think big, here are 7 ways that can help you expand your mindset and make you a big thinker.
- 1. Visualize the possibilities
- 2. Expand your perspective through reading
- 3. Enlarge your dreams by networking with other successful people
- 4. 10X your thinking
- 5. Get rid of your limitation
- 6. Think long-term
- 7. Be curious to explore, dream, and discover
- Conclusion
1. Visualize the possibilities
Your thinking starts with your imagination. And since you are going to be thinking anyway, you might as well just think big.
Imagine and visualize the positive possibilities. Think about all the good things that can happen to you.
Stop letting your fear of success or the fear of failure stop you. Instead, choose to dream about the possibilities that life can offer.
Everything is possible. Like what Napoleon Hill said in his classic success book, Think and Grow Rich:
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“Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve.”
When he was 9-year old, he can’t speak fluently like other kids, causing teachers to believe that he was a slow learner. He was expelled from school for his rebellious nature and his father thought that he was a complete failure.
However, Albert Einstein proved them all wrong. Einstein was one of the most important and successful scientists in history. He developed the theory of General Relativity and won the Nobel Prize.
Albert Einstein was an important figure when it comes to thinking about the possibilities and using your imagination. Here’s what he said:
“Imagination is more important than knowledge. Logic will get you from A to B, but imagination will take you everywhere.”
In 1919, Walt Disney was fired by the newspaper editor and was told that he lacked creativity. Disney, the aspiring cartoonist pressed on with his dream and continued to dream about the possibility. Eventually, he created Mickey Mouse and Disneyland. And the rest was history.
Hence, keep your eyes on the rewards and the possibilities. Spend time thinking and imagining all the great things that can happen to you and your life.
This is the fundamental key to thinking big.
2. Expand your perspective through reading
Another great way you can transform yourself into a big thinker is to read more.
We’re often confined by our own knowledge. For example, you have no idea what a place will look like until you have read about it, heard about it, or visited the place yourself.
And reading is one of the easiest methods that can transform your thinking.
Oprah Winfrey, the successful and billionaire media mogul once called reading “her personal path to freedom”. She even created her own book club by recommending books to read to her followers.
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“Books allowed me to see a world beyond the front porch of my grandmother’s shotgun house,” said Oprah.
You will never know how much more you can achieve until you read a book about all the possibilities.
Perhaps, you may think that a blogger can only earn a part-time income until you read about an article saying that there are bloggers who earned 6 to 7 figures income per month.
And that completely changes your thinking and shifts your beliefs about what is possible as a blogger.
This is why it is extremely important to read.
The more you read, the more knowledge you gain and the better you can expand your view.
This is why I read every day. I used to read about 2 books a month. But this year, I have committed to reading 4 books a month. A book per week. This is to expand my thinking and also to maintain my motivation.
Want to know what books to read? Check out my recommendation of success books here.
3. Enlarge your dreams by networking with other successful people
Like I said above, you can expand your thinking through reading or by gaining experience. And when you network with other successful people who are doing much better than yourself, you are expanding your thinking.
If you have a million dollars cash in the bank, you may think that you are rich. But what if one day, you visit a friend, and his house’s door alone cost $1 million to create?
This is the exact experience that Tony Robbins went through. He wrote the experience in his best-selling book, Awaken The Giant Within:
“I’ll never forget the first time I met architect and hotel magnate Chris Hemmeter. Becky and I had the privilege of being among the first people to be invited to visit Chris’s new home, along with his family, in Hawaii—a $70 million residence that is beyond verbal description. The front door alone cost $1 million to create.
While your rules may say, “That’s an incredible waste of money,” it was also an unbelievably expanding experience of what is possible in terms of business or economic growth.
Suddenly, my $4 million Castle was put in perspective. It barely covered the cost of his front door and marble stairway! Certainly, there was room in my life for thinking bigger, pushing limits, imagining the unimaginable.”
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Therefore, when you network and make friends with other successful people who are doing much better than you, you will be surprised by how much more you can achieve in your life.
When you talk to people who think big, you will expand your thinking and encourage yourself to think bigger too.