Think Big Start Small

Think big start small. That’s a piece of advice I received years ago and it is paying off dividends big time now.

Quite often we go out and set huge goals and dream big dreams only to get disappointed later. All the enthusiasm gets sucked out once we realise how big the goal is and come back down to “reality”. This is the pattern for most people I have met and has been a common theme in some of my previous pursuits.

But why does this happen? Why do we set big goals, believe at first that we can achieve them, set out and get started, then crash and burn because it just seemed too much? It’s because we think big, too big, without knowing the first little actions to take. If you start $20 000 in debt and set a goal to be a millionaire in three years you are thinking big. If you want to change the world with some new idea you are thinking big.

Think Big

Would you agree that the daily thoughts and habits of Richard Branson are different from the guy who works at your local gas station? Of course they are, it’s their individual thoughts and actions that have led them to where they are in life.

Richard Branson gets ideas like “lets start an airline” and gets so passionate about the idea that people cannot help but pursue it with him. The guy at the gas station probably has different thoughts. He’s worried about the last customer who was rude to him or thinking about what he’s going to have for dinner.

That’s the difference between them. Neither one started with any less or more resources than the other, it was just a different pattern of thinking and behaving the landed them in two radically different circumstances.

It’s those that think big that end up being the entrepreneurs and inventors. Too many people’s consistent thoughts are too small, they are playing a small game and getting small results. If your consistent thoughts are about trivial things with the absence of big thinking then you are only ever going to get a small piece of the pie, one that no one else wants. It is with thought and behaviour that all great things in this world begin.

Start Small

Thinking big is requirement for growth and human potential in all its forms. If you’re not thinking big then you’re not experiencing your potential. It’s not the outside circumstances, it’s the format of your hard drive (your brain).

But here’s the problem; most of us at some point think huge things. So why don’t we all have the life we want? Why aren’t all our wild ideas realised? Because it’s just too big for the brain to grasp and put to use. It’s all just a dream and a “someday” type of deal.

Once the big thoughts have been thought there needs to be some kind of action taking place. Without action nothing will happen. The issue is that most often the thought is so big that it overwhelms the thinker and everything just shuts down, which further perpetuates the belief that it’s not possible and the thoughts eventually get smaller and smaller so as not to be disappointed.

So here’s the advice, start small. What a genius piece of advice. What I mean is have the big dream, think big, change the world, whatever, but don’t get overwhelmed. Set up a signpost to know you have begun the journey in the right direction.

My best strategy for this is making lists of resources, small action steps, small goals that are almost guaranteed, habits etc. Make lists of these things because it’s the small stuff that adds up over time and eventually turns into a snowball. If you look at the most successful people in the world like world leaders, business giants and elite athletes you will notice small things they seem to do that no one else does. These are just tiny habits they have adopted over their life that lead them to larger things.

Think big start small, do it by making a list of the following small things…

• List all resources you currently have available. This can include skills, contacts, financial resources anything. Make a huge list of small things.

• Make a list of habits that you believe are getting in the way of your dream or goal. What tiny things are stopping you from doing certain things on a daily basis? Now list all the habits and little behaviours that you believe will add small amounts of progress. They add up, so the more of them you have and the more effective they are, the further toward your “big thought” you will be.

• What small action steps can you start right away? Make a list of a bunch of little things you can do immediately to start you on your way. Include some things that are easy and require very little time and effort and also include the small things that will stretch your comfort zone a little. By taking these small steps you are building momentum.

• List anything else that doesn’t fall into the other two categories. This can be random thoughts, behaviours and actions.

My closing piece of advice is this: BE CONSISTENT! Seriously, the one thing I see so often is people thinking they are not getting anywhere and changing ideas constantly. The ones who succeed come up with a solid outline and then build from there. They are successful because they keep building and building without changing ideas all the time. Big things need time to germinate and grow. Think of a project you undertook years ago that you thought would lead to something big. Maybe it was a business you were staring or a fitness regime. Then you thought you weren’t getting results and changed your approach radically. If you had been consistent and stuck to it from then till now, how far along would you be now? Would it have grown into something huge? Something to think about.

Think big start small, all great things originated in the head of a big thinker, not outside of it.

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