Naja Faysal | Blog

“Why limit yourself?” The old man looked at me unwaveringly and had shown a great deal of interest in my therapy business. “Think big, Mark! Why only see eight people a week when you can teach one hundred, a thousand others to do what you do who could, in turn, each see eight troubled souls a week? 8,000 people a week!”

The question is if Thinking Big accomplishes so much, why doesn’t everyone think that way?
The answer is simple, all of us are in the mid of lot of negative influence every day everywhere. And no wonder, our thinking is small, not big ! All around us is an environment that is trying to tug us, trying to pull us down.

It has often been said that ‘bigger is not always better’
Some might say it’s true when considering the current economic situation, but I feel it is never true when it comes to new ideas or personal dreams where thinking big is always better. We can achieve success only by believing we can succeed.

What differentiate people is their attitude!
It’s for sure that, there is some magic in thinking big. But it’s equally true that, we forget it easily. When we hit some rough spots there is a danger that, our thinking will shrink in size. And when it does, we lose! Here are 10 Rules to stay thinking big that we should know :

Rule # 1 : Remember everything starts small

Everything starts out small. If we are to believe the astrophysicists, then everything around us – the whole Universe – originated from a form smaller than you can possibly imagine. So it doesn’t matter where you are at present because from small beginnings come great things.

Remember that Rome wasn’t built in a day; in fact, it started as a few hillside hamlets. Actually, the whole human race was once half
a dozen scattered tribes in Africa. Microsoft began as a backroom business. Richard Branson started his empire using a public phone box as his office.

Rule # 2 : Think bigger by enlisting others

To think big, you need to see yourself as a small part of a greater whole. Enlist people who are better than you at certain aspects of what you are developing. If you’re not the most organized person, don’t just lament the fact; find someone who is über-methodical. Big thinkers know their personal limitations. Gather people around you who can do what you can’t to ensure your dream grows.

Rule # 3 : Think big by focusing on future regrets

If you have big plans (or even not so big ones), just close your eyes and strongly imagine not having even tried; never even having attempted properly and looking back in ten years’ time and wondering: “What if…”

Every day I think about the words of the writer Sydney Smith: “A great deal of talent is lost to the world for want of a little courage. Every day sends to their graves obscure men whose timidity prevented them from making a first effort.”

Rule # 4 : Feel it your human duty to think big

When something is potentially a real service to mankind, then it is a human duty to think and act big. I worked locally with people. Now, with my various websites, I find I can help people with anxiety, depression, and other difficulties all over the world. If local people appreciate what you do, then it’s likely you’ll have an international audience, too. This leads naturally to…

Rule # 5 : Now, more than ever, is big-thinking time

Mass communication and the huge proliferation of internet use over the last decade means that a global market or audience has never been easier. Now it’s natural to think globally rather than just locally. The internet is made to facilitate big thinking. Whatever you are aiming at, the effects can be magnified and reproduced worldwide. So the question is: “Why on Earth not think big?”

Rule # 6 : Create big thoughts

Unless you can clearly conceive great things for your enterprise, you won’t get there. Become used to sitting down and envisaging in great detail exactly what your goal is.  How your ideas will look, sound, and feel once they are realized. What will you be doing day-to-day and how will it all hang together? Who will be working on it? What exactly will they be doing?

Rule # 7 : Use the “time machine exercise”

Make believe you have reached the stage where your dream has “gone big.”  Now get the other person to question you as to how exactly you arrived at where you are now. Your job is to be as convincing as possible in your answers. Pretty soon you’ll find it start to feel amazingly real to you. Your friend’s job is to ask as many practical questions as possible.

Rule # 8 Let go of perfection and take action.

Big thinkers are willing to risk a little imperfection for action. That goal you want to accomplish – how many times have you decided to wait until the perfect time to start, or the perfect plan is in place? Start getting comfortable with less “perfection at launch” and more “perfecting as you go.”

Rule # 9 Make decisions from where you want to be

A million-dollar business coach I follow mentioned that when she has a decision to make she asks herself: “What would a million-dollar business owner do in this situation?” This means a shift in your mindset, thinking beyond where you are at this moment. You will probably find that in order to do this, you have to create a team of personal and professional support.
It’s a cliché to say:  “We regret not the things we did do, but the things we didn’t.” But unless you see how far you can take something, you’ll never know how far it could have gone. You’ll always be wondering.

Rule # 10 Positive Thinking

Generate positive thoughts into your workday instead of focusing on all of the negatives and “what ifs”. Remind yourself to think positively everyday by decorating your office with inspirational quotes, celebrating business feats with co-workers, and patting yourself on the back every once and awhile.

Thinking Big All The Time!!!
# 1 – When People Try to Drive us Down, THINK BIG
# 2 - When That ” We- Haven’t- Got -What -It -Takes ” Feeling Creeps Up On Us, THINK BIG.
# 3 - When An Argument or Quarrel Seems Inevitable, THINK BIG.
# 4 - When We Feel Defeated, THINK BIG.
# 5 - When We Feel Our Progress on the Job is Slowing Down, THINK BIG.

I’ve read Good to Great for Jim Collins about two years ago, but now, I was looking into my notes to surprisingly stumbling upon the below points from the book that I find quite interesting back in the time. So I decided now to share these points that could be especially inspiring to people embarking on new challenges in this rainy and freezing day at the Lebanese mountains.

Jim Collins thinks of transformation as a process of build up followed by breakthrough broken into 3 broad stages:

I. Disciplined people

1. Level 5 leadership
2. First who then what

II. Disciplined thoughts

1. Confront the brutal facts yet never loose faith in the ability to prevail – the Stock tail paradox
2. The hatch-hockey concept: gained by deep understanding of 3 intersecting circles:

• What can you be the best in the world at?
• What economic denominator best drives your economic engine?
• What you are deeply passionate about?

III. Disciplined actions

1. Culture of discipline: create a stop doing list
2. Stay focused on the intersection of your 3 circles

Remember

• the technology accelerators
• the fly wheel: accumulating momentum turn after turn
• to preserve your core ideology while stimulating change and progress
• to set BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) that falls in the middle of the 3 circles