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

Everyone around is saying that 2011 was a horrible year, in fact, to me, 2011 was one of the greatest. In 2011, I’ve lived in an amazing city (Dubai), got the chance to meet wonderful people, traveled to fabulous countries, worked on amazing projects & clients, partied like a rock star, experienced mind-blowing adventures and most importantly learned a lot.

But of course, “there is no free lunch in America”, in 2011, I’ve also had little struggles:

• Although I lived in fabulous Dubai, I wasn’t lucky with the neighbors , especially the ones right underneath (25th floor), who complain on every little tiny noise and called the police in our great house parties.
• Although my trip to Europe was amazing last summer, I still had to cancel/change some plans in the last minute.
• Despite meeting amazing people, I’ve also had painful break-ups. And now that I have moved back to Lebanon, its even worse to be separated from the dearest people back in Dubai.
• Although I worked on great digital marketing projects for fascinating clients like DEPE, Qualpro, Tamimi, Majid Al Futtaim Malls, Viva Kuwait, Rostamani Group, RAKFTZ and others, I’ve witnessed arrogant yet ignorant bosses and learned what bad leadership means and how the “carrot and stick” concept in management is a damn failure in today’s information age business environment.
• Although I’ve became a regular guest to Dubai’s most glamorous venues at night, and although I’ve attended the “interesting” Aimy Winhouse and the awesome Snoop Dog concerts, I’ve also gained a bit of a beer belly, few centimeters of fat on my thighs and suffered crazy hangovers due to over indulgence .
• Although I’ve done the most insane adventure ever (Sky Diving), which by the way, its “high” is still in my system, I didn’t keep on practicing the activities I started early on in the year (Professional Swimming, Skiing (yes in Ski Dubai, MOE), Kite Surfing, Salsa Dancing and Tennis). I even haven’t persevere enough on basketball, which correlates to the beer belly and the unhealthy lifestyle I’ve been living lately.

Today however is a day to decide on what should we STOP doing, START doing and CONTINUE doing.

Stop doing: problem with new year’s resolutions is that it usually hard to maintain, but despite that fact, this year I’m determined to stop smoking both Cigarettes and Shisha.

Start doing: 2012 is definitely a challenging year for me. I’ve taken on an extreme changes in my professional career and my live in general. I’ve moved back to Lebanon to handle our family business and this by itself require an entire set of “start doings”. The most important is discipline. In 2012, I need to have an extreme discipline to wake up everyday knowing that I am my own boss yet still focus on the targets and mission at hand. Its also a year of perseverance and patience. Our school is small and needs a lot of work. It has been running for 25 years in the same traditional mindset and I need patience to know that change doesn’t come instantly and perseverance to coop with the problem I’ll be facing.

2012 will also be the year where I will go back to school to embark on a masters degree, which I’m still undecided between Business Administration or Education Management.

Continue doing: There are certain things that I found extremely important throughout the years and I should keep on doing. Most important is the genuine interest and care about other people and being warm, friendly and helpful to friends, family and general fellow citizens. Its important that I continue smiling, continue being the happy person I am and spread positive energy in people I meet. Little alcohol is always good and I’m not planning to stop drinking and having good time, keeping the balance of work and play: work hard, play hard.

Its now 9:00pm on January 1st 2012, this is the beginning of a new year that we hope it brings delight to all of us. At least I have to say that I welcomed 2012 last night a bit better than its predecessor. Last year, we’ve celebrated the new year in the jammed metro station in Dubai. It wasn’t great, but we made the best out of it. This year however, I was between my beloved family, with whom I haven’t celebrated in ages. So, although it was a humble family and relatives gathering, it was a pleasant warm party, with lots of quiz games, poetry and fun activities.

2012 is definitely an adventurous year for me and I wish it’ll be a lucky one for all of us. Warm greetings to all of you.