If You Have to Think Anyway, Think Big!

Good morning! I hope your day is starting off well.

I remember a day almost thirty years ago when my youngest daughter was sitting on Dad’s living room floor with a Toys R Us catalog, pen in hand, carefully thumbing through page after page. It was about a month before Christmas, so we all knew what she was up to. Well, we thought we knew.

Dad finally looked over and chuckled and said, “If you have to look through a catalog to find something you want, you must not want it all that much.” She just shrugged her shoulders and replied, “I’m not looking for things I want – I’m crossing off the things I don’t want.” That, my friends, is the very essence of thinking big. No sense messing around with small potatoes – go for the gold.

I’m currently reading, or I guess I should say re-reading, The Magic of Thinking Big. It was the first motivational book I ever read, back in the day. The original copyright was 1959, two years after I was born. And two chapters in, I’m finding that it’s every bit as relevant today as it was way back then. I suspect it’s always been that way. It just took until 1959 for somebody to put it in writing.

The concept is pretty simple. We think all the time. We think of things as they are happening all around us, we think of what to expect next, and we think of how we would like things to be. We envision a future. We dream. We want. These thoughts are going through our head every second of the day. And if we’re going to think anyway, why not think big?

Every modern convenience, every medical advance, every technological achievement, was the result of somebody looking at things as they were and thinking of something better. Some of those came as the result of gradual improvement, but most were the result of thinking big.

The first cell phone I ever saw was on a cartoon back in the 1960s. It may not have been under development at the time, but somebody had already dreamed that it would someday be a reality. It takes unlimited vision to imagine such things. Or, what corporate executives like to call “thinking outside the box.” Don’t be constrained by what is – think of what could be.

We all have dreams. But how big are yours? Take a look around. Much of your life, as it exists today, was once a dream. You dreamed of driving your own car. You dreamed of living in a comfortable home. You dreamed of a job that would pay the bills. You worked to achieve these things and celebrated at least a little when you achieved them.

Maybe what you have today isn’t exactly what you dreamed of, but here’s the real question – did you ever dream of anything much greater? As you were looking at homes, did you look for what you really wanted, or what you thought you could afford? Did you apply for the job you really want to have, or the one you think you’re qualified for?

Okay, we all have to live within certain boundaries, but only for the moment. I live in the home I could afford at the time. But that doesn’t mean I have to live here forever. I look at waterfront homes and think, “Man, would that be nice!” Well, it would. And I could find out if I really wanted to badly enough. It would take time, but I’ve got time. I’ve got the rest of my life. And so do you.

Get out this weekend and take a drive. You know, in that part of town. The part where the homes are bigger, the cars are a little nicer, the lawns are nicely manicured, and the streets are always freshly paved. You know the difference between their life and yours? They didn’t limit their dreams to their current reality – they dreamed of something better. And just like you, they’re still dreaming.

What the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve. You’ve heard those words before. All it takes is imagination, belief, conviction, and effort. And here’s the thing – you had to employ every one of those elements to achieve the life you’ve got. Imagine where you could be if you’d just stretched that a bit.

If you have to think anyway, think big! The CEO of your company works about the same number of hours as you do. It takes the same amount of effort to create their lifestyle as it did to create yours. You can achieve any goal, no matter how great or how small. So, don’t let your imagination hold you back. Think big. Dream big. Then chase those dreams. You’re closer than you think.

That’s all for now. Have an awesome day!

© 2019 Dave Glardon – All rights reserved