Step 2: Think Big
“Think little goals and expect little achievements. Think big goals and win big success.”
David Joseph
Before you set any goal you need to first remove all limitations from your mind. This is a common mistake most people make. They think about something extrodinary they’d like to achieve and then immediately think of all the reasons why they can’t achieve it. Stop it! You can achieve anything you want to achieve. Obsticales are simply things to be overcome, they are not road blocks to success.
How do you think big?
- Drown out your pessimist. – We all have that little voice in our head telling us we can’t do something. It’s the same voice that often prevents us from getting into trouble. It often protects us from getting hurt physically and emotionally. However, for the purposes of goal setting this voice must be minimized. Every time you hear that voice start to limit you, remind yourself that in goal setting anything is possible. Relax and let go of your pessimist by drowning it out.
- Think bigger than big. – Make sure what you think is big is really big. Often we set what we consider to be big goals and later realize just how much we’re limiting our potential. When you’ve set a goal determine if you can make it bigger. It may be scary to think of achieving this bigger goal, but you have the power to do anything you desire. There are no limits.
- Role model your goal. – Just for a moment pretend you are someone else setting your goal. Pick an achiever you admire. Now pretend they are setting the same goal. How would their goal differ from yours? Is there any adjustments you can make to match their goal? If so analyze these differences and make the adjustments as you see fit. Again, don’t let you inner pessimist prevent you from achieving what you deserve.
- Let the go of the fear of failure. – All of us have varying degrees of fear. Most of the time the fear of failure is the one fear that holds us back from thinking big. For the purposes of goal setting you must learn to overcome this fear. I know this may seem hard, but for the moment imagine anything is possible. When you catch yourself feeling afraid of failing remind yourself that failure is a big part of success and nothing is going to stop you from achieving this goal.
- Discover the fear of success. – I often call this the undiscovered fear, because more people have this fear and misidentify it as the fear of failure. The fear of success can also be called the fear of change. We fear that our goals may also bring more headaches and additional responsibilities. This is a large subject that I’ll cover in the members area and on blog posts, but for now put some thought to the fear of success if you find yourself not thinking big. Remind yourself that you can solve any challenge, just like you have done in the past.
- Dream like a child. – This is the state I recommend you set your goals. Try to remember what it was like to believe in the magic of Christmas. Try to remember when you believed anything was possible. This magical state is available within all of us. Use it to help you set big and bold goals.
Now that you have a simple formula for thinking big, make sure you do it. I mean really do it. Once you’ve set your goals start over again and ask yourself if there is anyway this goal could be better or bigger. If so, determine if this is what you want and then go for it. You can do it!
