The Hazards of “Thinking Big” Part 2

 

In my last video (click here to watch it), I talked about how the ability to continue to hold on to a vision is the big difference between people who are successful and people who try, but fail.

The people who can hold their vision, no matter what happens, are the people who can “Think Big,” and get big results.

For the rest of us, it might be a little more complicated.

You see…

“Thinking big” won’t work for you if your experiences have taught you that the world is set up for you to fail. 

Put another way…

To “think big,” you have to change your WORLD.

If you’ve ever tried “thinking big” and it hasn’t worked for you — or if you’d like to think big, but are worried that you might fail — you’ll probably want to watch this video.

 

The Hazards of “Thinking Big”

Lots of people like to tell other people to “Think Big.”

And for some people, “Thinking Big” works.

But for others, “Thinking Big” the first step on the road to disappointment.

It’s time to change all that.

In this four-minute video you’ll discover:

  • Bill Kauth’s story about how his “Big Thinking” goals for the ManKind project came true,
  • Why “Thinking Big” works for some people but spectacularly FAILS for others,
  • How “Success = Vision + Persistence + Patience,” and
  • How being able to maintain your “vision” is the HARDEST (but least acknowledged) part of successfully “Thinking Big.”

“Thinking Big” IS important. But if you don’t understand the Hazards of Thinking Big,” you can get into a lot of trouble.

New Year’s Resolutions: “I’d rather live in a dumpster and eat trash than…”

It’s New Year’s Eve, and people are talking about resolutions.

But if changing were as easy as “resolving to change,” you’d have already done it.

You have to have power and motivation to make resolutions work.

In this New Year’s 3-minute video, I talk about how you can get to a potent source of motivation for change…

By harnessing the part of you that would rather “live in a dumpster and eat trash” than have something continue the way it is.

Plus I give an update on my weight-loss project, for those who have been following along!

Secrets of focus: Getting all your wood behind one arrow


Most people try an unfocused, “scattergun” approach to success… They “shoot everything they’ve got,” assuming that something will succeed.

That may seem like a good idea, but it’s fatal to your sense of FOCUS…

And FOCUS is what you need to succeed.

In this video I trace the source of “focus” — and share,

  • Why the “scattergun” approach to success may seem intuitive — but it’s actually a problem you must work against,
  • Why shooting toward ONE THING is critically important,
  • Why priorities are like arms.. and how when you say you have more than two of them, you go crazy,
  • What high-tech startups, user interface designers, and Apple Inc., can teach you about focus, and
  • The path to focus that you can follow, so you have a natural flow from your “inner state” to your “external success.”

The Lesson of the Fire

Years ago, on a perfect summer night, on a sandbar by the Wisconsin River, by a high bluff and under the light of a full moon, I built a fire.

Or perhaps I should say, I attempted to build a fire.

I actually failed at it, repeatedly… Until I had an important insight.

Then the fire practically exploded.

Building that fire taught me an important lesson about getting massive results.

I’ve relied on that lesson many times over the years, but I’ve never really talked about it publicly.

The lesson I learned really flies in the face of the idea that “you should never take your eyes off your goal.” In fact, I’d say that taking my eyes OFF my goal — in the right way — has been one of the most important lessons I’ve learned about manifesting in the real world..

And I learned it that night, attempting to build a fire beside the Wisconsin River.

Go for what you WANT by understanding your LONGINGS

Your mind responds to what you see in the world… Those responses are desires.

You’re heart responds to Divine qualities expressed in the world… Those responses are longings.

In this brief video I show you how to get in touch with your longings so you can whole-heartedly pursue what you want.

[Read more…]

Why “Do your best, then relax” doesn’t work, and what does

When I was a kid, I got hooked on a song from the Disney film “the Happiest Millionaire.”

It’s called “Fortuosity.”

In the movie, a happy-go-lucky guy dances around and sings about how “My philosophy is do your best, and leave the rest to fortuosity.”

The message of the song is simple: “Do the best you can, and have faith about everything else.”

http://youtu.be/k-mDrxLVuVU#t=1m20s

I remember I really loved that idea when I first heard the song.

But even as a kid I remember thinking, “How do I do that? How do I do my best and have faith about everything else?”

It’s a great deal — with a catch

It certainly sounds like a good bargain:

If you

  • do your best, then you
  • get permission to relax and have faith in the Divine (by whatever name you call it) to take care of the rest.

“Just do your best and leave the rest to fortuosity.”

But there’s that catch…

But it’s a deal with a catch… And the catch is this:

You rarely really know, with certainty, that you did your best.

And if you don’t really know that you did your best, the whole deal falls apart.

If you’re going to do your best so you can relax and have faith, you actually have to achieve “doing your best.”

And it turns out that asking yourself “Did I really do my best?” is a great way to drive yourself crazy … Because you can always find a way in which you probably could have done what you did even better.

Because you never really know you did your best, you don’t get to “just relax and trust.” You just get more tension as you strive to do your best “good enough,” so you can finally relax.

“The Deal” has it exactly backwards

The fundamental problem is this:

The deal that life offers isn’t “Do your best, and then you can relax and have faith about the rest.”

The actual deal is “Relax and have faith. Then you’ll be able to do your best.”

It’s a completely different approach… and it has a completely different result.

You can’t do your best from a poor state of mind

If you are feeling unsupported in life, alone, or afraid, you’ll inevitably set the bar for “doing your best” impossibly high. That’s because when you are upset you confuse doing “your best” with “doing everything so well that I finally feel safe in life, once and for all.”
Fundamentally what you’re saying is “I’ll be perfect, then I’ll be able to feel good inside.”

And that’s exactly backwards.

You have to care for your heart first

You need to say, “I’ll care for my heart first, so I feel good inside. Then I’ll discover what I’m moved to do in the external world.”

Once you’ve cared for your heart, you’ll

  • be in your best state of mind
  • be authentically you
  • feel faith, feel taken care of, and
  • feel in the current of Divine Love and Mercy.

And from that state, you won’t need to make any deals about “doing your best” so you can finally relax. You’ll automatically know when you need to strive, and when you can let go and relax.

The state of your heart = the state of your life

I know I’m always on about “caring for your heart first.” That’s because I want these posts to be a constant inspiration and reminder for you to look to and care for your self in every situation.

We live in a world that does not value taking care of your heart. I don’t have to tell you that. But if you really want to actually enjoy your life — not to mention live it well, and have the best chance of achieving what you care about — you have to be one of the people who goes against the crowd and who makes it a priority to care for the state of your heart.

As I’m fond of saying on this blog, “the state of your heart equals the state of your life.” Please take that seriously. It’s my hope that these posts help you start to see that every situation is one in which the state of your heart is important.

Many people go through life disconnected from their Source of Mercy, so they inflict merciless lives on themselves. Or, like in the case of “do your best, then you can relax,” they wait to achieve some sort of perfection before they open to Divine nurturance.

But the Source doesn’t say “perfect yourself then open to Love.” If anything, the Source says “open to Love and be perfected.” There is mercy for the hearts of those who look. I suggest you go to that mercy first.

Related Posts

The fundamental mistake of losing heart

How to get back in touch with your motivation

The “healing examples” video on the coaching page

Maybe you shouldn’t jump off a cliff

How to be the “empty cup” that calls forth compassion and healing

Self-Compassion: Healing’s Secret Ingredient

 

How to get back in touch with the source of your motivation

The video covers…

  • How being in touch with what you long for sets the stage for everything you do (or don’t do) in your life.
  • How being in touch with what you long for is the source of motivation to really “go for it” in your life.
  • The deal we make with ourselves that kills motivation and puts off going for what you want til a mythical “later,” and
  • The simple “first step” you can take, right now, to get your motivation back.

Does this resonate with you? You can share about your experiences in the comments below.

Related Posts

If you want to be generous, it’s good to be rich

The fundamental mistake that causes you to lose heart, and how you can avoid it

Healing for achievement teleseminar replay

Why can’t you just visualize a crosswalk, then step into traffic?

If you want to be generous, it’s good to be rich

I love the saying, “If you want to be generous, it’s good to be rich.”

Today’s post shows how you can make use of that wisdom to give from the overflow of your own inner richness.

Let’s begin by looking at when life is calling on you to give and what life is calling on you to give. [Read more…]

Maybe you shouldn’t jump off a cliff

Have you ever thought about taking a risk in your life, only to have a well-meaning friend urge you to do it, because

“In life, you should jump off the cliff. You’ll find either you’ll be caught, or you’ll grow wings and fly.”

If you want to take a risk, this saying says, you should take it. Life will support you. Everything will be fine.

It’s a new-agey greeting-card saying that’s been around for a long time.

And I think it’s just bunk.

Sure, when you jump off that cliff you might be caught. And you might grow wings and fly.

But this bit of advice leaves out another, much more likely option:

You might hit the ground.

And you might hit it pretty hard. [Read more…]