IT PAYS IN EVERY WAY TO THINK
BIG!
1. Don't
sell yourself short. Conquer the crime of self-deprecation. Concentrate on your
assets. You're better than you think you are.
Where success is concerned,
people are not measured in inches or pounds or college degrees, or family
background; they are measured by the size of their thinking. How big we think
determines the size of our accomplishments. Now let's see how we can enlarge
our thinking.
Philosophers for thousands of
years have issued good advice: Know thyself. But most people, it seems,
interpret this suggestion to mean Know only thy negative self. Most
self-evaluation consists of making long mental lists of one's faults,
shortcomings, inadequacies,
It's well to know our inabilities,
for this shows us areas in which we can improve. But if we know only our
negative characteristics, we’re in a mess. Our value is small.
You're bigger than you think. So
fit your thinking to your true size. Believe in yourself. Think as big as you
really are! Never, never, never sell yourself short!
2. Use
the big thinker's vocabulary. Use big. bright, cheerful words. Use words that
promise victory; hope, happiness, pleasure; avoid words that create unpleasant
images of failure, defeat, grief.
The important measure of a person's vocabulary is not the size or the number of words he uses. Rather, the thing that counts, the only thing that counts about one's vocabulary; is the. effect his words and phrases have on his own and others' thinking.
Here is something very basic: We
do not think ill words and phrases. We think only in pictures and images. Words
are the raw materials of thought. When spoken or read, that amazing instrument,
the mind, automatically converts words and phrases into mind pictures.
Each word, each phrase creates a
slightly different mind picture. If someone tells you, 'Jim bought a new
split-level," you see one picture. But if you're told, 'Jim bought a new
ranch house," you see another picture. The mind pictures we see are
modified by the kinds of words we use to name things and describe things.
Look at it this way. When you
speak or write, you are, in a sense, a projector showing movies in the minds of
others. And the pictures you create determine how you and others react.
Suppose you tell a group of
people, "I'm sorry to report we've failed." What do these people see?
They see defeat and all the disappointment and grief the word
"failed" conveys. Now suppose you said instead, “Here's a new
approach that I think will work." They would feel encouraged, ready to try
again.
Suppose you say, "We face a
problem." You have created a picture in the minds of others of something
difficult, unpleasant to solve. Instead say, "We face a challenge,"
and you create a mind picture of fun, sport, something pleasant to do.
Or tell a group, "We
incurred a big expense," and people see money spent that will never
return. Indeed, this is unpleasant. Instead say, "We made a big
investment," and people see a picture of something that will return
profits later on, a very pleasant sight.
The point is this: Big thinkers
are specialists in creating positive, forward-looking, optimistic pictures in
their own minds and in the minds of others. To think big, we must use words and
phrases that produce big, positive mental images.
FOUR WAYS TO DEVELOP THE BIG
THINKER'S VOCABULARY
Here are four ways to help you
develop a big thinker's vocabulary.
- Use big, positive, cheerful words and phrases to describe how you feel. When someone asks, "How do you feel today?" and you respond with an ''I'm tired (I have a headache, I wish it were Saturday, I don't feel so good)," you actually make yourself feel worse. Practice this: it's a very simple point, but it has tremendous power. Every time someone asks you, "How are you)" or "How are you feeling today?" respond with a 'Just wonderful! thanks, and you)" or say "Great" or "Fine." Say you feel wonderful at every possible opportunity, and you will begin to feel wonderful-and bigger, too. Become known as a person who always feels ·great. It wins friends.
- Use bright, cheerful, favourable words and phrases to describe other people. Make it a rule to have a big, positive word for all your friends and associates. When you and someone else are discussing an absent third party, be sure you compliment him with big words and phrases like "He's really a fine fellow;" "They tell me he's working out wonderfully well." Be extremely careful to avoid the petty cut-him-down language. Sooner or later third parties hear what's been said, and then such talk only cuts you down.
- Use positive language to encourage others. Compliment people personally at every opportunity, everyone you know craves praise. Have a special good word for your wife or husband every day. Notice and compliment the people who work with you. Praise, sincerely administered, is a success tool. Use it! Use it again and again and again. Compliment people on their appearance, their work; their achievements, their families.
- Use positive words to outline plans to others. When people hear something like this: "Here is some good news. We ·face a genuine opportunity ... " their minds start to sparkle. But when they hear something like "Whether we like it or not, we've got a job to do," the mind movie is dull and boring, and they react accordingly. Promise victory and watch eyes light up. Promise victory and win support. Build castles, don't dig graves!
3. Stretch
your vision: See what can be, not just what is. Practice adding value to
things, to people, and to yourself.
Big thinkers train themselves to
see not just what is but what can be.
Here are four examples to
illustrate this point.
Look at things not as they are,
but as they can be. Visualization adds value to everything. A big thinker
always visualizes what can be done in the future. He isn't stuck with the
present.
I’ve been analyzing people a lot lately, and
I've noticed this. People who don't have much look at themselves as they are
now. That's all they see. They don't see a future, they just see a miserable
present.
''I've made up my mind to look at
myself as the person I'm going to be in a few short years. I see myself not as
a rate clerk but as an executive. I don't see a crummy apartment, I see a fine
new suburban home. And when I look at myself that way, I feel bigger and think
bigger. And I've got plenty of personal experiences to prove it's paying off."
Isn't that a splendid plan for adding value to oneself?
Master this basic success
principle: It isn't what one has that's important. Rather, it's how much one is
planning to get that counts. The price tag the world puts on us is just about
identical to the one we put on ourselves.
Here is how you can develop your
power to see what can be, not just what is.
I call these the "practice
adding value" exercises.
- Practice adding value to things. Remember the real estate example. Ask yourself, "What can I do to 'add value' to this room or this house or this business?" Look for ideas to make things worth more. A thing-whether it be a vacant lot, a house, or a business-has value in proportion to the ideas for using it.
- Practice adding value to people. As you move higher and higher in t~e world of success, more and more of your job becomes "people development." Ask, "What can I do to 'add value' to my subordinates? What can I do to help them to become more effective?" Remember, to bring out the best in a person, you must first visualise his best.
- Practice adding value to yourself. Conduct a daily interview with yourself. Ask, "What can I do to make myself more valuable today?" Visualise yourself not as you are but as you can be. Then specific ways for attaining your potential value will suggest themselves. Just try and see.
The I'm doing my job and that's
enough" attitude is small, negative thinking. Big thinkers see themselves
as members of a team effort, as winning or losing with the team, not by
themselves. They help in every way they can, even when there is no direct and
immediate compensation or other reward.
The fellow who shrugs off a
problem outside his own department with the comment "Well, that's no
concern of mine, let them worry with it" hasn't got the attitude it takes
for top leadership.
Practice this. Practice being a
big thinker. See the company's interest as identical with your own. Probably only
a very few persons working in large companies have a sincere, unselfish
interest in their company. But after all, only a relatively few persons qualify
as big thinkers. And these few are the ones eventually rewarded with the most
responsible, best-paying jobs. Many, many potentially powerful people let
petty, small, insignificant things block their way to achievement.
5. Think above trivial things. Focus your attention on big objectives. Before getting involved in a petty matter, ask yourself, "Is it really important?
Practice these three procedures
to help yourself think about trivialities:
- Keep your eyes focused on the big objective. Many times we're like the salesman who, failing to make the sale, reports to his manager, "Yes, but I sure convinced the customer he was wrong." In selling, the big objective is winning sales, not arguments. In marriage the big objective is peace, happiness, tranquility and not winning quarrels or saying "I could have told you so," In working with employees, the big objective is developing their full potential; not making issues out of their minor errors. In living with neighbors, the big objective is mutual respect and friendship-not seeing if you can have their dog impounded because once in a while it barks at night. Paraphrasing some military lingo, it is much better to lose a battle and win the war than to win a battle and lose the war. Resolve to keep your eyes on the big ball.
- Ask "Is it really important?" Before becoming negatively, excited, just ask yourself, "Is it important enough for me to get all worked up about?" There is no better way to avoid frustration over petty matters than to use this medicine. At least 90 percent of quarrels and feuds would never take. place if we just faced troublesome situations with "Is this really important?"
- Don't fall into the triviality trap. In milking speeches, solving problems, counselling employees, think of those things that really matter, things that make the difference. Don't become submerged under surface issues. Concentrate on important things.
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