How Successful People Think Workbook: Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life

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thinking can rule themselves—even while under an oppressive ruler or in other difficult circumstances. In short, To become a good thinker, you must become intentional about the thinking process. Regularly put yourself in the right place to think, shape, stretch, and land your thoughts. Make it a priority. Thinking is a discipline. characteristics of vision that he showed me, and I’ll never forget it, is look for the good in what other people are doing and apply it. It doesn’t take a genius IQ or twenty years of experience to find the possibility in every situation. All it takes is the right attitude, and anybody can cultivate that.4. Dream One Size Bigger One of the best ways to cultivate a possibility mind-set is to prompt yourself to dream one size bigger thanyou normally do. Let’s face it: most people dream too small. They don’t think big enough. Henry Curtis advises,“Make your plans as fantastic as you like, because twenty-five years from now, they will seem mediocre. Makeyour plans ten times as great as you first planned, and twenty-five years from now you will wonder why you didnot make them fifty times as great.” If you push yourself to dream more expansively, to imagine your organization one size bigger, to make yourgoals at least a step beyond what makes you comfortable, you will be forced to grow. And it will set you up tobelieve in greater possibilities.5. Question the Status Quo Most people want their lives to keep improving, yet they value peace and stability at the same time. Peopleoften forget that you can’t improve and still stay the same. Growth means change. Change requires challengingthe status quo. If you want greater possibilities, you can’t settle for what you have now. When you become apossibility thinker, you will face many people who will want you to give up your dreams and embrace the statusquo. Achievers refuse to accept the status quo. As you begin to explore greater possibilities for yourself, your organization, or your family—and otherschallenge you for it—take comfort in knowing that right now as you read this, other possibility thinkers acrossthe country and around the world are thinking about curing cancer, developing new energy sources, feedinghungry people, and improving quality of life. They are challenging the status quo against the odds—and youshould, too.6. Find Inspiration from Great Achievers You can learn a lot about possibility thinking by studying great achievers. I mentioned George Lucas in thischapter. Perhaps he doesn’t appeal to you, or you don’t like the movie industry. (Personally, I’m not a bigscience fiction fan, but I admire Lucas as a thinker, creative visionary, and businessperson.) Find someachievers you admire and study them. Look for people with the attitude of Robert F. Kennedy, who popularizedGeorge Bernard Shaw’s stirring statement: “Some men see things as they are and say, ‘Why?’ I dream ofthings that never were and say, ‘Why not?’” I know possibility thinking isn’t in style with many people. So call it what you like: the will to succeed, belief in yourself, confidence in your ability, faith. It’s really true: people who believe they can’t, don’t. But if you believe you can, you can! That’s the power of possibility thinking. Thinking Question Am I unleashing the enthusiasm of possibility thinking to find solutions for even seemingly impossible situations? Let’s face it: some aspects of everyday life are absolutely necessary but thoroughly uninteresting. Big- know where they’re going to park, whether they will be able to get a good (and comfortable) seat, whether thespeaker will be “on,” and if the breaks will be spaced right. When I arrive to speak at the same conference, Iwant to know that the lighting is good, the sound equipment is operating effectively, whether the speaker’splatform will be close enough to the people, etc. Who you are determines what you see—and how you think. Big-picture thinkers realize there is a world out there besides their own, and they make an effort to getoutside of themselves and see other people’s worlds through their eyes. It’s hard to see the picture while insidethe frame. To see how others see, you must first find out how they think. Becoming a good listener certainlyhelps with that. So does getting over your personal agenda and trying to take the other person’s perspective.Live Completely French essayist Michel Eyquem de Montaigne wrote, “The value of life lies not in the length of days, but inthe use we make of them; a man may live long yet live very little.” The truth is that you can spend your life anyway you want, but you can spend it only once. Becoming a big-picture thinker can help you to live withwholeness, to live a very fulfilling life. People who see the big picture expand their experience because theyexpand their world. As a result, they accomplish more than narrow-minded people. And they experience fewerunwanted surprises, too, because they are more likely to see the many components involved in any givensituation: issues, people, relationships, timing, and values. They are also, therefore, usually more tolerant ofother people and their thinking. WHY YOU SHOULD RECEIVE THE WISDOM OF BIG-PICTURE THINKING Intuitively, you probably recognize big-picture thinking as beneficial. Few people want to be closed-minded.No one sets out to be that way. But just in case you’re not completely convinced, consider several specificreasons why you should make the effort to become a better big-picture thinker:1. Big-Picture Thinking Allows You to Lead You can find many big-picture thinkers who aren’t leaders, but you will find few leaders who are not big-picture thinkers. Leaders must be able to do many important things for their people: See the vision before their people do.They also see more of it. This allows them to… Size up situations, taking into account many variables. Leaders who see the big picture discern possibilities as well as problems to form a foundation to build the vision. Once leaders have done that, they can… Sketch a picture of where the team is going, including any potential challenges or obstacles. The goal of leaders shouldn’t be merely to make their people feel good, but to help them be good and accomplish the dream. The vision, shown accurately, will allowleaders to… Show how the future connects with the past to make the journey more meaningful. When leaders recognize this need for connection and bridge it, then they can… Seize the moment when the timing is right. In leadership, when to move is as important as what you do. As Winston Churchill said, “There comes a special moment in everyone’s life, a moment for which that person was born.… When he seizes it… it is his finest hour.” Whether building roads, planning a trip, or moving in leadership, big-picture thinking allows you to enjoymore success. People who are constantly looking at the whole picture have the best chance of succeedingin any endeavor.2. Big-Picture Thinking Keeps You on Target Thomas Fuller, chaplain to Charles II of England, observed, “He that is everywhere is nowhere.” To getthings done, you need focus. However, to get the right things done, you also need to consider the big picture.

They know that the person who forgets the ultimate is a slave to the immediate. 6. Big-Picture Thinking Helps You to Chart Uncharted Territory Likewise, if you want your thoughts to make an impact, you need to land them with others so that they canremains only an idea doesn’t make a great impact. The real power of an idea comes when it goes from If you go to your designated place to think expecting to generate good thoughts, then eventually you will of experience and success, the more potential to learn you have. If you desire to be a big-picture thinker,

of ruthless people who would take advantage of them or try to deceive them, people like Nazi dictator Adolfteammates, then the whole team is in trouble. The better the grasp team members have of the big picture, you will set yourself up for a lifestyle of better thinking. But what do you do to come up with specific ideas on a an entire career often end up unhappy or destitute. They are the one-hit wonders, the one-book authors, the

write things down, focus your attention without interruptions, and ask questions about your ideas. 3. Find a Place to Stretch Your ThoughtsUrquijo I, Extremera N, Azanza G. The contribution of emotional intelligence to career success: Beyond personality traits. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2019;16(23). doi:10.3390/ijerph16234809 senator S. I. Hayakawa wrote, “Learning to write is learning to think. You don’t know anything clearly unless you If I’m going to learn and grow,” I replied, “I must know what questions to ask and know how to apply the Find a place where you can think, and plan to capture your thoughts on paper so that you don’t lose them. When Failures and mistakes are a natural and (unfortunately) uncomfortable part of our human existence. What many of us don’t realize is that owning up to mistakes, failures and errors actually increases our emotional resilience, not to mention respect in the eyes of others and their willingness to support us.