One of the game changing mindset of high achievers and successful people like Gandhi, Lincoln, Mandela or Steve Jobs is that they dared to think big. Some people may be skeptical of this idea. Their argument is - after all how does mere act of thinking big, lead us to achieving big? Let's try to analyze this question.
Guided imagination
First thing we need to know is that thoughts are not mere thoughts as we think them to be, but they are the seeds of reality for us. Our thoughts slowly turn into beliefs, attitudes, habits, behavior and finally our destiny. So, if we start to think big, slowly but surely it will become a reality.
Secondly, we need to know a little of the functioning of our minds. The mind has two parts - memory and imagination. 'Memory' is part of the mind which is a storehouse of previous experiences and 'imagination' is part of the mind that just dreams. 'Memory' is formed by the experiences we have had and 'imagination' is that of which we don't have experience of.
The problem with dreaming high is that we feel we can't achieve it because we don't yet have memory cells that confirm this possibility. But the good news is that the mind can't differentiate between memory and imagination. That means we can imagine ourselves into a reality of which we have no experience of. We should be guided by our imagination not our past memory or in other words we should focus on where we want to go, not where we are. So, if we dream big, slowly mind will start believing it and new neural pathways will be created in our brains and the body will start producing corresponding actions to achieve it.
If someone thinks 'how can I earn Rs. 10,000/- a month?', what kind of action and behavior do you think, he will be generating? Naturally, only that much as to meet his goal - action worth Rs. 10,000/-. But if someone thinks of earning 10 lakhs a month, how much action and behavior will he produce? Naturally, worth 10 lakhs. Is there any possibility of one aiming for 10,000/- a month to earn 10 lakhs a month? The possibility is bleak.
Let's see how aiming big works in spiritual life. If someone aims to attain spiritual perfection in this lifetime, how much do you think his effort will be? 100% effort. He will give his very best. What if there is another practitioner and he aims to attain perfection in two lifetimes. How much effort do you think he will put in this life? Obviously, 50%. These examples make the relation between aiming high and the behavior we generate very clear. Higher our aim - better our action - higher our results. This works in every area of our lives.
There is a great genius behind aiming big. Once we aim big, naturally our body and mind starts working towards it and soon our goal manifests in reality. How much ever we estimate our potential, we will always fall short because our potential is unlimited. We have more control over our lives than we may presently know or believe.
A dream come true
One of the reasons for the success of ISKCON is that Srila Prabhupada, it's Founder Acharya was bold in his thinking, he aimed really big. He decided to start his movement in New York, the biggest city in the world. His logic was - if New York clicks, then the whole world will follow suit. He began with a dream of a worldwide movement even though he didn't have a single penny in his pocket. He said "my problem is that I can't think small." He also inspired his followers with this kind of boldness. He would tell them, "If u have to hunt, hunt for the rhino or he would say, impossible is a word in a fools dictionary."
Born for greatness
Sachinandan Maharaj, one of the foremost leaders of ISKCON, explains a very interesting story of a mother eagle who lost her egg while flying. The egg landed where a hen was trying to hatch her other eggs. When the eggs were hatched, many chicks were born and one eaglet. This eaglet was raised by the mother chicken very well, but her true identity was not revealed. This eaglet started to behave like a chicken, eat like chicken, speak like a chicken. It forgot it's identity till one day a saint saw this unusual situation and reminded the eaglet of it's true nature - that it is not meant to be on the ground but fly high in the skies. Slowly the eaglet awakened to it's highest potential and left it's comfort zone to reach greater heights.
Just like this eaglet, we have forgotten our true identity, our true potential as free spirit souls - to be flying high in the spiritual sky. Just as this eaglet was reminded of it's true potential by a saint, similarly great saints and scriptures remind us repeatedly that - We are born for greatness - to do great things for God, for ourselves and others. We are not meant to settle for anything less than that. In fact it is a kind of sin to think small.
Conclusion
Let us not get scared of taking risks and leaving our comfort zone. In fact, the biggest risk in life is to never take any risks. We may or may not reach our goals immediately, but if we don't try how will we ever know our potential. And even if we didn't get the result we aimed for, we at least lived it in our dreams. That itself is a great achievement. There is no loss but the gain can be beyond our expectation. As Michelangelo aptly put it - The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.
If we anyway we have to think, let's think big - if anyway we have to dream, let's dream big for we are only as big as our dreams.
- Achyut Gopal Das
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