I listen to podcasts as often as I can...
"How I built this",
"Scale"
and other podcasts talking about people who have built businesses.
I love understanding how people, and most often very normal people, create massive companies with simple ideas.
It amazes me how constrained the vast majority of us are by our current realities.
As human beings, we become iterative as we grow. We stop dreaming of changing the world, and eventually hesitate before changing internet providers.
But, not everyone falls into the iterative trap and mindset.
Two guys started a shared space office concept in 2010, and their company changed the way thousands of people work and experience their day... and their company, WEWORK is valued at $17 BILLION dollars today!
A woman out of necessity creates a jewellry line, opens up a store where women can create their own designs, during the great recession and launches a retail chain, Kendra Scott, which is now worth over a BILLION dollars.
A guy decides to make an energy drink that doesn't require 44 oz, against everyone's advice names it "5 Hour Energy" and becomes a billionaire, now working to give back all of his money in ways that help those in need.
I just saw a printing company, which is a tough business, reinvent itself by entering the "print your own pictures from your phone in a really cool way"...
Examples of BIG thinking are ALL around us...
How BIG am I thinking?
Anyone who owned office space could have created WEWORK, but only 2 guys did. Any jewelry maker could have opened up a create your own design store, but only 1 did.
When I think about my company and my life, am I thinking iteratively about how to grow the next 5 or 10% or am I thinking about how to grow it 10,000%?
When I think about "getting fit", am I thinking about taking 30 seconds off my mile time, or am I thinking of running an ultra-marathon?
Before we even conceive an idea, do we establish an order of magnitude? That might be overwhelming... but it might spark our minds.
When we conceive an idea, do we always first ask, how BIG could this be? How many people could it impact? How much revenue? How many clients?
Do we truly prioritize our time, our life, our thoughts based on MAGNITUDE of impact? Should we? I think so... at least in part...
There is this fantastic balance I see in GREAT success... people conceive a SINGLE idea, they solve a SINGLE problem, in a truly unique way... and in a way that has BIG POTENTIAL!
They are single ideas - but the are BIG ideas!
So many of us - make the mistake of trying to "think BIG" by thinking of lots and lots of iterative ideas and putting them all on our to do list... but lots of iteratives ideas is SMALL thinking... and working on multiple iterative ideas creates MINIMAL return that you can usually barely feel...
Thinking BIG - requires thinking SIMPLY...
Isn't life much more fun if you are pursuing BIG ideas?
Aren't we much more satisfied when we are achieving BIG ideas?
I want to think BIG, I want to make a BIG impact on the world around me. I want to be able to SEE the impact of my own volition, of my own initiative.
Why think small? Sure, we need to get done what we need to get done. The world needs all of us to be moving our piece forward on the board, and keeping the engines of life running...
We don't ALL need to think BIG... We are all motivated differently and have different levels of ambition.
For those of us who want BIG - we need to be careful not to fall into the "wishing" we were executing BIGGER (and face disharmony). We must EMBRACE our ability to think BIG and then GET AFTER IT!
We are so very clearly our greatest limiting force... our own mind... "the level to which we can conceive, we can achieve..." unknown.
I am READY TO THINK BIG! (And, have been trying to think bigger and bigger in the past few years).
We have grown our company by $50 Million dollars in the past 4 years which is 166% growth.
I need to be careful not to think of growing by 10% per year, but brainstorm how we create enough value to grow by 1,000% in the next 5 years... to AT LEAST create the possibility.
How can I help others? Thousands of others?
How can I maximize my limited time on this earth?
How BIG do I want my experience to be?
It depends...
How BIG am I thinking?
How BIG are you thinking?
in harmony,
Nestor