Think about it for a minute: why do so many of us think small? When thinking big allows you to create more success, financial wealth, and creating peak experiences in your life.And it’s not only about yourself: more success allows you to do more for others, too: More support for your family, a better home, time with friends, an open ear, and support when they need you.
Have you had ever a moment in your life where you thought big, you believed you could do it and then you achieved something extraordinary?
How would it feel to make this your new reality: thinking big and achieving extraordinary things in your career and life not only once but repeatedly?
This is the first article in a series of articles that will help you upgrade your mindset for more performance and success in your career and personal life.
Why is thinking big so powerful? I believe there are a few reasons for that:
There’s a proverb that says: you can dream it you can do it. Here’s some truth to that: if you don’t dream it, if you don’t believe you can do it, you will surely not. So, dreaming big and believing in yourself is a prerequisite for doing anything meaningful.
As Alpinists say:
“you don’t get to the top of the mountain by accident”
My personal story here is that I climbed the famous route “The Nose” on El Capitan, Yosemite Valles in 2014 in a single day after four years of practice. According to Lonely Planet’s “A Year full of Adventures” book, this route is for “Rock Gods” only. While this is very flattering, I was by no means a Rock God (and still continue to be nowhere near that status) when climbing the route.
When my friend Santiago and I started making plans about climbing this route, we were by no means expert climbers. It would be much more accurate to say, we were mediocre beginners. However, after two years we scaled El Capitan on a less ambitious route and after four years I climbed the Nose. Dreaming big and believing in ourselves, combined with a sound strategy and deliberate, consistent practice got us to the peak of our dreams.
If a mediocre climber can climb one of the world’s most audacious peaks within 2-4 years, which audacious peaks would you like to climb in your career, business, or private life that will move the limits of what seems possible for you today? What is your personal El Capitan?
In “The Magic of Thinking Big”, Dr. Davind Schwartz writes: “the thinking that guides your intelligence is much more important than how much intelligence you have”and “Most of us make two basic errors with respect to intelligence:
- We underestimate our own brainpower.
- We overestimate the other fellow’s brainpower.”
The secondary importance of intelligence for success in is confirmed by Dr. Angela Duckworth in her research about what makes people successful: “As it turns out, a person’s intelligence or talent isn’t the number one indicator of your ability to succeed. Much rather, it is first dreaming big and then acting consistently over larger amount of times to achieve your big dream.”
For me, the journey continues not on the rock but in business: Based on my dream to help leaders start and grow their career and business with success & performance coaching inspired by Alpine sports, I have founded the Alpine Institute in 2021.
Every journey starts with a dream. The bigger the dream the better the journey. Let’s see where the Alpine Institute stands in four years.
In the next article, we will talk about false beliefs that are keeping us back. When doing the research for that article, I thought I was free of these limiting beliefs but I soon found out I was not. So make sure to subscribe to not miss it.