* BIG IS BAD *

                                                              * BIG Is BAD*

" We are kept from our goal, not by obstacles but by a clear path to a lesser goal."
                                                                                                        :- Robert Brault.

The big bad wolf. Big Bad John. From folktales to folk songs, the suggestion that big and bad go together has been a common theme across history-so much so that many think they're synonymous. They're not. Big can be bad and bad can be big, but they're not one and the same they aren't inherently related.  

A big opportunity is better than a small one, but a small problem is better than a big one, Sometime you want the biggest present under the tree and sometimes you want the smallest. Often a big laugh or a big cry is just want you need, and every so often a small chuckle and a few tears will do the trick. Big and bad are no more tied together than small and good.

Big is bad is a lie.   

It's  quite possibly the worst lie of all, for if you fear big success, you'll either avoid it or sabotage your efforts to achieve it.

WHO'S AFRAID OF THE BIG BAD BIG?

Place big and results in the same room and a lot of people balk or walk. Mention big with achievement and their first thoughts are hard, complicated, and time-consuming. Dif-icult to get there and complex once you do pretty much sums up their views. Overwhelming and intimidating is what they feel.

For some reason there is the fear that big success bring crushing pressure and stress, that the pursuit of it robs them of not only time with family and friend but eventually their health. Uncertain of the right to achieve big, or fearful of what might happen if they try and fall short, their  head spins just thinking about it and they immediately doubt they have a head for heights. 

All of this reinforces a " dis-ease" with the very idea of big. To invent a word, call it megaphonia-the irrational fear of big. When we connect big with bad, we trigger shrinking thinking. Lowering our trajectory feels safe. Staying where we are feels prudent. But the opposite is true: when big is believed to be bad, small thinking rules the day and big never sees the light of it.

FLAT WRONG   

How many ships didn't sail because of the belief that the earth was flat ? How much progress was impeded because man wasn't supposed to breathe underwater, fly through the air, or venture into outer space? Historically, we  have done a remarkably poor job of estimating our limits. The poor news is that science isn't about guessing, but rather the art of progressing. And so is your life. None of us knows our limits.

Borders and boundaries may be clear on a map , but when we apply them to our lives, the lines aren't so apparent. I was once asked if I thought thinking big was realistic. I paused to reflect on this and then said, " Let me ask you a question first : Do you know what your limits are? " No , was the reply. So I said that it seemed the question was irrelevant. No one know their ultimate ceiling for achievements, so worrying about it is a waste of time. What if someone told you that you could never achieve above a certain level ?. 

That you were required to pick an upper limit which you could never exceed? What would you pick? A low one or a high one? I think we know the answer. put in this situation , we would all do the same thing-go big. Why? Because you wouldn't want to limit yourself. When you allow yourself to accept that big is about who you can become, you look at it differently.

In this context, big is a placeholder for what you night call a leap of possibility. It's the office intern visualizing the boardroom or a penniless immigrant imagining a business revolution. It's about bold ideas that might threaten your comfort zones but simultaneously reflect your greatest opportunities. Believing in big frees you to ask different questions , follow different paths, and try new things. This opens the doors to possibilities that until now only lived inside you.

Sabeer Bhatia arrived in America with only $250 in his pocket , but he wasn't alone. Sabeer came with big plans and the belief that he could grow a business faster than any business in history. And he did. He created Hotmail. Microsoft , a witness to Hotmail's meteoric rise, eventually bought it for $400 million.

According to his mentor, Farouk Arjani, Sabeer's success was directly related to his ability to thing big." What set Sabeer apart from the hundreds of entrepreneurs I've is the gargantuan size of his dream. Even before he had a product, before he had any money behind him, he was completely convinced that he was going to build a major company that would be worth hundreds of millions of dollars. He had an unrelenting conviction that he was not just going to build a run-of-the-mill silicon valley company. But over time I realized , by golly ,he was probably going to pull it off."

As of 2011, Hotmail ranked as one of the most successful webmail services providers in the world, with more than 360 million active users.


* BIG IDEAS * 

1. Think big. Avoid incremental thinking that simply asks, " what do I do next ?" This is at best the slow lane to success and, at worst , the off ramp. Ask bigger questions. A good rule of thumb is to double down everywhere in your life. If your goal  is ten, ask the question: " How can I reach 20 ?" Set a goal so far above what you want that you'll be building a plan that practically guarantees Your original goal. 

2. Don't order from the menu, Apple's celebrated 1997 "Think Different" ad campaign featured icons like Ali,  Dylan, Einstein, Hitchcock, Picasso, Gandhi , and others who " saw thing differently " and who went on to transform the world we know. The point was that they didn't choose from the available options: they imagined outcomes that no one else had. They ignored the menu and ordered their own creations. As the ad reminds us, " people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the only ones who do."

3. Act bold. Big thoughts go nowhere without bold action. Once you've asked a big question, pause to imagine what life looks like with the answer. If you still can't imagine it, go study people who have already achieved it. What are the models, systems, habits and relationship of other people who have found the answer? As much as we'd like to believe we 're all different, want consistently works for other will almost always work for us.

4. Don't fear failure. It's as much a prat of your journey to extraordinary results as success. Adopt a growth mindset , and don't be afraid of where it can take you. Extraordinary results aren't built solely on extraordinary results. They're built on failure too. In fact , it would be accurate to say that we fail our way to success.

When we fail, we stop, ask that we need to do to succeed, learn from our mistakes, and grow. Don't be afraid to fail. See it as part of your learning process and keep striving for your true potential. Don't let small thinking cut your life down to size. Think big , aim high, act bold. And see just how big you can blow up your Life.