Thursday, April 14, 2005

 

think big

if i were to hand you one of my business cards on it you'd see the following:
dream big
think big. live big.


lately, i've been pondering the - think big - portion of my project. what exactly does it mean to think big? one of the first things that comes to mind, and it's a clever thought let me tell you, is that it's about deciding not to think small.
i know it seems way too obvious, but i think making that decision is actually a more powerful move than we might at first think.

you know the little voices in your head that often pop up when you are about to say something kind of risky, take a leap of faith, or act boldly with total confidence. they usually say something like "what are you thinking? you think you can do this?" or "here you go again making a total fool of yourself", i'm sure you can fill in the blank with your little voices particular flavor.

in coaching, we call these little guys gremlins. and boy are they pesky. i think their aim in life is to push us to think small. to only try things that don't risk unseating them from the throne they have comfortably placed in the center of our personal universe.

while all this talking about them as though they are their own little creatures may seem silly, i think it's useful in that it helps us to distinguish them from us. we are not our gremlins.

don't get me wrong everyone's got gremlins. but they are not us, they are simply the byproduct of growing up in the world we did. we've each accumulated a posse of these nasty little creatures from the mean things our older siblings said when we were little, the worries our parents obsessed about as we were growing up and the plain old misinformation this sometimes not so kind society we live in has passed on to us. these little guys are lying, mean, worry warts...and that's clearly not who we are.

so from my perspective thinking big has a lot to do with giving our gremlins the boot. deciding that when we hear those little voices begin to speak we are going to say "shut-up you little butthead i'm tired of listening to your crap!" don't you start to feel more powerful just saying it?

and that's the goal, to remember that in spite of what our gremlins may think the reality is that we are powerful, creative, brilliant, lovable people. we were designed to think big, to challenge ourselves to greater and greater adventures and undertakings.

so next time you are struggling to think big, try telling the little guys what's what and see if it helps clear some space for you to remember how kick ass you truly are.

dream big,
-kirsten

p.s. if you are interested in reading more about gremlins, check out: www.tamingyourgremlin.com

Comments:
hey kristen! i love the think big idea...i recently read a book by alan cohen called "mr. everit's secret" and he called the gremlins 'pygmy thoughts.' and basically it's the same idea, when we have a negative thought, it grows and grows, until it makes us smaller and smaller - our pygmy thoughts own us and debilitate us and inhibit us from reaching our full potential. it's always so much better to think big!
 
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