Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 43 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom.

The Results of Thinking Big

Thank you for joining us for our 7 day a week, 7 minutes of wisdom podcast and journal. This is Day 43 of our Trek, and for the next few days, we will continue our trek about how significantly our thinking impacts our lives, both today and into eternity.

We are recording our podcast from our studio at Home2 in Charlotte, North Carolina, and this weekend Granny and Gramps had the privilege of watching our grandson Kiprono.  His given name is Harold Guthrie Chamberlain, V, but he goes by his Kenyan name Kip for short. Our daughter-in-law Chelimo is from Kenyan heritage and married to our oldest son Harry. Harry and Kip listen to Wisdom-Trek (or as Kip calls them Gramps’ Wisdom Tracks) on their way to preschool each day.  It is a blessing to be closely involved with our grown children and grandchildren. As we have continued opportunity to positively impact our family, one of the areas that we have always emphasized is how important thinking properly is. In addition to the science or power of thinking big, by changing our thinking we can literally change our lives.

It looks like the trail ahead today has some big boulders that we need to consider.  Will these boulders prevent us on our Trek, or will we use them to our advantage as we learn to enjoy the journey each day? Big boulders or obstacles give us the opportunity to think big, achieve big, and succeed big. To me the ability to "Think BIG" is one of the cornerstones of extreme success.

As we consider the concept of thinking big, we have to understand that there is effort exerted in thinking big or small. Take advantage of economies of scale. In many cases, thinking big and taking action on large tasks takes no more time and effort than working on small tasks. But, the results are much bigger and better, and the achievement is greater. I have seen people that have worked harder thinking about how to get out of doing something than if they would just think big and do the work.

It can be much easier to succeed by thinking big, rather than thinking small. So many individuals are thwarted in life because their thinking is so confined and small.  I realize that not everyone has the opportunity to travel and stretch themselves and their world by experiencing other peoples and cultures. With today’s technology, though, there is no reason that you cannot expand your horizons and thinking through virtual travel and experiences. It is literally at our fingertips today.

How to Think and Achieve Big

1. Be Positive and Fearless

Negative or fearful thoughts produce small thinking. Think positively. Eliminate the word "impossible." Successful big thinkers come up with reasons why they "can." Others find reasons why they "can’t."  

Whichever way you think, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Big thinkers see problems as a challenge, and any challenge as an opportunity.  Their big thinking creates unlimited possibilities, alternatives, and solutions. Turn your attention to being brave, bold and optimistic. I realize that Mark 10:27 is specifically dealing with the salvation experience, but the truth is still applicable if we are pursuing a right course of action for our lives. "Jesus looked at them intently and said, 

2. Visualize Without Restraint

It is not a lack of resources that holds people back but a lack of resourcefulness. A big thinker visualizes what is possible in the future, rather than being stuck in the present or mired in the past. Look at things not as they are now, but as they can be – without constraints. This mental rehearsal gives you a compelling taste of what your vision will be like in reality,