This article was originally published in San Diego's Life By Design, January Edition
A new year inspires us to think big!
As entrepreneurs, especially, we set audacious goals and declare new visions for business, life, and beyond!
It’s been my life’s work to think bigger. From composer to educator, coach, and founder, I’ve observed that thinking bigger creates more connection, community, and collaboration, and, quite simply, more results! People who deliver vision (big ideas worth spreading) have shown over and over, throughout history, that they can lead movements and move people into inspired action!
Here are 3 practical Think Bigger Principles to apply to your New Year resolution:
1. Inclusion. Having an outward focus.
When I was four, I had an idea. It seemed to me that my female classmates in kindergarten all wanted me to play house with them. Quite the dilemma since I was outnumbered!
One day, I stood up on a chair and declared, ‘Girls, I’ve decided that you will all get to play house with me. Andrea, you get Monday. Ezra, you’re Tuesday. Sonia, Wednesday and Thursday…’
My outward focus (as enterprising as I was) facilitated solving the problem. This situation also illustrates the second principle:
2. Enrolling others in their own vision for what they want.
I created a solution that served the girls. I also managed to create an opportunity for them to see that my solution was exactly what they wanted. Coming from a place of contribution (what you want to give) becomes exponentially more powerful when it aligns with what others want to receive.
As a senior in high school, I was given the opportunity to spend a summer living in Jamaica to set up kids’ camps. Nothing could stop me from getting there...except my dad when he said, “You’ll have to fund that trip on your own.”
While the obvious solution may have appeared to be a bake sale, my studies had shown that only small gains could be made.
Who had more money? Who had little time to make holiday treats? TEACHERS! I would sell entire cakes and dozens of cookies!
My plan was to offer samples to teachers, who would then place an order for a full cake (or three). The flavors were Chippy, Coffee, Lemon Almond, 4 kinds of Biscotti, and much more, all while I also sold single slices to students. It was the Bake-Sale-O-Bake-Sales!
In order to implement this successfully, I had to implement a Thinking Bigger principle:
3. Telling EVERYONE!
And it worked! I successfully generated $1,500 in revenue with a single day of samples and I did get to spend that summer in Jamaica!
Consider the big Thought Leaders of the day, Musk, Branson, or even Disney, who thought so big, told, enrolled, and included so many others in his vision, that it was after his death his big vision for Disney World came to life (and it still lives and grows today). Declare 2018 as the year of thinking bigger! Use all 3 principles, 1) having an outward focus, 2) enrolling others into their own vision for what they want, and 3) telling everyone, to guarantee bigger results for your business and to design the life you truly want this year!
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