Think Big and have a Vision

When you sit down, think and take a look into the future what do you see for your life? Where are you? What are you doing? What have you achieved? I guess what I’m really asking is “Do you have a vision”?

The words “Think Big” tower above most other advice you will hear on how to succeed. In just two words, it lays out a plan for achieving your highest goals. Over the last month it has been impressed upon me through various inputs (daily Bible reading, Church, friends and family) that I need to continue to think big and hold on to the vision I have for my life.

My parents have always told me that I can be whatever I want to be through hard work, determination, perseverance etc etc. So I have always believed that I, you, we together can change the world. BIG thinking! However, I have to admit that a few times over the past couple of years my Big Thinking kinda shrunk. Looking back I can see that this was as a result of knockbacks, fallouts, taking too much of the world on my shoulders and dare I say it failure (I’ll come back to my new view of failure shortly*). Allowing these things to get to me and take root caused me to limit my thinking. I no longer wanted to change the world, I was just happy to coast and do ‘whatever innit’. Thankfully I have come back to my senses and the big thinking; visionary Nics is back in full effect! Come on, let’s ‘ave it!!

I am a strong believer in “what you think you become”. What you believe about your life is more important than what anyone else believes about you or may try to impress upon you. Negative expectations (of self) can often become self-fulfilling prophecies – I’ve been caught out a couple of times before (as noted above).

I really want to just encourage you to think Big. There’s a saying in the Bible that “without vision the people perish” (Proverbs 29v18 King James version) makes sense really doesn’t it. If you have nothing to aspire to or work towards then you’re just kind of floating and living. Hmm I’m sure that we all have some kind of vision and big dream of what we want to do with our lives deep down inside. Of course these are different for each and every one of us and it’s not all about making money and becoming famous, of course if this is your vision go for it 110%.

As the title of our blog states - you are gifted and highly favoured, you have amazing talents and skills and even more important than that there is no-one else on this earth who is exactly the same as you! You are unique! So take the limits off of yourself and continue to Think Big!

I promised myself that I’m going to keep today short and sweet so here are a few bullet points that came to me throughout the course of today:

· Write down your vision for the future, dream about your vision, plan out how you’re going to fulfil your vision, remember you’ll never seize it until you see it.

· Set markers for yourself – once you’ve achieved step 1 you’ll feel a great sense of achievement, and the passion and drive will rise up within you to go on to the next step in your master plan

· Seize opportunities you don’t think you can handle. You will prove yourself and make a big impression – you may jump from step 1 to step 10. Imagine that!!

· Put yourself in situations that make you nervous. Seek out high-stakes circumstances that challenge you because they promise the greatest growth (see quote by Terrie Williams below)

· Network and communicate with competent individuals who have already achieved what may be similar to your vision. Gain some inspiration.

· Take that inspiration and energy and put it into fine tuning your master plan – your vision may even change (ie get BIGGER) when you realise that what you can actually achieve is more than you first thought/envisioned.

· Don’t be afraid to make mistakes, just take note of them and know what to do the next time round

· Remember that stumbling blocks can actually be stepping stones, don’t let them knock or limit your thinking

· Do not limit yourself to your surroundings, your background or socio-economic status

· *And finally “losers see failure and winners see beyond it”

To round off here are a couple of examples of people who have inspired me to think big:

Terrie Williams founded her own public relations firm, and represents giants of sport and entertainment. She started her company by walking up to Miles Davis (one of the greatest jazz musicians ever) and saying she wanted to represent him. He became her first client, and the next one was Eddie Murphy. She says that if she feels butterflies in her stomach before negotiating with powerful people, she knows she is in the right place, not coasting.

Dr. Ben Carson was said to be the dumbest kid in his fifth-grade class. Through a mother's love and guidance and his own hard work, Dr. Carson went from the bottom of the class to the top, becoming the youngest Chief of Pediatric Neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins University Hospital. “whatever they can imagine they can achieve” Ben Carson

Think Big my lovelies....you can do it!

N x