“To do anything, we must first believe it can be done. Believing something can be done sets the mind in motion to find a way to do it.”
“Big men do not laugh at big ideas.”
“No one accomplishes more than he sets out to accomplish. So visualize a big future.”
–from The Magic of Thinking Big by David J. Schwartz
I “pants” my plots, but I don’t think it’s a good idea to fly by the seat of my pants with respect to my career overall. While strategies can and do change, I believe it’s a beneficial practice to have plan. In the first few years of my writing career, while I would decide what I wanted to accomplish, I kept “the plan” in my head.
Last year, I formalized my 2015 goals into a written business plan.
A little over a month ago, I jotted down some goals as a preliminary step to developing a 2016 plan. Then I went on vacation. At an airport bookstore, I ran across The Magic of Thinking Big by David J. Schwartz. I thought I could use a little magic, so I downloaded the book to my Kindle and read it on the plane.
What a game-changer!
I didn’t realize when I bought it, it was an old book. But as soon as the author mentioned salaries, I checked the date. Original copyright: 1959. But,salaries aside, the information is as relevant today as it was 50 years ago.
After reading The Magic of Thinking Big, I realized I was selling myself short by setting the bar way too low. I was aiming for what was easily achievable, rather than shooting for my dreams or my end goal. I scrapped my preliminary 2016 business plan and on the airplane, wrote a new, much more ambitious plan for the coming year.
Can I achieve it? The year will tell. But I promise myself, I will think BIG and plan accordingly.
Good thinking!