The Danger of Thinking Big

This week I dropped a new video on my Facebook page discussing the topic of Thinking Big. Specifically, I called on the thought of Thinking Big, and how, despite popularisation, Thinking Big can actually be harmful.

There is a danger to thinking big.

Let me be super…CRYSTAL CLEAR.

I want you to think big. I want you to stretch, to aim higher than you ever have. But I want you to be smart about it and to know the pitfalls of doing so.

For us in the personal development stage, thinking big is usually interpreted as aiming for your best self, aiming to be better today than we were yesterday.

I have my best self. It’s a version of me that’s somewhere out there in the future. My best version of me is kinder, more compassionate, more loving, more open, more inclusive, richer, more ‘buff’, and generally just ‘better’.

The danger is when I start comparing me today to this best version of me.

I’ll never be able to love up to that standard, and if I really focus on it, I’ll indelibly start to feel that this current version of me, the one staring back at me in the mirror, is a loser.

This is the critical danger of thinking big. The comparison of who we are today, to a version of us in the future that is the ideal self.

Whenever we compare in this way, we suffer. Who wouldn’t? Who would feel good about having their shortcomings shown up by a high and mighty better version of themselves? I venture that this is one of the reasons we fail at achieving what we want.

Our comparison is wrong.

It’s not elegant.

If we are going to compare, let’s do so elegantly. Let’s compare not only against a future self that is close to perfect but let’s also compare against a past self that we have lived.

You may be surprised to notice that this current version of you is actually the ‘best version of you’ compared to a you from 10 years ago.

Perhaps you’re further along than you think.

Perhaps you’ve achieved more than you have given yourself credit for.

Perhaps the best you is always relative and the person you are right now….is good enough….for right now.

It’s always a matter of perspective.

Dream big.

Think Big.

Go for what you want.

And remember that there will always be a new best version of you, but there is only ever one version that is true. The version staring back at you in the mirror right now.

And that version was once the future best you.

Let me know what you think about this concept and comment below.

Chris