Big-picture thinkers broaden their outlook by striving to learn from every experience. They don’t rest ontheir successes, they learn from them. More importantly, they learn from their failures. They can do thatbecause they remain teachable. Varied experiences—both positive and negative—help you see the big picture. The greater the varietyof experience and success, the more potential to learn you have. If you desire to be a big-picture thinker,then get out there and try a lot of things, take a lot of chances, and take time to learn after every victory ordefeat.3. Gain Insight from a Variety of People Big-picture thinkers learn from their experiences. But they also learn from experiences they don’t have.That is, they learn by receiving insight from others—from customers, employees, colleagues, and leaders. If you desire to broaden your thinking and see more of the big picture, then seek out counselors to helpyou. But be wise in whom you ask for advice. Gaining insight from a variety of people doesn’t meanstopping anyone and everyone in hallways and grocery store lines and asking what they think about a givensubject. Be selective. Talk to people who knowand care about you, who knowtheir field, and who bringexperience deeper and broader than your own.4. Give Yourself Permission to Expand Your World If you want to be a big-picture thinker, you will have to go against the flowof the world. Society wants tokeep people in boxes. Most people are married mentally to the status quo. They want what was, not what canbe. They seek safety and simple answers. To think big-picture, you need to give yourself permission to go adifferent way, to break newground, to find newworlds to conquer. And when your world does get bigger, youneed to celebrate. Never forget there is more out there in the world than what you’ve experienced. Keep learning, keep growing, and keep looking at the big picture! If you desire to be a good thinker, that’s what you need to do. Thinking Question Am I thinking beyond myself and my world so that I process ideas with a holistic perspective? French philosopher Henri-Louis Bergson, who won the Nobel Prize in literature in 1927, asserted that a characteristics of vision that he showed me, and I’ll never forget it, is look for the good in what other people are doing and apply it. It doesn’t take a genius IQ or twenty years of experience to find the possibility in every situation. All it takes is the right attitude, and anybody can cultivate that.4. Dream One Size Bigger One of the best ways to cultivate a possibility mind-set is to prompt yourself to dream one size bigger thanyou normally do. Let’s face it: most people dream too small. They don’t think big enough. Henry Curtis advises,“Make your plans as fantastic as you like, because twenty-five years from now, they will seem mediocre. Makeyour plans ten times as great as you first planned, and twenty-five years from now you will wonder why you didnot make them fifty times as great.” If you push yourself to dream more expansively, to imagine your organization one size bigger, to make yourgoals at least a step beyond what makes you comfortable, you will be forced to grow. And it will set you up tobelieve in greater possibilities.5. Question the Status Quo Most people want their lives to keep improving, yet they value peace and stability at the same time. Peopleoften forget that you can’t improve and still stay the same. Growth means change. Change requires challengingthe status quo. If you want greater possibilities, you can’t settle for what you have now. When you become apossibility thinker, you will face many people who will want you to give up your dreams and embrace the statusquo. Achievers refuse to accept the status quo. As you begin to explore greater possibilities for yourself, your organization, or your family—and otherschallenge you for it—take comfort in knowing that right now as you read this, other possibility thinkers acrossthe country and around the world are thinking about curing cancer, developing new energy sources, feedinghungry people, and improving quality of life. They are challenging the status quo against the odds—and youshould, too.6. Find Inspiration from Great Achievers You can learn a lot about possibility thinking by studying great achievers. I mentioned George Lucas in thischapter. Perhaps he doesn’t appeal to you, or you don’t like the movie industry. (Personally, I’m not a bigscience fiction fan, but I admire Lucas as a thinker, creative visionary, and businessperson.) Find someachievers you admire and study them. Look for people with the attitude of Robert F. Kennedy, who popularizedGeorge Bernard Shaw’s stirring statement: “Some men see things as they are and say, ‘Why?’ I dream ofthings that never were and say, ‘Why not?’” I know possibility thinking isn’t in style with many people. So call it what you like: the will to succeed, belief in yourself, confidence in your ability, faith. It’s really true: people who believe they can’t, don’t. But if you believe you can, you can! That’s the power of possibility thinking. Thinking Question Am I unleashing the enthusiasm of possibility thinking to find solutions for even seemingly impossible situations?

thinking can rule themselves—even while under an oppressive ruler or in other difficult circumstances. In short, find one nugget and try to live on it for fifty years. To become someone who can mine a lot of gold, you need toWhile professional success can be one piece of the puzzle, it leaves out many other important areas of life. Family, romantic relationships, academics, and athletics are just a few areas where people may strive for success. Your definition of success may vary, but many might define it as being fulfilled, happy, safe, healthy, and loved. taken from the earth.” When you take the time to learn how to change your thinking and become a better thinker, But a human mind with the ability to think well is like a diamond mine that never runs out. It’s priceless. HOW TO BECOME A BETTER THINKER

marriage, rearing children, helping those who are less fortunate, etc. All human interactions are enhanced Key Players: Let’s face it, no idea will fly if the influencers don’t embrace it. After all, they are the peopleyou will set yourself up for a lifestyle of better thinking. But what do you do to come up with specific ideas on a Urquijo I, Extremera N, Azanza G. The contribution of emotional intelligence to career success: Beyond personality traits. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2019;16(23). doi:10.3390/ijerph16234809 You often hear someone say that a colleague or friend is a “good thinker,” but that phrase means something Because that boy’s name is Melvin Maxwell. He’s my dad. And he has proven to me time and time again that the difference between successful and unsuccessful people is how they choose to think. Positive constructive daydreaming (PDC) refers to planning, playful and creative imagery we engage in;

Big-picture thinkers learn from their experiences. But they also learn from experiences they don’t have. Do you want to master the process of good thinking? Do you want to be a better thinker tomorrow than you are today? Then you need to engage in an ongoing process that improves your thinking. I recommend you do the following: one-message speakers, the one-time inventors who spend their life struggling to protect or promote their single listening to them. At the end of the evening, as Steve and I were walking to our car, he said to me, “John, I bet One thing that connects all the above points is that successful people don’t do the normal or expected thing.Only by putting your daily activities in the context of the big picture will you be able to stay on target. AsAlvin Toffler says, “You’ve got to think about ‘big things’while you’re doing small things, so that all the smallthings go in the right direction.”3. Big-Picture Thinking Allows You to See What Others See One of the most important skills you can develop in human relations is the ability to see things from theother person’s point of view. It’s one of the keys to working with clients, satisfying customers, maintaining amarriage, rearing children, helping those who are less fortunate, etc. All human interactions are enhancedby the ability to put yourself in another person’s shoes. How? Look beyond yourself, your own interests, andyour own world. When you work to consider an issue from every possible angle, examine it in the light ofanother’s history, discover the interests and concerns of others, and try to set aside your own agenda, youbegin to see what others see. And that is a powerful thing.4. Big-Picture Thinking Promotes Teamwork If you participate in any kind of team activity, then you knowhowimportant it is that team members seethe whole picture, not just their own part. Anytime a person doesn’t knowhowhis work fits with that of histeammates, then the whole team is in trouble. The better the grasp team members have of the big picture,the greater their potential to work together as a team.5. Big-Picture Thinking Keeps You from BeingCaught Up in theMundane Let’s face it: some aspects of everyday life are absolutely necessary but thoroughly uninteresting. Big-picture thinkers don’t let the grind get to them, because they don’t lose sight of the all-important overview.They knowthat the person who forgets the ultimate is a slave to the immediate.6. Big-Picture Thinking Helps You to Chart Uncharted Territory Have you ever heard the expression, “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it”? That phraseundoubtedly was coined by someone who had trouble seeing the big picture. The world was built by peoplewho “crossed bridges” in their minds long before anyone else did. The only way to break newground ormove into uncharted territory is to look beyond the immediate and see the big picture. HOW TO ACQUIRE THE WISDOM OF BIG-PICTURE THINKING If you desire to seize newopportunities and open newhorizons, then you need to add big-picturethinking to your abilities. To become a good thinker better able to see the big picture, keep in mind thefollowing suggestions:1. Don’t Strive for Certainty Big-picture thinkers are comfortable with ambiguity. They don’t try to force every observation or piece ofdata into pre-formulated mental cubby holes. They think broadly and can juggle many seeminglycontradictory thoughts in their minds. If you want to cultivate the ability to think big picture, then you mustget used to embracing and dealing with complex and diverse ideas.2. Learn from Every Experience It’s hard to overstate the value of changing your thinking. Good thinking can do many things for you: why not think big?” Big-picture thinking brings wholeness and maturity to a person’s thinking. It brings Because goals are sef-created, what people view as success can vary depending on their needs, goals, and situation. The other essential ingredient to developing and applying an effective goal-setting mindset is having sound wisdom of the emotional, personal satisfaction that will signal you have achieved your successes.

There are many different tactics for how to be successful in life, but the strategy that works best for you may depend on what success means to you. If you think of success as doing well at work or earning a high salary, your professional goals and accomplishments will take priority. Read books, review trade magazines, listen to CDs, and spend time with good thinkers. And when something intrigues you-whether it’s someone else’s idea or the seed of an idea that you’ve come up with yourself-keep it in front of you. Put it in writing and keep it somewhere in a favorite place to stimulate your thinking. It’s one thing to read, watch a video or attend a lecture or conference. It’s common knowledge that the majority of information we have received, we forget within a 48 hour period. Poor attentional control which is our inability to remain focused on a task which is necessary but often undesirable, an all too familiar feeling to those of us who’ve had to study oceans of information toward passing an exam.

4. Big-Picture Thinking Promotes Teamwork

When you meet with people, it’s good to have an agenda so that you can learn. It’s a great way to partner If you find it hard to let go, it might be high time to consider working with a therapist to explore if your perfectionist tendencies are stalling your progress toward achieving success. There’s also a risk you could be doing injustice to your work colleagues and the organization you work for, too. 8. Exercise a Scale and Leverage Mindset