To Boldly Go - thinking big
My husband is very good at thinking big. He sees his own dreams, with a cast of thousands, in wide screen format and glorious colour. He's always given me lots of encouragement, saying things like: "you'll be running your own company one day", or "I can see that idea of yours really taking off", and it used to really make me cringe!
While he was getting excited, and drawing up lavish plans, I was busy managing my expectations. It wasn't that I hadn't thought of running a company, or that my ideas weren't all that good. It was simply that I found it difficult to think big. I might have harboured some big, bold ideas, but I would never have said them out loud.
So what prevents us from being bold and thinking big?
Perhaps we're afraid that we might look foolish, if we fall short of our audacious goal? Or that, having achieved our goal, we won't be able to cope with the pressure? Or is it that we want to avoid upsetting our friends and family?
Many of us have been brought up to believe it's bad to be bold - that it's boastful and vain - that nice people keep quiet about their talents, ideas and achievements, that the important thing is to be like everyone else, rather than being exceptional, and to be satisfied with our lives.
This stops us from living the inspired life we truly deserve.
Imagine how good it would feel to spend every day doing things which feel right - to make full use of your talents and gifts - to say what you truly think, to live according to your values - and to make a real difference in the world?
Rather than going along with how other people think you should lead your life, how about figuring out what you really want and being bold enough to go for it? Your true friends will be behind you one hundred percent, and by following your heart, you encourage them to do the same.
I was at a seminar recently, where we were asked about our goals were for the coming year. While my goals were about building my business over the next couple of months, my friend's eighteen-year-old daughter stood up and said her long-term goal was to set up a charitable foundation to build hospitals, schools and orphanages in Africa. The whole group (around 1,000 people) was inspired.
Being bold and thinking big doesn't necessarily mean you have to do bigger and bolder things. It's about being bolder, standing up for what you believe in and being unafraid to let people know what you dream of. By sharing your vision, not only will you inspire others, you will also find people to join you on the road to making it a reality.
© Julia Barnickle - January 2007
www.jbcreativelifecoaching.com
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