The Magic of Thinking Big - Chapter 07

What you feed your mind is what you will think about. What you think about is what you will act upon. Your actions determine your habits. Your habits determine your results. Your results determine your life.

Question is, what are you feeding your mind, poison or nutrition?

Your environment, says Dr. Schwartz, is the biggest influencer of your thoughts. Your environment shapes you and makes you think the way you do. Your continued association with negative thinkers makes you a negative thinker as well. Same applies for associations with positive thinkers.

Do you feel you deserve success? Do you think it's possible for you to accomplish big things in life?

What effect has fear had in your life? Has it made you believe it's pointless to try to achieve big things, to become more? How do you know when you're content vs when you're fearful?

Recently, a friend of mine posted something on Facebook which I thought was interesting. It spoke about the difference between giving up vs moving on. Sometimes we give up because things get too hard and we can't see a way forward. So we rationalize that it's impossible and we give up. Other times, you find yourself spending too much time doing something that doesn't fulfill you, is not rewarding financially, and does nothing to make the world a better place, and you have to wonder why exactly you're spending all this time and resources doing this thing? So you just move on to something better.

Be careful who you take advice from. Some well-meaning folks may lead you astray with their negativity. They think they're doing right by you by not letting you get your hopes up too high, or reminding you how the real world works. But it's the complete opposite. What you focus on expands. The more you focus on misery, the more misery you will see. Switch your gaze to positivity.

Others are deliberate on trying to hold you back, maybe because they're jealous or because they're just lazy and resent any form of progress. Dr Schwartz gives us several examples of both.

Vary your experiences. Vary your friends. Vary your weekend activities. Don't box yourself in. Think wide. Explore. Try new things. This is the best way to be exciting. You'll meet new friends and talk about new things, which will make you a better conversationalist over time.

Just because someone doesn't share your beliefs and opinions doesn't mean they're wrong. And it doesn't mean you're wrong either. It's an opportunity to explore, discuss, debate, learn new things. And it helps you be more empathetic, because you now understand where the other person is coming from.

Avoid gossip. The author calls it thought poison. Would you willingly ingest poison that could kill you? So why do you participate in thought poison?