Think big. Or others will think for you.
We need to think big. By doing this, we will face our self-inflicted limits and create space for the right questions.
Humanity living in accordance with nature: this might seem like an absurd aim or a massive overreach, faced as we are by multiple crises. But it isn't. It is possible, and only if we can envision it can we create it. So, we need to think big. We need to learn and to support ourselves by thinking big.
Think about all those organizations and people who have shaped our world: people like Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos with their companies; people like Mahatma Gandhi, who brought the empire in India to an end; Rosa Parks, whose courage sparked an end to legal segregation in the US; or Taylor Swift and her enormous influence on the music business. They all started small. But if they hadn't envisioned a big idea over time, they wouldn't have gotten so far.
There's one dominant influence that limits our ability to transform: ourselves and our thinking. I encounter many people who don't allow themselves to think and act big. Their complaints are often the same: they don't see themselves as good enough. They think they are imposters. They think it's amoral to gain power and influence. They think they can't be courageous. You can add your own reasons to this list.
Those reasons are all lies; they are just beliefs. They are a construction of the mind, and a troublesome one. They shape their own abilities, thinking, and actions.
We must invite ourselves and encourage ourselves to think big. If we don't, someone else will think for us, which could lead us down a path we don't want to take. Our self-imposed helplessness stems from being led rather than leading ourselves.
We need to think big. And if we do, we may not have everything we need at hand, so we need to realize what we envision. But by thinking big, we are establishing the direction. We are creating space for the right questions to emerge. And with those questions, the answers will follow.
This post is part of the project’25: a year dedicated to profound societal transformation. Join in and raise your ability to act with impact.