“Believe it can be done. When you believe something can be done, really believe, your mind will find the ways to do it. Believing a solution paves the way to solution.”
Have you ever wondered what would happen if you stepped right outside your comfort zone and dreamed of the things you could achieve if failure was not a possibility?
Imagine if you had all the resources and money you needed to do absolutely anything or achieve anything? What would you do?
“The mind is what the mind is fed.”
Many people box up their dreams and leave them somewhere on the shelf.
They are reigned in by fear of failure. They confine themselves to a narrow field of vision. Some people are simply looking through the wrong end of the telescope and have no idea about the real power of the human mind, human imagination and their true potential
“Look at things not as they are, but as they can be. Visualization adds value to everything. Dream big. A big thinker always visualizes what can be done in the future. He isn’t stuck with the present”
When I started working as a psychotherapist and counsellor, many years ago, it quickly became clear to me that traditional ‘nodding therapy’ was not appropriate for most of my clients. Many people did not want to spend months or years in therapy but simply wanted to feel better and reclaim their lives as soon as possible.
I changed my working style to a mixture of both coaching and counselling and found that I got better results quicker and that my clients were very pleased.
A local GP started referring many of her patients to me who had emotional health problems and she was also very pleased with the results.
Before long, we began to dream about making this new, faster way of working available to as many people as possible. We considered starting a charity to train volunteers, ordinary people in the essential skills of something very new, therapeutic coaching.
“Where there’s a will, there’s a way”
As we talked more and more and developed our big idea, it became clear that this had the potential to really happen.
We were highly motivated and recognised there was a true need for something very new in mental health; something which would challenge all the existing dogma about how long it takes to train someone to be able to have a helpful or therapeutic conversation.
“Build castles, don’t dig graves.”
We talked to others about our idea and found that quite soon, people were voicing concerns and trying to put us off.
If we had listened to all of those negative voices, the chances are the big idea would never have got off the ground. We would have put it into a box and said ‘We might do it one day.’
“Action cures fear.”
It is often said the shadow is larger than the monster.
Many people’s fears about the consequences of thinking big and taking action are resolved as soon as they take their first steps towards achieving their goal
“Hope is a start. But hope needs action to win victories”
Dreams are simply dreams but dreams with a goal and a deadline become real.
As we started on our big project and began to involve more and more people it became clear that the rock was now moving, gaining momentum and things were starting to happen
“Think little goals and expect little achievements. Think big goals and win big success.”
After we launched the charity Reclaim Life and the volunteer coaches started to work, we started to realise the enormous potential for this new service.
Our client outcomes were very good and, before long GP, and other mental health services started referring their patients to us.
The dream became larger. What if I could get the training programme accredited by a nationally recognised body? What if I founded a coaching academy to train therapeutic coaches? The list of possibilities grew longer…and larger!
“Look at things as they can be, not as they are.”
Just because things have been as they after many years, does not make that right. All new ideas and new inventions have to challenge existing dogma and beliefs.
Just because coaching and counselling have seen themselves as very different and guarded and protected their own territory. Just because there is a belief that counselling training should take many years and cost thousands of pounds, does not mean that is true.
My big idea is to now challenge all received wisdom about what is helpful in promoting emotional health and well-being.
Reclaim Life and Fusion Coaching have moved the goalposts.
The big idea has already happened and is continuing to grow bigger. Now we must set the bar even higher and focus on taking the Fusion Model out into the world. The Internet is now the ultimate key in big thinking. Why train hundreds when you can take an idea to millions?
“Think you are weak, think you lack what it takes, think you will lose, think you are second class – think this way and you are doomed to mediocrity.”
When you allow yourself to think big you can find old insecurities starting to raise their head.
Voices from the past, old conditioning, unhelpful belief systems are all rocks that will drag you down. If you’re trying to fly high, do not clip your own wings by accepting a negative mindset that was probably inflicted on you sometime during your childhood.
“Whether the psychological problem is big or little, the cure comes when one learns to quit drawing negative form one’s memory bank and withdraws positive instead”
Instead of focusing on past mistakes or failures, choose to focus instead on all of your past achievements as evidence that you can meet goals, break down barriers and learn new things. Failure, after all is simply a way of learning how not to do something.
“When you believe, your mind will find a way to do”
Do you realise you can create your own mindset simply by focusing on a detailed picture of what you want to achieve and creating the most detailed and brightest picture you can of that dream as if it were a reality, right here, right now?
The power of visualisation is extraordinary. Neuroscience teaches us how focused attention sets out sights. Our natural goal seeking brain chemistry will do the rest for us.
“Those who believe they can move mountains, do. Those who believe they can’t, cannot.”
Henry Ford had it right when he said ‘those who think they can, can and those who think they can’t ,can’t.’
The great successes, entrepreneurs and inventors in our history have all been visionaries. They understood that all new ideas and inventions start inside the human mind and have to be brought out into the world by communicating them with others, setting goals and taking action.
“Every day thousands of people bury good ideas because they are afraid to act on them. And afterwards, the ghosts of these ideas come back to haunt them.”
I’m pleased I bought the idea of Reclaim Life out of my head and into reality. It is helping so many people now.
I’m pleased I got the training programme accredited. I’ve now trained hundreds of therapeutic coaches.
Now I’ve moved the goalposts again. It’s time to take the Fusion Model out into the world where thousands, hundreds of thousands, or millions of people can learn the skills and, in turn, use those skills to help themselves and help others.
This is my big dream and one I intend to make a reality by visualising, setting goals and taking action.
What is your big dream? When will you bring it out of your head and make it a reality? What will you need to do to make that happen?
And what will be the first step you take?
Quotes from The Magic of Thinking Big David J Shwartz
http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/4835679.David_J_Schwartz
