Jay shri krishna
LKrishna THINKING
If you are a naturally positive person who already embraces possibility
thinking, then you’re already tracking with me. However, some people, rather
than being optimistic, are naturally negative or cynical. They believe that
possibility thinkers are naïve or foolish. If your thinking runs toward pessimism,let me ask you a question: how many highly successful people do you know who
are continually negative? How many impossibility thinkers are youacquainted
with who achieve big things? None!
People with an it-can’t-be-done mindset have two choices. They can expect
the worst and continually experience it; or they can change their thinking. That’s
what George Lucas did. Believe it or not, even though he is a possibility thinker,
he is not a naturally positive person. He says, “I’m very cynical, and as a result, I think the defense I have against it is to be optimistic.”
In other words, he
chooses to think positively. He sums it up this way: “As corny as it sounds, the power of positive thinking goes a long way. So determination and positive
thinking combined with talent combined with knowing your craft… that may
sound like a naïve point of view, but at the same time it’s worked for me and it’s
worked for all my friends—so I have come to believe it.”
If you want possibility thinking to work for you, then begin by following these
suggestions:
Stop Focusing on the Impossibilities
The first step in becoming a possibility thinker is to stop yourself from
searching for and dwelling on what’s wrong with any given situation. Sports psychologist Bob Rotella recounts, “I tell people: If you don’t want to get into
positive thinking, that’s OK. Just eliminate all the negative thoughts from your
mind, and whatever’s left will be fine.”
If possibility thinking is new to you, you’re going to have to give yourself a
lot of coaching to eliminate some of the negative self-talk you may hear in your
head. When you automatically start listing all the things that can go wrong or all
the reasons something can’t be done, stop yourself and say, “Don’t go there.”
Then ask, “What’s right about this?” That will help to get you started. And if
negativity is a really big problem for you and pessimistic things come out of
your mouth before you’ve even thought them through, you may need to enlist
the aid of a friend or family member to alert you every time you utter negative
ideas.
Stay Away from the “Experts”
So-called experts do more to shoot down people’s dreams than just about
anybody else. Possibility thinkers are very reluctant to dismiss anything as impossible.
Rocket pioneer Wernher von Braun said, “I have learned to use the word
impossible with the greatest of caution.” And Napoleon Bonaparte declared,
“The word impossible is not in my dictionary.” If you feel you must take the
advice of an expert, however, then heed the words of John Andrew Holmes, who
asserted, “Never tell a young person that something cannot be done. God may
have been waiting centuries for somebody ignorant enough of the impossible to
do that thing.” If you want to achieve something, give yourself permission to
believe it is possible—no matter what experts might say.
Look for Possibilities in Every Situation
Becoming a possibility thinker is more than just refusing to let yourself be
negative. It’s something more. It’s looking for positive possibilities despite the circumstances. I recently heard Don Soderquist, former president of Wal-Mart,
tell a wonderful story that illustrates how a person can find positive possibilities
in any situation. Soderquist had gone with Sam Walton to Huntsville, Alabama,
to open several new stores. While there, Walton suggested they visit the
competition. Here’s what Soderquist said happened:
We went into one [store], and I have to tell you that it was the worst store
I’ve ever seen in my life. It was terrible. There were no customers. There
was no help on the floor. The aisles were cluttered with merchandise, empty
shelves, dirty, it was absolutely terrible. He [Walton] walked one way and
I’d walk the other way and we’d kind of meet out on the sidewalk. He said,
“What’d you think, Don?”
I said, “Sam, that is the absolutely worst store I’ve ever seen in my life. I
mean, did you see the aisles?”
He said, “Don, did you see the pantyhose rack?” I said, “No, I didn’t, Sam. I must have gone on different aisle than you.
I didn’t see that.”
He said, “That was the best pantyhose rack I’ve ever seen, Don.” And he
said, “I pulled the fixture out and on the back was the name of the manufacturer. When we get back, I want you to call that manufacturer and
have him come in and visit with our fixture people. I want to put that rack
in our stores. It’s absolutely the best I’ve ever seen.” And he said next, “Did
you see the ethnic cosmetics?”
I said, “Sam, that must have been right next to the pantyhose rack,
because I absolutely missed that.”
He said, “Don, do you realize that in our stores we have four feet of
ethnic cosmetics. These people had 12 feet of it. We are absolutely missing
the boat. I wrote down the distributor of some of those products. When we
get back, I want you to get a hold of our cosmetic buyer and get these
people in. We absolutely need to expand our ethnic cosmetics.”
Now, Sam Walton didn’t hit me on the head and say, “Don, now what
lesson did you learn from this?” He had already hit me on the head by looking for the good, looking how to improve, striving for excellence. It’s
so easy to go and look at what other people do badly. But one of the leadership 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.
Dream One Size Bigger
One of the best ways to cultivate a possibility mindset is to prompt yourself to
dream one size bigger than you 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. Make your plans ten times as great as you first planned, and twenty-
five years from now you will wonder why you did not make them fifty times as
great.”
If you push yourself to dream more expansively, to imagine your organization
one size bigger, to make your goals at least a step beyond what makes you
comfortable, you will be forced to grow. And it will set you up to believe in
greater possibilities.
Question the Status Quo
Most people want their lives to keep improving, yet they value peace and
stability at the same time. People often forget that you can’t improve and still
stay the same. Growth means change. Change requires challenging the status
quo. If you want greater possibilities, you can’t settle for what you have now. When you become a possibility thinker, you will face many people who will
want you to give up your dreams and embrace the status quo. Achievers refuse
to accept the status quo.
As you begin to explore greater possibilities for yourself, your organization, or
your family—and others challenge you for it—take comfort in knowing that
right now as you read this, other possibility thinkers across the country and
around the world are thinking about curing cancer, developing new energy sources, feeding hungry people, and improving quality of ife. They are challenging the status quo against the odds—and you should, too.
Find Inspiration from Great Achievers
You can learn a lot about possibility thinking by studying great achievers. I
mentioned George Lucas in this chapter. Perhaps he doesn’t appeal to you, or
you don’t like the movie industry. (Personally, I’m not a big science fiction fan,
but I admire Lucas as a thinker, creative visionary, and businessperson.) Find
some achievers you admire and study them. :
“Some men see things as they are and say, ‘Why?’ I dream of things 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?
Jay shri krishna
LKrishna THINKING
Contact MAIL. lkrishna.htat@gmail.com
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