JumpStart Your Thinking

It may seem obvious that the quality of people's thinking leads to the quality of their results. However, one of the reasons people don't achieve their dreams is that they desire to change their results without changing their thinking. That's never going to work. If you want to jumpstart your thinking, you must believe that only good thinking creates the foundation for good results.

In As a Man Thinketh, James Allen, philosopher of the human spirit, wrote, "Good thoughts and actions can never produce bad results; bad thoughts and actions can never produce good results. This is but saying that nothing can come from corn but corn, nothing from nettles but nettles." Simply put, if you expect to reap corn when you plant nettles, you're not going to get corn—no matter how much time you spend watering, fertilizing, or cultivating your plants. If you don't like the crop you are reaping, you need to change the seed you are sowing!

Do you want to achieve? Then sow the "seed" of good thinking.

Do you realize that the quality of your thinking is the lid for your potential? To paraphrase the words of King Solomon, wisest of all ancient kings, "As people think in their hearts, so they are." If you're an excellent thinker, you have excellent potential; but if your thinking is poor, you have a lid on your life.

Sam Walton, the founder of Wal-Mart, refused to believe the popular notion that a town of less than 50,000 in population could not support a discount store for very long. He thought for himself and struck out on his own. Today Wal-Mart is the world's largest retailer and company by revenue, employing more than two million people. How's that for potential! No wonder Jack Welch, former chairman of General Electric, said, "The hero is the one with ideas."

The greatest detriment to your potential success tomorrow is your thinking today. If your thinking is limited, so is your potential. But if you can keep growing in your thinking, you will constantly outgrow what you're doing. And your potential will always be off the charts!

Here's some good news as you begin your thinking journey: No matter how complicated life gets or how difficult problems may seem, good thinking can make a difference—if you make it a consistent part of your life. The more you engage in good thinking, the more good thoughts will come to you. Success comes to those who habitually do things that unsuccessful people don't do. Achievement comes from the habit of good thinking. The more you engage in good thinking, the more good thoughts you will continue to think. It's like creating a never-ending army of ideas capable of achieving almost anything.

If you're like many people, you believe good thinking is so complicated that it lies beyond your reach. But in truth, it's really a very simple process. Every person has the potential to become a better thinker. I've observed that unsuccessful people focus their thinking on survival, average people focus on maintenance, and successful people focus on progress. A change of thinking can help you move from survival or maintenance to real progress. Ninety-five percent of achieving anything is knowing what you want and paying the price to get it.

Did you know that good thinking isn't just one thing? It consists of several specific thinking skills. Becoming a good thinker means developing all the thinking "pieces" to become the kind of person who can achieve great things. Throughout the rest of this book, we'll focus on the following types of thinking:

These are your building blocks. If you develop each of these kinds of thinking, you will become a better thinker and your life will change.

What difference can a shift in your thinking make? Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric, gave this advice to a young businessperson who asked him how he could elevate himself among all of his other associates:

"The only way to get out of the pile and stand out to your boss is to understand this simple principle: When he asks you a question, assigns a basic project, or sends you out to gather some data, he simply wants you to go out and confirm what he already believes is true. If you want to elevate yourself, you must sink your thoughts and time into not only answering the question, but three or more other ideas, options, and perspectives that were probably not previously considered by your boss. The goal is to add value to the idea and the thought by exceeding expectations when the question is given to you. Because 99.9 percent of all employees are in the pile because they don't think, you will always be given more critical questions to answer. And in time, you will be the one giving out the questions to others!"

If you desire to climb up out of the pile, become the best thinker you can be.

Over the next six days, I want you to see how you can begin to change yourself as you take responsibility to change your thinking. If you follow the process faithfully, it will result in a changed life!

Step 1: Changing your thinking changes your beliefs. My friend author Gordon MacDonald says that if you do not believe in yourself, you will "fall victim to ideas and systems that are destructive to the human spirit and to human relationships… and grow dependent upon the thoughts and opinions of others." Or you may simply give up.

But here's the good news: Even if you currently lack what MacDonald calls "a strong mind," there's no reason to give up or live an unfulfilling life. The human mind can change, if you are willing to put in the effort to change your thinking. As you strive to change your thinking, tell yourself these three things:

Change is Personal—I need to change.

Change is Possible—I'm able to change.

Change is Profitable—I'll be rewarded by change.

Remember, no matter how old you are or what your circumstances may be, you can change your thinking. And when you change your thinking, you change your beliefs.