Think BIG

There’s a famous quote by Henry Ford which encapsulates the importance of your mentality when it comes to achieving your goals. He says, “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t, you’re always right.”
Obvious caveats aside (I can’t turn myself into a football, for example), this is an incredibly true statement. Whilst thinking alone can’t attain your goals for you, it can certainly put you on the way.
It’s this kind of belief, and having those high standards for ourselves, that inevitably propels us towards the kind of success we’re after.
But, how do we tap into this kind of mentality?
That’s what I’m going to be exploring today. 

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Why do we lack ambition?

I’ve lived and went to school in and amongst the poorest boroughs in London (the two poorest, actually), and one thing I’ve noticed in most of the kids is a crippling inferiority complex at times.
As if they don’t deserve to strive towards excellence, because they’re poorer than others. And even those who do succeed suffer from imposter syndrome, as if they’re not meant to be in the favourable positions they’re in. This leads to a massive lack of ambition amongst the youth.
Typically, in these scenarios, families are just trying to get by. They don’t have time to think about achieving anything more than next month’s rent, and that can create a stifling environment where it’s hard for anyone to think beyond the short-term worries that they have.
Thinking big requires a long-term approach, or should we say, a vision? and that’s hard for a lot of people trying to achieve a level of success beyond what’s “expected” of them.
Of course, we at The Legacy Project are committed to entering these communities and empowering them to have high aspirations for themselves, and thinking big is exactly one of those ways to do so.
I’m very fortunate that my mother instilled within me a clear sense of trying to always achieve academic excellence, and that’s the main reason I did well in school—because she held me to her high standards.
But a lot of us don’t have that kind of push in life. And for those people, setting admirable goals and achieving them is a tall order.
But with any tall order, all we have to do is rise to the occasion.

Forward Thinking

With any objective in life, you have to think ahead and set yourself targets to achieve. For a lot of us who suffer from low ambitions, this comes in the form of short-term targets.
Things like barely doing the homework on time or waking up in time for school the next day. And many of us don’t accomplish these things, sadly.
Whilst these kinds of small targets are important and things you should be aiming to do, a higher level of excellence, I believe, is the key to getting the simple day to day things right.
For example, if you don’t have a clear sense of what objective education serves in your life, it’s difficult for you to drive to do well in school. It all seems a bit pointless, and unfortunately many people realise it a little too late.
There are loads of people working in low pay or less enjoyable jobs, and they rue not taking their studies and lives as seriously as they could’ve.
That’s a position many people find themselves in due to not thinking ahead enough. Not planning their life and building themselves for the success they want.
So, you’re convinced that you need to think forward, that you need to plan for the future, think towards the heavens, and make that success a reality in your life.
Great, but like we said earlier, thinking alone is only one part.
Now it’s time to actually get down to strategizing our life in a way that’s optimal for success.
So, let’s go. 

The three categories

I was listening to a religious speaker this one time, and he spoke about planning his life in ten to fifteen year increments. This simple concept has aided me in envisioning a trajectory for my future self.
He split up this kind of big, forward thinking into three different categories. 

The First Category

The first category is Body, which relates to overall health and fitness. Now, at first this may seem very odd, especially if what you want to do is end up a multi-millionaire lawyer - but there’s massive wisdom in it.
First of all, physical and mental health are intertwined, and without some level of effort in our physical health, the mentality of thinking big we’re trying to achieve will fail.
I’m not arguing that everyone needs to have a raging six pack and five plate deadlift, although those things certainly wouldn’t be unwelcome. But the endorphins released during exercise, and the constant striving to achieve excellence in the physical department, hugely helps our mental state mould into one of forward thinking and achievement.
If we are able to be healthy and stick to a training regimen, it builds the level of discipline required to achieve all the other goals in life.
Also, those people who live longer are generally the healthy in society—try and find an obese person above the age of 70.
And so, wouldn’t you want to optimise your health to enjoy the fruits of your success once you get there, instead of unfortunately cutting your life short due to poor health and lifestyle choices?

The Second Category

The second category is Mind.
“What the heck does that mean?”
I’m getting to that, gimme a second.
Anyway, so Mind encompasses mostly career related things, and also personal development on a certain level, and I’ll explain what that means.
Part of planning for the future is trying to work out an enriching career for ourselves, setting that target, and then achieving it through hard work.
Do some soul searching and see what kind of role fits you best. Find something you would enjoy, but also something that matches your strengths. Because trying to aim for something you just aren’t predisposed to isn’t going to work.
Someone who’s five foot three can’t ever become a professional basketball player. But if they have a knack for teaching, then coaching the sport might be within their grasp with enough effort.
I might like solving Rubik’s cubes and doing origami, but that doesn’t mean I can pursue those full time, because I’m not a world record holder in Rubik’s cubes nor a wiz at origami.
But the general principle is that I’m nimble with my hands, and I can utilise that well in any future career of mine, if necessary.
Another thing I’m decent in is writing—I don’t want to say I’m good at it, because someone (likely my pesky friends) will end up finding a mistake here and commenting down below, in which case I blame the editing team :)
I could try to incorporate some level of writing into my career, as it’s something that I like and have strengths in.
Another area which falls into the Mind category is what I can only describe as general knowledge, and I’ll explain what I mean by that.
Even if you don’t like Maths or Literature or economics or history, part of being a well rounded and effective human being is having knowledge deposits in loads of different areas.
For example, current trends in technology are very important, especially for the world we live in. Now, I’m not the most interested in technology since I’m pursuing an Economics degree, but it can’t hurt to know about it.
Having some information on emerging technologies is something I can utilise in the future, especially if it ends up being relevant to my career.
A medical student who pays attention to the current trends in technology can have a massive advantage when it comes to break throughs in MedTech.
A solid knowledge of world history can aid an economic graduate in landing a job dealing with foreign policy.
And the great thing is, you can learn these things through listening to lectures and reading books for only a few hours a week. It’s not that much of a commitment, but if you plan the time for it, you’d be astounded at the levels you can achieve in only a few years. 
And it also means you can engage with people on a plethora of topics, which isn’t a bad thing at all.
Literature has shaped the UK in innumerable ways and reading the classical works can expand your horizons and make you think in ways you hadn’t anticipated. It can put a spin on your psyche and cause you to unearth truths about yourself you never even thought about.
These are all important ways of making yourself a more well-rounded person. And pulling out knowledge of the psychology of team dynamics in a job interview can be a very impressive trait.
I’m also not saying you should be learning things you absolutely abhor. Far from that. Seek things which enrich your life, most of all.
A lot of people think learning stops after secondary school, when you whittle down your subjects to a few. But actually, learning is a life-long endeavour, and any successful person echoes the same sentiment.
A literature student learning surface level economics can greatly improve their lives. As can the Maths graduate reading a work of art for once. It all plays into becoming a rounded, grounded person.
The third area, and possibly the most important, encapsulated by the Mind category is building on your skills.
Skills are the things which gets us opportunities in life. Whilst qualifications are important, I’ve seen graduates struggle to get jobs because that piece of paper is all they’re relying on.
Experience is important because it suggests something to the employer. It suggests a level of competence and skill, as that person has already done something similar before.
But experience in a job isn’t the only way we can build our skills. We can also build them by self-studying, and that’s a massive part of the Mind category.
I might make a blog post on just this topic alone. But it suffices to say that a few hours a week of dedicated studying time to improve a certain skill (whether it be writing, speaking skills, coding, excel, leadership skills, or anything else relevant to your future goals) can go a long way, indeed.
Also, me writing this blog keeps my skills sharp and improves them. If you’re someone passionate and confident about writing, then you could get in touch by emailing and try your hand (or keyboard) at an article.
Anyway, that’s enough about the Mind.
Now we go to the fun stuff.

The Third Category

Weirdly named, the third category is Soul.
This includes recreational things. Things that recharge ourselves, but also can make us better people if we choose the right type of activities.
What do you do in your free time now?
I’m betting it’s a combination of YouTube, Netflix, playing video games, social media, or gossiping around with friends. Sometimes multiple of these things at once.
Those things are fine, by the way. I’m not knocking them at all. But we can tailor our recreational activities away from technology and try to embrace the world around us.
I’m talking things like gardening, or pottery, or writing fiction (that’s me!), or making massive paper structures, or woodcutting, or playing sports, or cooking, or charity work, or painting, or reading, or colouring, or learning to swim, or sky diving, or travelling the world, or keeping a diary, or reflecting on life whilst sipping a latte every morning.
Things that can enrich our lives, rather than the vapid entertainment that watching Netflix all the time or being constantly plugged into social media can bring.
Of course, our default is to slam on the PS4 and hop on a game of Warzone. But once in a while, let’s try to truly calm our mind and engage in something more relaxing that would also deepen our understanding of the world.
Sometimes I look at those in third world countries, and the happiness in their eyes make me wonder what I’m doing wrong in my life. Why am I so unhappy with so much, whilst they’re content with little, without the technology, social media, and dopamine machines we have?
I believe they have an innate connection with the world around them, a first-hand experience that we lack living in the industrialised countries, and within that the fast-moving cities.
But we can cultivate that feeling in our lives again, through planning activities to do over time that reconnect ourselves with our nature as humans rather than an extension of some device. It’s an important part of our overall happiness as humans.
I’m a Muslim, so for Soul I’ll put down things like reading and memorising the Qur’an, studying my religion, and any other religious-centric goals in this category as well.
If you’re a Muslim too, then those are some things you can add to help connect yourself with God, as well as with the world around you.
The Soul category helps elevate your happiness by separating you from the devices and making you reconnect with the non-virtual world you really inhabit. 

How it all ties together

The speaker who first mentioned these three categories spoke about stretching them into five, ten, and fifteen year goals.
That is certainly possible for you, but it seems a little difficult in the Soul and Body category, if your only goals are staying fit and having a few solid hobbies.
What I’d recommend is only planning in the long term those things that actually carry that far forward. If you’re a casual gym goer, don’t bother trying to extrapolate fifteen years of physical development.
But a hardcore powerlifter would benefit greatly from having a vision for himself for the next decade.
Similarly, seven-a-side football twice a week doesn’t need long term planning. But a young person trying to break into semi-pro/professional football, or any football related profession, definitely should plan for the long term.
As a starting point, my recommendation is to plan for a year’s time. Thing BIG, see where you can reach, and then add 20%. That’s your new target for the next year.
Bring that down to monthly targets, or perhaps quarterly. Then, break that down into weekly targets, which you can build towards through a solid itinerary of every day activities.
That’s how you plan for the short and long term, and achieve your success overall.
And guess what? After you execute your daily game plan, a few matches of Warzone ain’t gonna hurt.

About the Author

​Sabir Miah is currently lazing about on a gap year, waiting to start a degree in Economics in September. Outside of staring at walls for hours, he sometimes likes to write, and share those thoughts with others just in case they think as crazily as he does.