There are certain messages that can be very alluring. Messages like: “Live without limits.” “Play big!” “Go to the Next Level.”
If you’ve been listening to messages like that, and you’re frustrated, or scared, or stuck, then please let them go.
Kind of like the schoolyard bully.
“What, are you too chicken to play big? Don’t you want to live a life without limits? Or are you just going to settle for playing small? Nyah, nyah!”
Don’t let yourself be bullied by the messages urging you to play big. But, hold it! Isn’t it right that you should live a large life? Isn’t it time to step out of your box and your backyard and really make a big impact on the world around you?
I say let go of visions of addressing thousands of people from the center of a football stadium, of hitting the jackpot, or being a bestselling author with millions of copies of your books distributed around the globe.
Play small. Really small.
When I hear messages encouraging bigness, and believe me I get sucked in as easily as the next person, I try to remember Mother Theresa’s admonition: “No one can do great things. You can only do small things with great love.”
And Mother Theresa built a huge global organization based on humility and playing small.
If something feels too big, then it probably is too big for you right now.
Global recognition from a very simple dream.
Martin Luther King, Jr. had a very simple dream: “I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave-owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood.”
Simple? Yes. Revolutionary? Yes.
The simplicity keeps it scalable. This dream can be achieved by having two people sitting at a table. It can also be achieved if two hundred million people heal the wounds of racism between them.
Keep your vision simple, and forget about ‘big.’ But, this doesn’t mean you should be content with being ‘small.’
Step by step by step.
A client of mine just celebrated having 18 people in one of her classes- and having to turn two others away because the class was full. She also has been celebrating months and months of steady income that is 150% higher than the original goal she set for herself.
When she first came to Heart of Business, she couldn’t imagine what she’s experiencing now. But, she had a simple vision, and she kept taking the next step.
Suddenly, what had looked huge and unattainable to her before seems normal and almost ‘small’ now. Quite a change. Her business has developed.
Your assignment: Simple organic growth.
Two steps I want to encourage you to take today:
1. How can you simplify your dream?
See if you can find the essence of your business dream that is satisfying if it’s achieved with just a single person. And, can be scaled larger than that if that’s where it goes.
2. Discerning your natural growth rate.
How much is enough? From where you are now, what size of business can you feel in your bones as an organic level of growth for you?
Answer these two questions, and I’m guessing you may just start to see some next steps on the path to developing your business, in small, and satisfying, ways.
