How to Think Bigger: Aim Higher, Get More Motivated, and Accomplish Big Things

by Martin Meadows

The vast majority of my most useful insights came from the periods of time when I was relaxed and wasn’t even consciously thinking about how to achieve my goals. When your mind relaxes, your subconscious somehow gives you the right answer.

The activity you perform must have a clear goal. Without knowing the direction you’re going, you won’t achieve flow.

Never mistake motion for action. People who are busy don’t get better results than people who work less, and they’re usually depleted of energy.

Make it a regular habit to take a break and look at your problems from distance. Spending time in nature, away from everyone else, is conducive to introspection.

Freedom from distractions will help you achieve a deeper state of flow. Make your surroundings as distraction-free as possible.

The secret to achieving bigger and bigger goals is self-efficacy – the strength of the confidence in your abilities.

First and foremost, the most effective way to develop your self-efficacy is through achieving small wins and persisting in face of obstacles44.

Self-efficacy is the starting point for all achievements in your life. Without the belief that you can achieve a certain goal, you’ll subconsciously sabotage yourself, either by putting too little effort or not even planning how to reach your objectives.

Many people wish to start a business, but they constantly postpone their decision while looking for a perfect business idea that will make them millions. That’s not how entrepreneurship works. Anything – including selling things on eBay or opening your lemonade stand – is better than inaction and looking for the perfect idea.

There’s no author in the world whose first work was good.

waiting is detrimental to your success.

If you want to lose weight, you don’t need to wait until you’re fit enough to run for a mile or longer. You start with short walks, gradually increase the speed and move on to jogging. It’s hard to find an obese person who believes she can lose all excess weight – until she focuses on the process and gradually increases her confidence.

Let’s say you want to learn a foreign language someday when you’ll have more free time. But let’s be honest with yourself –you really can’t find at least 15 minutes a day to learn it? Even 15 minutes a day is better than nothing. It’s almost two hours of studying a week. Instead of achieving this goal someday (either never or at least a few years from now), you can achieve it in a year or two.

in life, there are rarely just two choices.

Often the only reason why we postpone acting on our goals is a lack of confidence in our abilities. The only solution to this problem is to start – self-efficacy won’t build itself. The impossible is possible, but only if you start.

Shorter Deadlines Lead to Better Results

The shorter your deadlines are, the more pressured you are to come up with a better way to achieve your goal.

being an overachiever can put a lot of pressure on you.

Extraordinary happens at the extremes, and if you only pay moderate attention to your work, you won’t achieve big things.

A paper by John Pencavel of Stanford University51 shows that working for more than 50 hours per week leads to decreased productivity, while working for more than 55 hours doesn’t produce any additional results. If you have a 70-hour workweek, you essentially waste 15 hours per week.

you don’t get a flat stomach in the gym – you get it in your kitchen by maintaining the proper diet.

Exercising three times per week for 45 minutes is more than enough to get results53,

Your brain needs sleep to learn, not just more practice. Studies show that a nap of 45–60 minutes can boost your memory five-fold54.

Tony Robbins frequently says that the key to success is to raise your standards.

the key to thinking bigger is changing your mindset. You can learn all the little tricks you want, but if you don’t change your mind, achievement won’t follow.