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A few reasons to go big:

• In this little space of the people (or organizations) that can give you 10M, there is so much less competition. There are higher standards, of course, but few less players will be in this court field.

• The right kind of people will feel attracted to the project. Those who feel they can make a contribution. The mediocre segment will nag, hate, be jealous. Of course you also has to keep an eye open for the weasels.

• There will be more focus and energy due to the release of the proper neurotransmitters inside the dopaminergic rewards system.

The Reticular Activating System will modify its filters and will align and act faster.

So you see, bigger is not necessarily more difficult.

One thing to have in mind. It is not the same to have a $10,000 idea and multiply it 1,000 times than having a 10M idea. It’s just not.

Do or do not. There is no try.

He should have continued: And silence that voice inside your head filling you with self doubt arising from errors of the past, present ego insecurities and anxiety for the actual results you could get.

Of course, for Yoda, that would end up in an intelligible phrase. Maybe that is why he didn’t say it. And for him, in his wisdom, it could be so obvious that he decided to skip it.

So if you are looking into waking up one hour earlier (which may sound so silly but may be really hard) or starting a new business (which may sound really hard in it actually mega hard), when acting upon a decision already made, any baggage we may carry from the past must be left behind, or it will deflect our focus and energies, increasing the probabilities for failure.

We must be so present that any doubt, second thought or hesitation must be treated as the enemy. It is to be silenced. And the word try is to be eliminated from our vocabulary, since now it means half assed efforts.

This new hyped desire of lots of people to become more developed human beings is super laudable.

Lots of people think that by being better human beings in an individualistic way is enough to change the world. It all starts there, it is true, but it is no suficient.

There is a lot forces out there working tirelessly to maintain the status quo. Evenfurther, they are actively trying to amass more power. And historically, these people have been better at hoarding and using power to keep other from doing it. They are more effective at it than those that wish a better present and future.

So, if you are serious about improving the world, that little but determinant factor must be in your to do list.

Even if you have the best of intentions. Even if you are aware of the issue at hand. Even if you have thinked through the possible solution. Even then one must go and do an extra but mandatory exercise.

One must know the consequences of a course of action before it is implemented.

Paraphrasing Daniel Schmachtenberger: The 2nd and 3rd order consequences of a decision or plan must be analyzed in order to be aware fo what your actions could cause.

The contrary forces and their possible actions and resources are to be understood.

Finally, the amount of force (or violence) needed to put into action also must be analyzed. Here, the dream could turn into a nightmare.

Now think if you were to execute the plan and the contrary forces acted in response, and the 2nd & 3rd level consequences happened, would the results still be positive? If not, you better stop and rethink.

Anything less than the previous analysis would not just be stupid, but irresponsible.

Standing in the observation deck, a frustrated Captain Picard was looking at the fading stars passing by . He was upset because he couldn’t find the answer to a particular predicament. The thing is, he didn’t even knew what the question was and he was already trying to solve it.

Business is useless. We are used to work hard and even look like we are working hard to please our boss, our partners and even our own ego.

Make a pause. Take a minute and ask yourself: Is it really the right question the one I am trying to solve? Do I have to rephrase it? Or maybe I have to go back to square one and find the right question to solve?

In order to be able to condition the brain to pursue and accomplish your goals, you must ignite the dopamine reward system. it will open the possibility of creating neural highways to reinforce those behaviors that will eventually drive the brain to move in the desired direction.

So early in the morning one must have the goals of the day clearly understood. It would be great to be able to visualize them and then act upon them so when they are accomplished the epinephrine and the dopamine will be timely released.

Move and just keep moving is the name of the game here.

The brain needs to feel it is moving in the desired direction. Need to feel accomplishments and also need to reward itself once those goals have been accomplished.

That is the virtual circle you must work on. So to feel motivated it is best to move early, have a clear set of goals, push away any distractors and act upon those goals.

Solving problems by analogy. I have been doing it at superb performance levels for almost 16 years now. At least intentionally, but sadly, not consciously.

As a consultant you become pretty agile to look for info, synthesize it and then draw fast conclusions in order to be able to help your clients.

This approach does help. It has huge value of its own. But how about those times when the client has the need to disrupt itself and the industry he’s into? When it is a matter of life or death to the business, his wealth, his reputation and yours?

Then first principles must come into action. Decomposing the problem and it’s elements into their most fundamental constituents. Then you can start with the real innovation.

It is not a guarantee of success, however, it will enhance your odds at finding true innovation. The problem with first principles thinking is you have seldom the time to invest in the process (it is so much slower than working with analogies). Also the client must see the value in the resources invested (of course money, but also time and mental energy).

The solution will be much more valuable, impactful and meaningful but the whole team, as well as the sponsor must buy completely into the idea of a deeper understanding, by working so much more before a viable solution is on the table.

Imagine you are reading this post a year ago. Now here’s a crazy idea: Everyone will be wearing masks around the world. How about another one: people at home for months and months.

I someone approached you and tell you it would happen all this, would have you believed the amounts of change we have gone through the last months? No one could ever foresee it, you say? Well the change is here to stay. And we must learn or die.

How about your company’s response to the disruption? Did you manage a pivot? Did you started doing things you didn’t even wanted or imagined?

Chances are, small companies will run out of money. And big companies will be very slow to change, loosing markets to abrupt changes in consumers behaviors. Unless inside your company you have a department of crazy new ideas, it will not survive.

What would this department look like? Somehow the skunk words? A little like the moonshots at google? It is no longer a luxury of the giants, it is a must in today’s world. You cannot afford not to.

It is very easy to criticize someone who is not feeling capable of doing something that for you is just a piece of cake.

Then comes the harsh words: you are useless, you are just giving lame excuses, you just don’t want it enough…etcetera.

But reality is not that obvious. There is a complete belief system inside our heads that is not just preventing that person of doing that something, it is showing her a complete different reality.

You’ll see, when a belief is held by somebody, the brain will filter any perception that may contradict the system. Then, when is looking for information on the particular subject, it will much more easily find evidence to reinforce that belief. It might even be almost blind to any info suggesting otherwise.

It takes huge amounts of energy and effort to break these dynamics, so next time you encounter someone in this situation (it could easily be yourself) think about the whole different worlds you are living before calling them bullshit excuses.

And nobody else’s brain either. It is structured this way.

The brain will try to maintain the emotional, cognitive and beliefs homeostasis. even further, it is programmed to protect those beliefs, emotions and thoughts.

It would mean a threat to our very survival if it wouldn’t.

That is why it is so hard to change, it is why we must inflict upon ourselves so much effort and pain to change our behaviors.