You have absolutely everything it takes to fulfill the dream that’s in your heart and pursue the purpose that God has for your life, but so often, we limit our results by limiting our potential simply by settling on small-minded thinking. David Schwartz, who wrote the book The Magic of Thinking Big, says that everybody, to some degree, has a disease called excusitis.
He states that “every failure has this disease in its advanced form, and most average persons have at least a mild case of it”. What he is saying is that to some degree, you and I are making excuses about things that we could actually be doing to pursue our dreams. He goes on to say that if we would begin thinking big, we would actually start taking action and seeing results.
Years ago, I had a dream of writing a book. I think I’d had that dream for maybe ten years, but the whole time I would think about doing it, I would follow it up with this thought; I just don’t have it what it takes to do that. I didn’t know it at the time, but this thinking limited my potential and kept me from fulfilling my dream of writing a book until I learned what I am sharing with you today.
The number one excuse people have for why they don’t achieve their full potential is that we don’t think that we have the brains to succeed. I heard the other day that the greatest form of procrastination we engage in is over-researching a subject. So how do we combat procrastination and the excuse that we don’t have what it takes? David Schwartz gives us these two tips:
Number 1: You are overestimating the ability of others.
- You may be looking at someone who is doing something similar that you want to do and thinking that they must be super smart or that they have some special website where they go to get the information they need to accomplish what it is they are doing. BUT… That’s not true! You are simply overestimating their intelligence.
Number 2: You are underestimating your own intelligence.
- Many times, we simply don’t realize the capability and the capacity that we have to be able to do what we are dreaming of doing. It is simply because we have not seen it demonstrated yet. In other words, we haven’t seen our potential yet simply because there is a lack of experience in demonstrating it, therefore, we conclude that we don’t have what it takes. But really, you are just underestimating your potential.
In other words, don’t overestimate what people are doing. Don’t put them on a pedestal by thinking that they can achieve something that you will never be able to achieve. On the other hand, don’t underestimate what you are capable of doing because you CAN do whatever it takes to fulfill the dreams in your heart. Take a step of faith towards the dreams that God has given to you and begin to think BIG, because you can do everything He has called you to do. Take it one breath at a time, one step at a time, and tell yourself over and over: I can do this!
