Why You Need To Think Bigger.

It’s not because you’ll be the next Elon Musk.

Photo by Ron Lach from Pexels

We don’t all have to be movie stars or the next Elon Musk, and we probably won’t be. So if you think this is a story about how big dreams come true, stop reading now.

But if you want to know how to be happier, more confident, more at peace with yourself, and, as a result, perhaps more successful — read on.

A lot of life will suck.

How’s that for a happy thought, hm? Hear me out.

We’re hardwired for negativity. It’s called negativity bias, and nature created it to keep us safe by making us assume the worse about what we don’t know.

To apply our negativity bias, we look for details. The big picture isn’t that scary. Things aren’t scary when you see them from afar.

Hence, as a species, we’re more inclined to focus on details, especially the “bad” details.

If you’re not thoroughly depressed yet, wait. There’s more.

If you’re healthy and manage risk well, chances are you will live a long life. Maybe it doesn’t seem like that when you’re twenty, or even thirty — but after that, the realisation starts to come into focus. Life is long, no matter what we like to say to ourselves when we want to do something stupid.

Because life is long, you’ll go through a lot, and most of it will be negative.

You’ll fail multiple times until professional success comes knocking.

You’ll kiss a lot of frogs before you find your prince.

You’ll get your period when you hope you’ve gotten pregnant.

People will disappoint you, no matter how hard you try to curb your expectations.

Here’s where things get better.

“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.” — Soren Kierkegaard

If you train your mind to think big, you’ll have a totally different perspective on life. You’ll feel like it’s all for the best, even if it isn’t.

People leave our lives to make room for better people. Failures are lessons. Suddenly, everything makes sense.