THINK LIKE THE SUCCESSFUL: CHANGE YOUR THINKING, CHANGE YOUR LIFE. Alex Rascanu Digital Strategist & Social Entrepreneur www.AlexRascanu.com alex@alexrascanu.com l @alexrascanu

WHAT IS SUCCESS?

Success is knowing your purpose in life. They say that there are two great days in a persons life: the day that they are born and the day they discover why. Highly successful people have discovered why.

Lets Discover How to Think Like the Successful Why and how to change your thinking Three practical tips: 1. Nurture BIG PICTURE thinking 2. Apply FOCUSED thinking 3. Practice UNSELFISH thinking

WHY AND HOW TO CHANGE YOUR THINKING

Why You Should Change Your Thinking: 1. Changed thinking is not automatic 2. Changed thinking is difficult 3. Changed thinking is worth the investment Thinking is hard work; thats why so few do it. (Albert Einstein) More gold has been mined from the thoughts of man than has ever been taken from the earth. (Napoleon Hill)

How to Become a Better Thinker: 1. Seek good input (books, tapes, magazines, in-person meetings) 2. Spend time with the right people 3. Choose to think good thoughts (be positive and plan) 4. Act on your good thoughts 5. Allow your emotions of success create other good thoughts 6. Repeat the process of good thinking I can give you a six-word formula for success: Think things through - then follow through. (WW1 pilot Eddie Rickenbacker)

Get into the Right Place to Think: 1. Look for a place to think (park, bathroom) 2. Write down your thoughts 3. Stretch your thoughts (among others) 4. Share your idea (with influencers and those most affected) 5. Take action Learning to write is learning to think. You dont know anything clearly unless you can state it in writing. (US senator S. I. Hayakawa)

The right thought plus the right people in the right environment at the right time for the right reason = the Right Result (John C. Maxwell)

TIP #1: NURTURE YOUR BIG PICTURE THINKING

Where success is concerned, people are not measured in inches, or pounds of college degrees, or family background; they are measured by the size of their thinking. (David Schwartz, author)

Learn continually Listen carefully Are mindful of the big picture Many an object is not seen, though it falls within the range of our visual ray, because it does not fall within the range of our intellectual ray. (Henry David Thoreau) Live completely The value of life lies not in the length of days, but in the use we make of them; a man may live long yet may life very little. (French essayist Michel Eyquem de Montaigne) Big Picture Thinkers:

Why Become a Big Picture Thinker? 1. Allows you to lead 2. Keeps you on target He that is everywhere is nowhere. (Thomas Fuller) 3. Lets you see what others see 4. Keeps you from being caught up in the mundane 5. Helps you get to uncharted territory

How to Become a Big Picture Thinker? 1. Dont aim for certainty (be comfortable dealing with diverse ideas) 2. Learn from every experience 3. Gather insights from a variety of people 4. Give yourself permission to change the status quo

TIP #2: APPLY FOCUSED THINKING

He did each thing as if he did nothing else. (spoken of novelist Charles Dickens) Knowledge is power only if a man knows what facts are not to bother about. (sociologist Robert Lynd)

What Focused Thinking Can Do For You: 1. It brings energy and power toward your desired goal 2. It gives ideas time to develop 3. It takes you to the next level The immature mind hops from one thing to another; the mature mind seeks to follow through. (author Harry A. Overstreet)

Where Should You Focus? 1. Set your dream (in line with your lifes purpose) 2. Discover your gifts 3. Set your priorities 4. Act on your dream

How to Stay Focused: 1. Remove distractions 2. Set time aside for focused thinking Switching from task to task can cost you 40% efficiency. 3. Keep important things in front of you 4. Deliver on your goals 5. Measure your progress

What Youll Need to Give Up: 1. You cant know everyone 2. You cant do everything 3. You cant go everywhere 4. You cant be well-rounded Focus on the 1% of things that matter and give you the highest return.

TIP #3: PRACTICE UNSELFISH THINKING

We cannot hold a torch to anothers path without brightening our own. (Ben Sweetland, author)

Benefits of Unselfish Thinking: 1. Brings personal fulfillment Getters dont generally get happiness; givers get it. (Charles H. Burr) 2. Adds value to others He has achieved success who has lived well, laughed often and loved much; who has enjoyed the trust of pure women, the respect of intelligent men and the love of little children, who has filled his niche and accomplished his task; who has left the world better than he found it, whether by an improved poppy, a perfect poem, or a rescued soul; who has never lacked appreciation for earths beauty or failed to express it, who has always looked for the best in others and given them the best he had, whose life was an inspiration, whose memory a benediction. (author Bessie Anderson Stanley)

3. Encourages other virtues (e.g. gratitude, love, respect, patience, discipline) 4. Increases quality of life There is no life as empty as self-centered life. There is no life as centered as self-empty life. (John C. Maxwell) 5. Makes you part of something greater than yourself

How to Experience the Satisfaction of Unselfish Giving: 1. Put others first 2. Place yourself in situations where people have needs 3. Give quietly or anonymously 4. Invest in people intentionally 5. Continually check your motives

Today Weve Looked At: - Why and how to change your thinking - Three practical tips: 1. Nurture BIG PICTURE thinking 2. Apply FOCUSED thinking 3. Practice UNSELFISH thinking

THANK YOU! Alex Rascanu Digital Strategist & Social Entrepreneur www.AlexRascanu.com alex@alexrascanu.com l @alexrascanu

Main source & recommended reading: How Successful People Think by John C. Maxwell