How Successful People Think: Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life pdfdrive com

6. Find Inspiration from Great Achievers
You can learn a lot about possibility thinking by studying great achievers. I
mentioned George Lucas in this chapter. Perhaps he doesn’t appeal to you, or
you don’t like the movie industry. (Personally, I’m not a big science fiction fan,
but I admire Lucas as a thinker, creative visionary, and businessperson.) Find
some achievers you admire and study them. Look for people with the attitude of
Robert F. Kennedy, who popularized George Bernard Shaw’s stirring statement:
“Some men see things as they are and say, ‘Why?’ I dream of things that never
were and say, ‘Why not?’”
I know possibility thinking isn’t in style with many people. So call it
what you like: the will to succeed, belief in yourself, confidence in your
ability, faith. It’s really true: people who believe they can’t, don’t. But if
you believe you can, you can! That’s the power of possibility thinking.
Thinking Question
Am I unleashing the enthusiasm of possibility thinking to find solutions
for even seemingly impossible situations?

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Learn from Reflective Thinking
“To doubt everything or to believe everything are two equally convenient
solutions; both dispense with the necessity of reflection.”
—J
ULES
H
ENRI
P
OINCAR ©
The pace of our society does not encourage reflective thinking. Most people
would rather act than think. Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m a person of action. I
have very high energy and I like to see things accomplished. But I’m also a
reflective thinker. Reflective thinking is like the Crock-Pot of the mind. It
encourages your thoughts to simmer until they’re done. As I go through this
process, my goal is to reflect so that I might learn from my successes and
mistakes, discover what I should try to repeat, and determine what I should
change. It is always a valuable exercise. By mentally visiting past situations, you
can think with greater understanding.

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