Volkswagen had just launched the VW Beetle in 1960 to the U.S. market. Detroit was busy making vehicles which were expanding in size to suit growing baby boomer families. The Beetle was certainly unique in looks but that didn’t appear to be such a good thing..it wasn’t selling. To top things off, the round, lady-bug-like vehicle was produced in Wolfsburg, Germany at a plant recently controlled by the Nazis. To solve the problem, Volkswagen hired ad campaign manager Doyle Dane Bernbach. Mr. Bernbach came up with a print ad featuring a very small picture of the Beetle in the upper left hand corner of the page with the words “Think Small” in bold at the bottom center. Certainly not the first move the average person would make, right? Yet, the success was huge! Beetle sales shot up and the seemingly irrational ad now holds the honor of one of the most influential and successful advertisements of the twentieth century.

Throughout life we are taught by society to “think big”…as long as those ideas are within the boundaries of society’s definition of acceptable. As you can see from the results of Mr. Bernbach, great things happen when we take leaps of faith. We can challenge ourselves to think outside the box. Looking back, you may be surprised at how much bigger your idea was than the box. By employing our imaginations, our creativity, and the other gifts we have been given and have developed, we are empowering our futures and the futures of others. Don’t ever be curbed because your idea is illogical or won’t work. Ultimately, there is one way to know for certain.

So what’s the secret? How do we start not only thinking big but putting our dreams into action? Let me give you a few simple, common steps to get you started.

First, get your idea written down! We’re much more likely to follow through with things when we can visually see that they needs to be done. We do this everyday…we make grocery lists so we don’t forget the milk and to-do lists so we can water the garden or paint the trim. We need to use these same concepts. Getting even the simplest of thoughts and ideas written down is crucial, no matter how unimportant they seem at the time. You never know which ones you might want to come back to later or what can spring from them. If you ever want to come back, they’ll be preserved on paper for you!

Visualize it! See yourself doing it. This will save you time later. What will it be like? How will you feel? Who will be there? We all love to daydream. Visualize your big ideas in your conscious mind. This will help them mature and bring them into reality.

Set it up! Bring it a step further than writing it down. Give it your attention. Keep yourself accountable for its success or delay.

Start now! Don’t just write it down or set a due date. Begin working towards making your idea a reality. Improvement is a process and procrastination will sneak up like a thief in the night if you let it. Often we look at a goal and see it as an entire project. This can get daunting. If you break it down, plan it out, and do what we you can today, you’re one step closer than yesterday and two than if we put it off until tomorrow.

From your “think small” idea to its completion, keep the momentum going and be active in making it a reality immediately.
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Additional articles you might enjoy:

Why Write Down Your Ideas?
Write Down Your Ideas
Tools to Help You Visualize Your Thoughts

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