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Writer's pictureNour Boustani

HOW TO THINK BIG

Why not? A question I was avoiding for ten years.


I wasted ten years of my life on small ideas and selfish thoughts.


I was the “why should I?”, “isn’t too much?” and “I don’t think I can do that” guy.


I was taking everything personally; it was all about myself.


I want to be rich; I want to be smart; I want to look strong; I want girls to like me.

I want this; I want that.


Even my father used to say I had a brain smaller than a bird’s brain.


Once, my wise father asked me to accompany him and meet a wholesale distributor client in his vila.


That client was extremely wealthy; he got everything I imagined for myself.


Apartments in Dubai, London, New York, and Hong Kong and owns some of the most luxurious cars, a yacht, and whatever an ordinary person desires.


I think my father was trying to teach me a lesson.


This client always talked about big ideas and big numbers; he never spoke about his money, cars, or fun times like many wealthy people do.


Instead, he talked about how he used his wealth to impact and help hundreds of thousands of people across the globe.


He emphasized how his previous contributions enabled him to expand his business empire.


At that point, I thought it was self-bragging, so I said to him rashly and foolishly.


“You use your money to make more money” is a typical business strategy, isn’t it? Haha.


My father gave me that angry look. What did you just say?


He looked at my father with a smile and said that’s fine, young kids, young kids, my friend.


Then that old and wise man looked at me and said, my son, in business, the more you give, the more you get.


I’m not more intelligent than other traders. Some had more money, but I believe God rewarded me more because I will use a portion of my wealth and impact more people.


When we left and were on our way to our factory, I asked my father how that humble man could gain that amount of wealth.


He turned at me, gave me that smile, and said, people with big dreams build empires that benefit generations.


They shift their attention from themselves to the outer world.


They believe that God or society will reward them back for their impact.


They get more opportunities, and other people want them to succeed and help them grow faster.


At that moment, I felt like I had a brain as tiny as a bug’s brain — no wonder why I was going nowhere.


Small dreams were feeding my ego; they used to make me feel good about myself; I was playing in my comfort zone, which made me believe I was playing big.


Nowadays, I see it with many creators, writers, and starting entrepreneurs. They share similar mentalities.


How can I create a $500 course, sell it to 100 students, and then move to Vietnam and live on three hundred dollars a month?


I don’t think you can achieve that goal with this mindset. You are thinking way too small.


Instead of making a course and selling it to 100 students, think about how you can reach and help 100,000 students, improve their lives and make a lot more money to enjoy a better life in return.


When I started teaching online, I spent thousands of dollars on online courses that teach how to build an online teaching business.


They all share the same strategy.


Make a course, price it at $1997, and sell it to a hundred students, and voalá, you are rich!

Does that sound fishy to you? Well, I fell for it.


It didn’t work, so I took a different approach.


I told myself, what if you stop being desperate for money and think in terms of impact?

What if, instead of selling my course to 100 students, I try to impact 100,000 people around the globe?


This one shift in my mindset transformed my goal from extremely limited to limitless.


Now I’m proud to have around 75,000 students across different digital platforms.


Most of those students are from underdeveloped countries.


They are less fortunate to afford high education or pay a high tuition fee.


I teach them practical entrepreneurship and marketing skills to improve their lives and hopefully lift them out of poverty.


I also offer free courses and workshops for people who can’t afford to spend money or don’t have access to digital payments.


In return, this gesture gained me a lot of exposure with high-paying clients and made me a lot more money than what I made from my online courses.


I take writing seriously; I’m honestly not concerned about how much I generate writing online; $500 or $2000 a month won’t add that much to my bank account.


My goal is straightforward: how can I reach and impact 100,000 people and hopefully help them transform their lives?


If this gesture brings opportunities, that’s great; if it doesn’t, I trained my brain to expand one step further.


Most people don’t achieve noticeable or impactful results because they are self-centered and focus on their interests.


I have plenty of friends who have decent money.


They got the house, the car, the yacht, and the wife of their dreams, but then they stopped! They have reached the top of their imagination.


That’s not where you want to be if you want to have a meaningful life rich with impactful and astonishing experiences.


I used to hire mentors to help me with my personal development and productivity.


A wise mentor asked me once to write a list of five goals I think as the most critical for the next five years.


I came to him next week with a list of ten goals, and I felt so proud of myself.


He held the list in his hand and gave me that cheap look.


He said, hold your pen and draw a circle around the most critical goal.


Me: okay


Him: take that goal and multiply it by ten.


Me: how on earth can I achieve that?


Him: If you want to achieve that goal easily and quickly, you need to make it look tiny and easy to achieve compared to your 10X aim.


Me: hmmm, I guess I need to impact many people to achieve that goal.


Him: that’s for you to decide.


Me: thank you


You don’t have to change the world or make a massive impact to 10X your dreams.


Your goals might be to buy a bigger house, a bigger car, or travel around the world, and that’s fine; whatever makes you happy and gives you a sense of satisfaction.


I’m not asking you to go out and spend all your money and time affecting others.


If a dream comes to your mind, make it a lot bigger, then think of how you can impact people to achieve your goal.


That’s all!

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