Personal Finance

Exercise brain power to get powerful results

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While big mind takes you to long-term, the opposite is focused on pulling the other person down. FILE PHOTO | NMG

The mind can easily wade into small-mind territory and find permanent refuge in the drivel that runs havoc therein. Similarly, the mind can be trained to stick in big-mind mode through the discipline of sleeping, eating and talking big-mind habits. When one is constantly in this mode, life becomes better. Let us examine these winning habits as we contrast them with their opposite side.

COURAGE VS TIMIDITY

The big mind has loads of courage. And courage is not the absence of fear or a euphemism for braveness. Courage is about the fear to do something but doing it anyway. In a sense, everyone has a timid side of them and when they go against the grain, and do things that they feared doing, and then they become courageous. All great things come from a courageous move. A marriage proposal, a complex business proposition and that radical idea that everyone in the office fears to propose on email, all give way to a higher purpose when successful.

LONG-TERM VS SHORT-TERM

The big mind has its sights set on the long-term part of the spectrum and will often want to see things from a point of clarity. What’s happening now is the experience of what was considered way back. You cannot be short-term and long-term at the same time. The short-term mentality is the preserve of negatively political-minded people in the workplace. It is always a project about pulling someone down.

ABUNDANCE AGAINST SCARCITY

The big mind has an abundant view of life and is premised on there being enough for everyone. This is an attitude of gratitude and confidence. The small mind takes the scarcity mentality where the driving force is a zero-sum game. The small mind believes that for it to look good, someone else must look bad. The small mind denies others much-needed resources at work while the big is an enabler.

STRATEGY VS TACTICS

The big mind because it is already long-term based, appreciates the strategic mindset and only uses short-term tactics to get the long term strategy back on track when navigating through rough terrain. The small mind appreciates tactics and will keep shifting positions to manage challenges. Trickery is the small mind’s tool.

WARM VS COLD

The big mind is naturally warm and needs no reason to be warm towards a stranger. The small mind is naturally cold and only gets warm when there is something to gain. The big mind has a comforting temperament and the small mind is quite the opposite.

HONEST VS DISHONEST

Honesty even if it hurts is how the big mind is made. It is also honest to itself and is so before it can be honest with others. The small mind is full of tricks and will be dishonest just to manage tough situations without feeling guilty of wrongdoing.

SOLUTIONS VS ROUBLE ROUSING

The big mind seeks to solve problems or situations, the small mind is a natural rouble rouser. In the office, the guy who takes away your pen just so that you cannot take notes in the meeting is a small mind. It is not possible to be a solution provider and a trouble maker at the same time.

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE VS IRRATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

The big mind understands the emotions of others and greatly controls its own emotions while responding appropriately when around other people. The small mind is insensitive to its surroundings and in combination with being cold, it has a gift for messing everyone’s day.

RELIABLE VS UNRELIABLE

The big mind is dependable at all times and does not seek to please for the sake of it. The opposite is quite unreliable and erratic and will not have a perspective of the important stuff.

FORGIVE VS REVENGE

The small mind will never forgive and will commit a big section of the mind to grudges for years. People who resemble or sound like enemies are quickly added to the list or made the objects of revenge. The big mind forgives so that it frees itself from negative forces for it must focus on long-term things. You cannot be both the forgiving type and the revenge type.

So what happens when there is a conflict between two big minds? And what about a big mind versus a small mind? What of two small minds conflicting?

The writer is the author of "Big Mind Small Mind".