113in the state of Arizona, and within 10 years they grew
from six employees and no customers into a $50 million
business with more than 500 employees. And for the
past three years straight, the Arizona Business Gazette
has ranked Infincom the number-one office equipment
company in Arizona—ahead of Xerox.
All of us tend to look at our challenges from inside a
box. We take what we’ve done in the past and put it in
front of our eyes and then try to envision what we call
“the future.” But that restricts our future. With that
restricted view, the best the future can be is a “new and
better past.”
Great motivational energy occurs when we get out
of the box and assume that the possibilities for creative
ideas are infinite. To realize the best possible future
for yourself, don’t look at it through a box containing
your own past.
53. Keep thinking, keep thinking
Motivation comes from thought.
Every act we take is preceded by a thought that in-
spires that act. And when we quit thinking, we lose the
motivation to act. We eventually slip into pessimism,
and the pessimism leads to even less thinking. And so it
goes. A downward spiral of negativity and passivity,
feeding on itself like cancer.
I like to use this example in my seminars to illustrate
the power of continuing to think: Let’s say a pessimist
has made up his mind to clean his garage on a Saturday
morning. He wakes up and walks out to the garage and
opens the door and is shocked to see just how much of a
mess it is. “Forget this!” the pessimist says with disgust.
“No one could clean this garage in one day!”
Keep thinking, keep thinking