In the vein of thinking big (which I’ve written about recently), I’ve been working on a new TOTW plan.
TOTW stands for “Take Over The World”.
I won’t go into the details about that plan (unless there’s some interest – in which case I’m happy to share). It’s big, complex, and multi-faceted… but none of that is really relevant to this post.
What I do want to talk about is why TOTW plans so often go astray. It’s simple really… they’re either too big or too small. It’s pretty much that simple.
And I learned it from Pinky & The Brain.
In case you don’t remember the old animated cartoon, it was about two genetically enhanced laboratory mice.
Brain is the schemer. Pinky is the good-natured but feebleminded member of the duo.
The opening song of each episode is preceded by this dialogue:
Pinky: “Gee, Brain, what do you want to do tonight?”
The Brain: “The same thing we do every night, Pinky—try to take over the world!”
Every one of Brain’s plans end in failure – either because the plan was just impossible (too big) or because Pinky’s idiocy screwed it up.
So what does this have to do with you and me?
Lots.
The magic of thinking big is in knowing what kind of big thinking actually works: think big but not impossible, and don’t do stupid stuff.
Big But Not Impossible: don’t limit yourself, but be accurate in your thinking. For instance, if you’re doing your very first product launch it is probably not accurate to think you’re going to crack the million-dollar mark (unless you have accurate facts to the contrary).
Don’t Do Stupid Stuff: We all know when we’re doing something stupid, most of the time. But just as a guideline: if it’s disprespectful of people, if it’s less than your best, or if it smacks of moral ambiguity… it’s probably stupid. Don’t do it.
Okay, now that you and I have those details cleared up… you know what we’re doing tonight, right?
The same thing we do every night—try to take over the world!