If you want to be big you got to think fast.

Owning a business is like sailing a ship. There are days where you sail through a nice, clear, calm day, and then there are days where your ship is about to be tipped over by the monsoon that erupts.

Thinking fast is the ability to make prompt decisions that keep your ship sailing forward at a constant speed across the monsoon.

There are countless of “how to” books written on entrepreneurship, management, and business, while those provide useful insight, there is nothing that comes close to experiencing it hands on.

Diving into any project, whether you are prepared or not, you will face obstacles. At which point you either learn how to overcome the obstacles that stand in your way or use them as leverage.

The prepared mind will learn how to leverage these obstacles.

Free our minds to advance to really interesting fields of action. William James

When you learn something extrinsically you face the challenge of forgetting what you learned in times of stress or uncertainty. It is only when you move the extrinsic knowledge and internalize it that you begin to feed off the inspiration.

You begin to create a momentum that continuously propels you forward, like a wave forming in the sea.

Recently I have been rebranding my steam cleaning company. By observing everything that I have internalized being in business, I am more excited then I have ever been to bring the company to it’s fullest potential.

This comes from a deep-rooted understanding of the basics as well as the inspiration that comes from the risks, stepping into the unknown.

Doing things you haven’t done before sounds scary and it is until you understand the power that lies within the unknown. Once you get through this barrier you will elevate yourself to a new perspective.

The thing you must consider is that if you haven’t tried it before, you don’t know if it will work, and just because it worked for someone else it might not work well for you.

By not trying it you will miss the chance of finding out.

For example, many companies are scared to invest into social media because they don’t believe that it can be a useful tool for their business.

What these companies need to consider is that it isn’t about social media, advertising, or the internet.

It is about where people’s attention lies.

When you understand this, you understand business.

“The day you start talking about your audience, not about you, that’s the day you start doing business.” Unmarketing by Scott Stratten

Thinking fast comes from being prepared. A prepared mind has a vast potential to accelerate growth, notice here how I say potential. It isn’t the end all be all. Without the doing, thinking isn’t enough.

You can think of all the best ideas out there when you don’t implement them they dissolve into the ether.

You don’t have to jump all in. Taking incremental steps is key, and this leads to becoming big.

There might be confusion as to how you should think fast and be big, so let me clarify; Thinking fast to be big is an expression to internalizing the processes so you can then make decisions that accelerate the growth of your business.

“Moving fast without paying attention to the conscious you are able to tap into the unconscious.” The Art of Learning by Josh Waitzkin

To internalize the process you must begin with repetition.

Repetition is both good and bad. It is good because you can refocus your attention on something else, as well once you mastered a task you formed it into a habit.

However, when done incorrectly it can be debilitating. Learning bad habits is worse than not learning it at all. On another note, repeating something without inching your limit further you plateau.

Imagine yourself going to the gym and doing the same workout over and over again, your muscles stop growing. Or going back to my ship analogy, if you are sailing the same way through a monsoon in which you sail during the calm seas your ship will sink.

The key is to have a deep presence during this process. Depth over breadth always wins.

Doing something over and over again you notice and experience parts of the process that you missed before. This is because you are able to pay attention to the minor details. You begin to familiarize yourself with the process.

Familiarity breeds trust which in turn produces certainty and predictability.

When you hit turbulence with your ship you overcome that turbulence by tapping into the internalize processes. Thus, you’re able to think fast.

“Making good decisions, setting goals, focus and motivation lead to more productivity.” Better Faster Smarter by Charles Duhigg

Why does any of this matter?

If you want to be big you need to think fast, follow the procedure above. Get uncomfortable with the process, the more times you fall, the closer you get to getting it right.

That saying came from one of my mentors, he joked around with it, I took it seriously.

Thank you for reading this post. Leave a comment or click the ❤ if you found this useful so that others can find it too.

Originally published at karasingroup.com on March 29, 2017.