Good Morning America (GMA) and Thinking Big -- they don't get it
Words have the potential to lose their meaning through overuse, like "think big." Sometimes it seems as if everyone is talking about big thinking.
ABC's Good Morning America (GMA) has dubbed March their think BIG month. Yet note how they are talking about it, what they mean when they say it…too often it is thinking big from a consumption point of view. Today's focus, on GMA, was on the world tallest building (which happens to be in Dubai, a place of extreme excess and human rights abuses all in the name of so called big) and next week they are profiling the worlds longest bridge. Frankly, my dear, who gives a damn?
For so many, thinking big is about being larger, about having more: more fame, more money, more power, more influence.
Thinking big is not about quantity, about more. More is not expansive. Big thinking is expansive.
Big thinking is open and generous, discerning and judicious, yet not judgmental. Big thinking is not excessive, nor is it about the pursuit of excess. Rather, it is moderate.
Big thinking by its nature generally avoids the problem of extremes.
Nothing is all good or all bad in this universe of contradictions. We fall into the dangerous trap of small thinking when we succumb to a belief in extremes, starting with a necessarily false belief in some universal infallibility, or worse still, our own.
To think expansively is to begin again and again at first principles, with the beginner’s openness toward the world coupled with the wisdom of experience—our own and, as important, that of others.
To live in integrity is to be and to think and to act in the current of positive energy created by the expansiveness of big thinking.
I hope GMA gets bigger, more expansive, in their thinking as they progress through their think big month. I hope they bring us stories that have nothing to do with consumption and everything to do with coming together as a people to make the world a better place. That would be a big thinking use of the media-mediated bully pulpit solely owned by the biggest corporations in the world.
ABC's Good Morning America (GMA) has dubbed March their think BIG month. Yet note how they are talking about it, what they mean when they say it…too often it is thinking big from a consumption point of view. Today's focus, on GMA, was on the world tallest building (which happens to be in Dubai, a place of extreme excess and human rights abuses all in the name of so called big) and next week they are profiling the worlds longest bridge. Frankly, my dear, who gives a damn?
For so many, thinking big is about being larger, about having more: more fame, more money, more power, more influence.
Thinking big is not about quantity, about more. More is not expansive. Big thinking is expansive.
Big thinking is open and generous, discerning and judicious, yet not judgmental. Big thinking is not excessive, nor is it about the pursuit of excess. Rather, it is moderate.
Big thinking by its nature generally avoids the problem of extremes.
Nothing is all good or all bad in this universe of contradictions. We fall into the dangerous trap of small thinking when we succumb to a belief in extremes, starting with a necessarily false belief in some universal infallibility, or worse still, our own.
To think expansively is to begin again and again at first principles, with the beginner’s openness toward the world coupled with the wisdom of experience—our own and, as important, that of others.
To live in integrity is to be and to think and to act in the current of positive energy created by the expansiveness of big thinking.
I hope GMA gets bigger, more expansive, in their thinking as they progress through their think big month. I hope they bring us stories that have nothing to do with consumption and everything to do with coming together as a people to make the world a better place. That would be a big thinking use of the media-mediated bully pulpit solely owned by the biggest corporations in the world.
Comment
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Comment by Alan Bland on March 26, 2009 at 9:36pm -
This is my new Grand-daughter at 2 days (now she's 1 week) if we are to have a sustainable and safe world for Camryn and all the others who will come then there must be change - massive change - and it has to start now! We can't all be leaders and if people like Michael have the drive and vision to motivate and create a groundswell of change then I'll gladly be a follower.
(And I'll figure out how to get my head in the picture next time!)
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Comment by James Possible on March 21, 2009 at 7:35pm
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Michael, I want to share that I struggled with this post and the last thing I'm interested in is to through a bucket of water onto the fire.
BIG is not for anyone person to decide, rather it's up to the individual to decide.
If as a child into my adult life all I ever imagined, much like the actress imagining an Oscar, was to design and build the worlds tallest or biggest building who's to say there is no value in such a vision.
BIG for me is not about whether or not I agree or disagree with someone else rather are they acting on an internal voice that will not be silenced. A voice that may not be aligned with me. BIG isn't about agreement or alignment...it's about the individual and their message. A message that may even be ahead of it's time.
People cycle, people struggle, people even loose from time to time their WILL, their DRIVE, their sense of MEANING or PURPOSE. Is it really fair to judge?
Imagine if Byron Katie had not gone through her suffering only to find herself lying there on the floor in a fetal position realizing...'when I believe my thoughts I suffer, when I question my thoughts I don't'. Imagine the millions who's lives would not have been touched by 'The Work'.
I'm struggling because this thread feels more like a judgment than a celebration of BIG.
You taught me BIG is about saying 'YES' and that you can change the course action by saying 'YES and...', you taught me to say 'YES'.
I don't follow or respect you because of your judgments, I follow you because you care, you're sincere and you're committed to your passion as well as the passion of others.
What am I missing?
I'm concerned, because if my chest is tightening as I read this thread I know I am not alone. There is someone else reading thinking because they have a different view that they cannot think BIG.
Where's the invitation for them? Who am I to judge there place in this moment?
Perhaps I have misunderstood, I just know my physical being changes as I read this post and thread and I share this with respect and caring. If I have misunderstood please share how so...James
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Comment by Ali R. Rodriguez on March 10, 2009 at 12:42pm -
One single big thought, creates more wealth than all the Dubais in the world.
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Comment by Nina East on March 9, 2009 at 7:00pm -
Yep...there's that ol' "eating contest" approach to thinking big.
Yesterday I spent the morning re-potting most of my house plants - it was a symbolic gesture of getting out of constraining environments and creating more space, with more nurturing, for roots to grow so branches can grow, so more oxygen can be given back into the world, so more things can grow... I can already feel the difference inside myself just from that one simple, symbolic act.
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Comment by nancy fox on March 9, 2009 at 6:46pm -
There is a big difference (pardon the pun) between thinking big (allowing more into your life, attracting more expansive results, seeing oneself achieving more, and believing one can live a more accomplished life) vs. thinking beyond - beyond the limitations of one's point of view.
How do we know when our thinking is big? Is it ever big enough?
Your point is well taken Michael that the GMA perspective on Thinking Big isn't where you want this revolution to take us.
My sense of what your intention is has less to do with thinking big than thinking beyond the boundaries of our limited beliefs of self. For me this is the realm of innovation. It is a place where I take off my blinders and have removed my blind spots. The irony of this is this will always be a place to get to and one where, thankfully, I will never arrive. I will always be on the journey to beyond.
Nancy Fox
www.bizdevsuccess.com
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Comment by Marshal on March 9, 2009 at 4:39pm -
Suppose we think big with all of our hearts, minds, spirits? Suppose "Big" is giving the best that we can, the most we have, to reduce problems, pain, suffering, and over-consumptions? Big is where we are in this moment, doing the best we can.
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Comment by Michael Port on March 9, 2009 at 3:32pm -
Great point JoAnn. Yes, you're absolutely right. It is definitely a step froward as the battle between small thoughts and big thoughts rages on.... and make no mistake about it.... small thoughts are preset to autodestruct in their own entropic circle of influence. Negativity can prevail only so long. In the end it feeds on itself so ferociously that it will consume itself. At the basest level, a network spreading disease (whether a cold or obesity or cancer) cannot long survive its own natural demise. So, too, a network spreading dis-ease and small thinking will ultimately close in on itself under the weight of its negativity.
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Comment by JoAnnCr on March 9, 2009 at 1:32pm -
Good points, Michael. Keep the faith, though, because any time the Main Stream Media takes a step in a positive direction, that's a good thing. GMA designating March as a think big month may not be a milestone but a small step is better than none at all. It opened the door to your comments, after all.
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Comment by Michael Port on March 9, 2009 at 1:24pm
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Yes, Carole, indeed I have. In fact, Annie Leonard and her "story" is featured in The Think Big Manifesto!
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Comment by Carole on March 9, 2009 at 1:06pm -
Here, Here Michael! Well said and I love it! Hope you copied GMA in on your post! Have you seen this? http://www.storyofstuff.com/
Thanks for helping us all Think Big!
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