This Hidden Secret of Great Minds Will Change Your Life

Come with me and you'll be
In a world of pure imagination
Take a look and you'll see
Into your imagination

We'll begin with a spin
Trav'ling in the world of my creation
What we'll see will defy
Explanation

If you want to view paradise
Simply look around and view it
Anything you want to, do it
Want to change the world, there's nothing to it
​
There is no life I know
To compare with pure imagination
Living there, you'll be free
If you truly wish to be
If you…​

-Willy Wonka

It's true that great minds think differently.  They operate at a different level.  And because of the way they think, they have the ability to change the world.  I was reminded of this over the last week when my daughter watched the original Willy Wonka for the first time (and then of course wanted to watch it over and over again like 4 year-old's do).  It had been many years since I had seen it.  But, as I sat down to watch it with her; I realized just how powerful of a message that it delivers.  I have often said that "the student arrives when they are ready."  And finally, after many years, I guess it was time for my arrival.

​Great minds have a secret.  A secret that most go through life never finding.  All one has to do is read the lyrics above, from the song where Willy introduces the group to his factory, and it will stand out for you.   

You have probably been told a million times that if you believe something, you can do it.  But, most never really believe that themselves.  What's more is...it is not enough to just believe.  You must create the idea in your mind and then believe not only in the idea, but that you can execute to make it reality.  That is where everyone falls short.  They come up with ideas all the time and believe in them.  What they don't believe in is their ability execute and make it happen.

Watching the movie with my daughter made me realize this all over again.  What Willy Wonka is saying in his lyrics is not just that you can create paradise with your imagination, but he is showing, when he tells them to "take a spin," that it has to be brought to life to really matter.

Think of the greatest minds and people that you know in business or leadership throughout the world.  I would venture to say that they not only create their world first in their minds, but they are almost obsessed with executing to make it a reality.   Steve Jobs, Martin Luther King Jr., and the Founding Fathers come to mind.  And we see living examples of this every day with people like Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and Tom Brady.  They may live in this world, but they recreate it and define it in their imagination - and then they make that a reality.

It comes down to how we think and then act, but it also comes down to the level we play at every day.  The quote from Eleanor Roosevelt below sums this up perfectly.  "Great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, small minds discuss people."  

Take inventory of your conversations over the next week and who you have them with.  Are you discussing ideas and things that really matter and can change your whole world or are you wasting valuable time.   Make it a mission to play at the right level with right people and take you ideas to execution and make them a reality...Because, there is no life I know to compare with pure imagination, living there you'll be free, if you truly wish to be!