.png)
Back in my high school and college days, when you would go through the Wendy’s drive through and order they always asked you if you wanted to biggie size the meal. It was a gigantic upgrade in fries and a drink. Lately I ponder this concept in work related activities. I have a very successful coaching mentor and friend, that credits the success in his career by a few well-placed lucky extraordinary moments. I would call those moments “biggie sizing”. In getting to know him, I realized that it was his wisdom and genius that biggie sized those moments for him. He wasn’t afraid of risk. He saw opportunity. He embraced fully his gifts and talents. He had the grit, the perseverance, the genius to know where to go big, when to go big and how.
This is no small talent. If biggie sizing took only guts, then I’d be in. If biggie sizing only took courage, I would fit the bill. It's why there aren’t more people at the top. It is a special formula or algorithm that makes biggie sizing work. To prepare for these moments, we must do a few things ahead of time.
1. Build relationships – great success and chances still come by the level of people we know and how deeply we know them. It's who you know that still matters in every industry I’ve
encountered. Don’t bother with small talk, go deep with people. Be open to true engagement. Volunteer, be a part of the community, it matters.
2. Have courage – The grit, guts, and courage it takes to biggie size something isn’t formed in an instant. We must work throughout our lives to face uncertainty, loss, our fears, crisis with fortitude, steadiness, and strength. It is a daily and yearly path to failing forward and learning what tough situations take to survive.
3. Be patient – to succeed at biggie sizing, we must be prepared to prepare and wait. Not wait by sitting on our hands but wait in preparation. Just like we all rush to the store to stock up the night before a big snowstorm hits, we must stock up the supplies we need for a big opportunity.
4. Be learning - We must be diligent studiers of people, situations, and information necessary for when the time comes. Read books, study biographies, learn about the leaders of companies you admire. Learn about yourself. Have knowledge and build the wisdom to use it.
5. Be optimistic – Hope is a survival technique that when stored up, does much more than biggie size things. In this scenario, hope builds optimism that opportunity will come. Keep working hard. Keep building relationships. Keep building courage. Store it all up and the time will come.
6. Don’t hesitate – when opportunity comes knocking, you can’t blink. Seizing opportunity is the critical step in biggie sizing. If you don’t, someone will. Don’t be afraid of the “no”. Don’t be afraid of the rejection. It will come and it will make the next biggie size moment even better.
These are a few steps to consider launching your career or impact to new heights and multiply impact. Sincerely consider which of these steps you are missing, or which will be the hardest to embrace. Start there. It is a process, and this stored up potential energy is waiting for 1-2 of these biggie sized moments to come. They are like the 100-year storm. When they come around you want to be ready. Get ready.