“Bigness” is taught in every course, classroom and training.

And very good reasons: if we achieve a whole greater than the sum of its parts, it creates significant value for everyone.

Recently, I’ve been reflecting on where to think smaller. And there were two places that struck me:

Identity

We tend to fall into the dogma of who we aren’t and what we can’t do. And when we introduce such rigidity, we jail our potential into a petite space.

For me, this was changing my mindset on singing. Something I always wanted to do but was too proud to admit I could be a “singer”, and not just “a business guy who sings”.

As Conor Barnes writes, “ “I’m not the kind of person who does things like that’ is not an explanation, it’s a trap. It prevents nerds from working out and men from dancing.”

Needs

I had a wonderful coffee with my best friend’s dad. He is a seasoned founder, executive and family man. We were discussing the idea of risk & cost, an area that I am generally averse.

He gave some great counsel when you make big bets on yourself. “Keep your needs small.” As I discussed in my last post, we tend to accumulate 3x more than we really need. The more we can let go, the more tolerance we have to reach for moonshots.

If everything burned, what would keep your head & heart happy? The bare essentials can free us more than we imagine.

What other place can micro help us more than macro?