"Think small and act small, and we’ll get bigger. Think big and act big, and we’ll get smaller." – Herb Kelleher, Southwest Airlines Founder, Chairman

I think Herb has it mixed up. Reverse it and he'll have it right. We have to think big to grow. Whatever we focus on we become. So if we think big, that's where we'll go...

I have to agree. Think small and you'll be small. Thing BIG and you'll be big. Like setting goals. Once you set a goal and determine what you need to do to achieve it, do three times as much as you need to and you'll never be disappointed.

I think he was refering to "Success is in the details." "One customer at a time." "One flight at a time." "Plan for tomorrow, work for today."

Fill your downline one box at a time.

Hi colleagues, The introduction of this topic in itself served a purpose: that was to get reactions or views both pros and cons about it. Here is how I see it: different life philosophies works for different people based on their basic view of life. It is a given, that those who has a negative view of life, usually adopts a cautious standard for achieving their goals. There is always that lingering fear of failure at the back of their mind. This way, when they fail, they have an excuse to explain their failure by claiming that they really didn't expect to succeed anyway. These group of people usually think small and that's exactly what they get. On the other hand, we have optimists who has a positive view of life. They don't expect anything less than thinking big and achieving their goal or goals. Let's not forget some familiar natural laws that never fails. For example, that our actions are shaped by our expectations. We are in essence what we think. It is therefore, very important that we are very careful about what we think and what we wish for or what we expect for ourselves. So with these factors in mind, where do I stand in this debate? I am an optimist, so I think big and I expect success. And I mean a big success too. This mindset goes into motion by influencing every other actions that I take. That's how I achieve bigger and bigger goals. The concept of thinking small and acting small is not going to work for me. I will be selling myself short by thinking small. I am going to be careful not to generalize my views because there are always some exceptions to any situation. In other words, the "think small act small" concept might work for some people. But it won't work for me as an optimist. This is my position on the topic of our discussion.