Ep 533 | Think Bigger: The 5-Year Window and the Power of ‘Why Not?’

Thank you for joining me today. It's Brian Gubernick, and welcome to the No Days Off podcast, where we believe that every single day brings a new opportunity to get better. Several years ago, I was sitting in a room of, of a number of my peers in the industry. It was a mastermind of sorts. And, and my mentor Gary Keller, at that time, he said something to that room that, that kind of changed my life a little bit. At the very least, it froze me in my seat when he said it. He looked around that room that particular day and he said to his audience, I'm not any smarter than any of you. There are plenty of people in this room that are smarter than me. I don't necessarily work harder than all of you. There are, there are people in this room that definitely work harder than me. I don't have some sort of magic skill that others can't learn. I've just had a bit more success than most everybody in this room, or actually everybody in the room, because I think bigger than all of you. That really hit me when he said that. I mean, it's, it's truly stuck with me for years because it's made me wonder what actually separates the good from the extraordinary. Is it the brains? Is it luck? Or is it something more accessible, like truly like the size of your vision? Today I want to talk about 3 simple but, but pretty powerful ideas that have shaped how I think about growth and how I think they can reshape your next 5 years. So, my first big idea to discuss, thinking bigger isn't just a slogan, it's actually a system. Big thinkers operate from a different mental operating system. As I've studied business and success and I've observed those that have really done some extraordinary things, I've come to realize that big thinkers have a different, a different mental operating system altogether. See, most people aim for what they think is achievable, but big thinkers will ask, what if there were no limits? See, going back to Gary, you know what Gary had shared with us that day? He said, I wasn't trying to win the neighborhood like so many of you. I wasn't trying to win my community. I wasn't even trying to win my city or my state. I'm actually trying to win the world in terms of the real estate world. And as a result, he kind of did build a company that changed the industry. Love him or hate him, he changed this entire industry. So, thinking bigger affects how you hire, how you invest, how you set goals, how you show up daily. Again, when you're thinking not about how am I going to dominate my local market, but how can I make my brand something known worldwide? That is just an entirely different mindset. And because you think like that, it's gonna affect everything, like everything that you do. I know early in my career in the real estate space, I was just thinking about how to be the first real estate professional people thought of. At the very least in my zip code, I was farming, I was sending mailers out to my zip code and a newsletter and all of that. And Gary instead was thinking about how to shape an entire industry. When he said it that day, that contrast that I recognized, it really shook me. And I started asking myself, what if I'm playing the wrong game entirely? Like, in other words, like, why am I thinking so small? So whatever goal you're working on, I want you to ask yourself, what would this look like if I 10xed it? Not how would I do it, Just sit with the possibility in terms of thinking time. If you took whatever goal it is you have and 10x'd it, and you just stared at that goal for a while, 100 widgets becomes 1,000 widgets, and you just sat there, don't even think about how you would do it just yet, but just stare at it and give that some time. What might your thought process be? How might things change for you? I think the second big idea, also something that Gary has shared in the past, but many people have actually said this, you could be anywhere you want in 5 years. I think the key point here, you know, my perspective on the, this, this statement, and I think the formula is vision plus patience plus, plus consistency is what actually equals transformation. So vision plus patience Plus consistency equals transformation. See, most people greatly overestimate what they can do in 1 year, but they really do tend to underestimate what they can do in 5. A lot of that just has to do with the fact that a lot of us are short-term thinkers. Very few people think in terms of 5-year or 10-year horizons. But again, most people overestimate what they could do in a year, but they really underestimate what they can do in 5 or beyond. The future is shaped not just by ambition. It's shaped by the decision to start. 5 years is really long enough to completely reinvent your, your health, reinvent your career, your relationships, your business. 5 years is actually an eternity. I'm bringing this one up right now because I want you to think about where you were at 5 years ago. April of 2020, which is when we're airing today's episode. April of 2025, but April of 2020 would have been 5 years ago. That's a really interesting time to reflect on. Where were you at that time? What's different today? What's better? What's worse? See, that gap, good or bad, was built from your consistent decisions. Odds are you look and feel dramatically different. Your business looks, your relationships look dramatically different than they did 5 years ago. Just 5 years ago. But 5 years is long enough to completely reinvent all sorts of things. So now if you flip this forward to 2029, where could you be if you started now and didn't stop? I know it sounds kind of extreme, and there's a reason why I'm about to say what I'm about to say, because I, I want to, I want to think big here. I had someone once say to me, I could be, I could be anywhere in 5 years. I said, yeah. They said, can I be President of the United States? And I had to laugh. Politics aside, we've had some, we have some recent presidents that decided you know, they were going to become president in a couple years. They pulled it off without any prior history in politics. But aside from that, could I be president in 5 years? Uh, that's probably a stretch. However, if I started working today on a platform and ran for a local seat and won and continued to campaign and ran for a bigger, a bigger role and a bigger role, could I be Governor in 5 years? I don't know, but a lot could happen. A lot could happen. The last idea, the third idea that I wanted to discuss, it's this idea of why versus why not. I think the most successful people don't ask why. They actually ask why not. I think why seeks justification. Why not seeks opportunity. Why not open the office in another city? Why not write the book? Why not raise the goal? Why don't— why not start that podcast? Why not, you know, pursue whatever it is that you have in mind? Most limits are mental. They're not real. I've been thinking about this one because I have this, this big race coming up and I told my mom about it and I told her a little late here, right? Like the race is in a couple of weeks. And she said, "Why would you ever want to do something like that?" Because it's pretty long. It's a pretty big goal. And I said, "I don't know, why not?" So, I want you to think about one idea or one dream that keeps tapping you on the shoulder. And instead of asking, "Why me?" or "Why now?" Why don't you try, "Why not me?" and "Why not now?" I think thinking bigger expands your ceiling. I think the 5-year lens extends your timeline. And I think asking why not gives you permission. You put those 3 together and I believe you're pretty darn unstoppable. So this week I want to challenge everybody here at the No Days Off Podcast and Nation. I want you to set a 5-year vision for one area of your life. Then I want you to take one action that aligns with a 10x version of your current thinking. And then lastly, when doubt creeps in, just whisper back to it, "Why not? Why not?" That's all I have for you today, The No Days Off Podcast. Thank you so much for listening. And remember, every single day brings a new opportunity to get better. So let's get after it. [MUSIC] [MUSIC]