Thinking is our supreme energy, and our thoughts, adapted to every circumstance, are the determining factors that drive our lives. If we were not able to think we would be no more than vegetables, and if we didn’t use at least the minimum of our thinking powers, we would be just animals. That’s probably why people who don’t use this ability, and those who are only capable of developing only the most brutal primary instincts, are referred to as beasts.
Now, at the beginning of this, you need to remember a fact which, although it is common knowledge, is sometimes sadly forgotten. In a world where money is the most powerful tool we can have and hold, where practically everything had a price and must be paid for, the ability that decides all, directs all and drives all, the power to think, is a natural gift. We all have it, and because it is a natural ability, it costs absolutely nothing at all: It’s free.
Think, It’s Free
84 practical ideas for boosting talent
by Joaquín Lorente
Principle 1
Think, it’s free
Seventy-five per cent of our bodies are made up of water, but don’t let that get you down. We are topped off by a white, gelatinous mass weighing around 1,300 grams which nature, in its customary wisdom, decided to protect with an extremely tough, hermitically-sealed box… a genuine ivory tower. What we are talking about the most fascinating, powerful machine in the universe: the human brain.
Unlike the other animals, which are as primitive as they have always been, today’s unstoppable scientific, technological and material development and the massive availability of knowledge, beliefs, good and bad surrounding us, are the product of the human brain’s most fascinating ability: the ability to think.
Principle 1
Think, it’s free
Principle 2
Luck is chance. Make the most of it
Principle 3
The triangle of success: an idea, a good sense of smell and a lot of courage.
The triangle of failure: a lot of ideas, a good sense of smell and zero courage
Principle 4
Knowledge is an engine that is not moving. What moves it is attitude
Principle 5
The future is the time we have left to do what we haven’t done before
Principle 6
If you want to meet your best motivator, take a look in the mirror
Principle 7
Good memories lull you to sleep. Great projects wake you up
Principle 8
Pragmatism is a landing strip for dreams
Principle 9
Your weakness begins where your strength ends
Principle 10
A lot of companies have too much paper and too little skin
Principle 11
If you don’t know what you want, you will never know where you are going
Principle 12
At least 51 per cent of life is pure barter. What have you got to barter?
Principle 13
Brilliance breaks away from what is established. If you measure everything by what you know, you will never achieve it
Principle 14
If you don’t offer heaven, you’ll never have any believers
Principle 15
A brand is made by creating acts of faith
Principle 16
Triumph is a matter of convincing others that they want what you are offering them
Principle 17
A brand is a value in the consumer’s mind
Principle 18
A brand is always a continuation of the person driving it
Principle 19
To be able to convince others, the speaker must himself be convinced
Principle 20
There is always plenty of time to fail, but a very short time to succeed
Principle 21
Always hate, but never underestimate, your competitors
Principle 22
Don’t sell garbage. The more of it you sell, the worse it will smell later on
Principle 23
If you don’t wake up with Utopia, you will sleep with reality
Principle 24
Eat or be eaten
Principle 25
When you have to face someone, be sure you know whom you are facing
Principle 26
Enterprises can only do three things: grow, stay or dissolve. What is yours doing?
Principle 27
The only reason you manage to sell is that you are more persuasive than your competitor
Principle 28
Your biggest competitor makes mistakes too. That’s fantastic, isn’t it!
Principle 29
Only specifics are capable of motivating
Principle 30
When nothing happens, nothing happens
Principle 31
Birds sing, dogs bark, frogs croak and humans speak. And when the most intelligent ones do it, they express things
Principle 32
Without credibility, you are walking barefoot on a path littered with stones
Principle 33
Feeling is not a sin. It is the orgasm of the intellect
Principle 34
The ear is just a receiver. What transmits your capacity to be and decide is your mouth
Principle 35
The consumer dial moves between 100% rational and 100% emotional. To find the right point is to start the tune into the consumer
Principle 36
There are fewer believers than there are wobbling consumers
Principle 37
Short-term executives never become executives of substance
Principle 38
A winner does far more than work. A winner is obsessive
Principle 39
An executive is a person who contributes value to the company. Otherwise, he is surplus to requirements
Principle 40
Do you need a great challenge? Take note: There is room for improvement everywhere
Principle 41
Things are not what they are, but what people think they are
Principle 42
For every thing you know, you ignore an infinite number. The less interested you are in something, the less you understand about it
Principle 43
Pay attention to Archimedes. Use levers
Principle 44
Watch over your energy levels. Being positive drives you forward, while negativity slows you down and sends you back
Principle 45
Inspiration without work is the divine excuse of the idle
Principle 46
The further away you are from people, the less you know about them
Principle 47
Are you well known or acknowledged?
Principle 48
Microchips are compatible with prawns
Principle 49
University is an icebreaker. If you want a bear, you have to go out and hunt it
Principle 50
For every businessman who knows how to add value to his brand, there is another one who will misshandle and destroy it
Principle 51
A goal written on more than two lines is short-sighted
Principle 52
People only follow what they understand
Principle 53
When you get to work you should be clean, fed and have finished homework
Principle 54
If you face each challenge as if it were the biggest opportunity of your life, in the end you will overcome
Principle 55
How often have you suggested a specific way of improving the business to your boss?
Principle 56
Life has a way of complicating things. Efficient people and companies know how make things simple
Principle 57
The more limited the boss, the more limited his team’s ability to think
Principle 58
Don’t just learn from your mistakes – earn from them
Principle 59
Unavailable viceroys lead to the fall of empires
Principle 60
Do you create or do you copy?
Principle 61
Brands, beyond all else, should be fortresses
Principle 62
Do you hate advertising? Wait until you’ve got something to sell and you’ll need it like you need air
Principle 63
Have you asked yourself exactly why you invest in advertising?
Principle 64
Marketing is a system and advertising is an art
Principle 65
Communication is the art of getting other people to understand you
Principle 66
Once in a while you must ask yourself… how are we doing in the credibility stakes?
Principle 67
It isn’t always the strongest who win. In the market, getting it right and success free reigns
Principle 68
Advancing is the best way to not go backwards
Principle 69
In order to “be”, you have to count on yourself. To “exist”, you have to count on other people
Principle 70
Freedom creates expansion. Limitation spawns meanness
Principle 71
The effort required to get results is directly proportional to the maturity of the market in which you compete
Principle 72
Without personality, you are a fly
Principle 73
We are all the directions in which our thoughts
Principle 74
Life is a fight. If you don’t feel brave, think about stepping down
Principle 75
Just after being born, every new idea is a potential corpse
Principle 76
Great images amaze; the great speeches apply pressure
Principle 77
Success has something very intoxicating about it: Make sure it doesn’t make you drunk
Principle 78
The worst thing about fear is that it can overcome you without fighting
Principle 79
Have you only got one problem? Lucky you! All you need to do is find the solution
Principle 80
All businesses stand on two legs. Credibility and profitability
Principle 81
Do you give orders or do you persuade?
Principle 82
The right remark is the machete that opens up the path into the jungle
Principle 83
Pride is setting lotion that goes through the skull
Principle 84
Are you starting to think you should think?
Final principle
Always know how to say thank you