The Magic of Thinking Big by David J. Schwartz
Table of Contents
(01) Believe You Can Succeed and You Will
(02) Cure Yourself of Excusitis the Failure Disease
(03) Build Confidence and Destroy Fear
(05) How to Think and Dream Creatively
(06) You Are What You Think You
(08) Make Your Attitudes Your Allies
(09) Think Right Toward People
(11) How to Turn Defeat into Victory
(12) Use Goals to Help You Grow
(13) How to Think like a Leader
(01) Believe You Can Succeed and You Will
- As one thinketh in his head so is he. The mind is its own place and can make heaven of hell and a hell out of heaven. Nothing is either good or bad but thinking
- Thinking big works magic. Think big and you’ll live big. Make thinking make magic
- “Life is too short to be little. Man is never so manly as when he feels deeply, acts boldly, and expresses himself with frankness and with fervor.” ― Benjamin Disraeli
- Belief is not wishful thinking. Belief generates the how-to. By believing it is not impossible, the mind starts figuring out how to do it. Believing you can succeed makes others take stock in you. Think: ‘doubt’ and fail. Think: ‘victory’ and succeed.
- Use the mind to work for you. Instead of giving yourself reasons why you can’t, give yourself reasons why you can. No one is going to believe in you if you don’t believe in yourself. Believe in yourself and good things start happening.
- Step one in success is self belief. How:
- Think “success”, don’t think “failure”. In competition, consider yourself an equal to your opponent. Thinking “success” sets the mind to find ways to succeed.
- Think you are capable. Never sell yourself short.
- Believe big. Think big goals and achieve big success. Think, “little goals” and achieve little success.
- Follow a plan for self development and personal growth. The world is our lab. Become a trained observer, to develop deep insights into human action. Success leaves clues. Learn to see why certain people achieve certain things and why certain people don’t. The ultimate goal is to make success principles a constant habit.
(02) Cure Yourself of Excusitis the Failure Disease
- Both the unsuccessful and the average suffer from excusitis in some way shape or form to a certain degree. Those who are not doing as well as they should have the tendency to hide behind excuses. Excusitis gets worse if it isn’t treated properly. Unsuccessful people are very good at playing the victim. The more you do it, the more you begin to believe that these excuses are actually true. Repeatedly expressing a lie makes the lie true in the mind’s eye. It becomes embedded. Step one is to vaccinate yourself against excusitis.
- There are four main types of excusitis:
- “But my health isn’t good.” - Bad health is used as an excuse to not do things, make plans, to not make more money.
- Emotionally induced illness — 3 out of 5 people sitting in hospital beds now are suffering from this. If these people could learn to control their emotions, they would not be sick. Looking and looking for a problem often induces the problem.
- How to Live 365 days per year Dr. Schindler (learning to control emotions)
- Resolve to live until you die. Don’t get life and death confused. Every minute a person spends worrying about dying is just one minute that person might as well have been dead.
- Refuse to talk about your health. Talking about bad health, even the common cold, seems to make matters worse. Tais like putting fertilizer on weeds.
- Refuse to worry about your health.
- Be genuinely grateful that your health is as good as it is.
- It’s better to wear out than rust out.
- “I lack the brains.” - 95% of people suffer from a lack of confidence. We all underestimate our own brain power while overestimating the brain power of those around us. It matters not how much intelligence we have, but how we apply it. The thinking that guides our intelligence is infinitely more important than how much intelligence we have.
- Active intelligence is better than idle intelligence. Stickability is 95% of ability. This is the ability to start a project and see out to the end.
- Knowledge is power (when used correctly.) It’s more important to use our mind to think rather than to fill it with facts.
- Learn to use intelligence to think of ideas, to solve problems, to discover new and better ways of doing things.
- “But I’m too old/young” -
- The cure for old age excusitis is perspective. It comes from recognizing that, if we take care of ourselves and remain relatively healthy, we have 5+ decades of productivity throughout the lifespan. Our age does not matter. How we think about our age determines whether it is a blessing or a curse. Think positively about your current age. Practice thinking, “I’m still young”, not “I’m already old.” Curing age excusitis often opens doors to opportunities we previously thought were locked tight. We increase optimism and add years to our life by licking age excusitis.
- When younger, don’t be age conscious. On the farm, when a boy is capable of doing a man’s job, he is old enough for a man’s job. Once we prove we can handle the job, we are old enough to do the job. When supervising those older than you, rely on their expertise, ask for their suggestions, make them feel like they are working for a team captain, not a dictator. Do this and they will work with you, not against you. Leaders in all fields find themselves in charge of those older than them, so get used to it. Age is no handicap unless we make it one. Youth is a liability only when the youth think it is. What really matters is how well we know our job.
- “I attract bad luck.” There is a cause for everything. To cure yourself of luck excusitis accept the principle of cause and effect. Take a closer look at someone’s good fortune and we soon recognize that lot’s of planning and preparation, and good thinking preceded his or her good fortune. Look closer at someone’s bad luck and you quickly see many causes and effects. When a successful person suffers a setback, he learns and grows from the experience. When Mr. Unlucky suffers a setback or loses, he fails to learn. Luck simply isn’t designed to produce success. We must do the things and master the skills that produce success, so that when the opportunity presents itself, we are ready.
(03) Build Confidence and Destroy Fear
(04) How to Think
(05) How to Think and Dream Creatively
- Think and dream creatively. Creative thinking is practical and every day. it is simply finding new ways to do things. Step one is to believe it can be done. When we believe, the mind finds ways to do. Belief releases creative powers. The mind begins to think constructively. Step two is to focus on why you can, not on why you can't. The traditional thinker's mind is paralyzed. There are many ways in which a good job can be done. Nothing grows in ice. Forget Frozen thinking. Become receptive to new ideas. Be the best sponge by soaking up all the best ideas. (Magic of Thinking Big)
- We learn nothing by telling, we learn much by asking. Encourage others to talk: “That's an interesting idea, tell me more about it.” To sell Juan Café what Juan Café buys learn to see the world through Juan Café’s eyes. By listening, the mind soaks up the raw material necessary for creative thought. Really concentrate on what the other person says. Don’t let good ideas escape. (Magic of Thinking Big)
- Be an experimental person: expose yourself to new---restaurants, books, routines, theaters, friends, routes to work, vacations. Do something new and different. Develop interests beyond your specialty. Mix regularly with both those who are experts in your area and those who are not. (Magic of Thinking Big)
- Be progressive, not regressive. The successful person asks himself: how can I do it better? Develop an “I can do better” attitude. Capacity is a state of mind. Believe you can do more and you will find ways to do more. Concentrate on how you can do more. If you want it done, you’ll find a way. There is no limit to self improvement. Find intelligent shortcuts to improve the quality and capacity of your output. Stretch your mind and get stimulated. (Magic of Thinking Big)
- To harness ideas and transform them into practical action:
- Write down new ideas
- Review your ideas regularly.
- Keep all promising ideas.
- Cultivate and fertilize: Tie the idea to related ideas, investigate all the angles.
- Then, when the time is right, utilize the idea. Constantly polish the idea so it can be sold. A mind that only feeds on itself is undernourished. Good ideas must be shared. Make your idea sellable. Figure out how to visually sell your ideas.
(06) You Are What You Think You
- You are who you think you are. We receive the type of treatment we think we deserve. If you think you are equal to the task, you will be. How we think is how we act. How we act determines how we are treated by others. Respect yourself and others will respect you.
- To develop self respect: (1) Look important: look like the person you want to be. It costs so little to be neat. Look sharp and it will help you think sharp. How you look affects how you think. Respect your appearance. Quality of clothing is better than quantity. (Better clothing stays in style longer and you will get better help at the store.) If your appearance makes you look inferior, then you will think you are inferior. Look important because it helps you to be important. If you look your best, you will think and act your best. (2) Thinking makes it so: Think, “I’m important. I am a first class performer,” and it will be. Your actions are what people judge you by. Thoughts determine actions. Think you are worthy and you will be worthy. Practice uplifting self praise. Don't Practice belittling self-talk. Have self respect. Believe you are a first class product: Sell yourself on yourself. The number one product you have to sell is yourself. (3) Think your work is important: Think your work is important, no matter the task, and you will find ways to do it better.
(07) Go First Class
- Manage Your Environment: The mind is what the mind is fed. How we change over the years depends on the mind food we feed ourselves. Recondition yourself for success. The world is built to produce mediocrity. Never surrender to suppressive forces. Look forward to each new day as an adventure to be lived fully. To do so, fight off the suppressive influences that surround you. Negators (haters) are everywhere. Let them slip away like water, from the duck’s back.
- Keep good company. How we think is directly affected by the group we are in. Make sure you are hanging around the right group. Cling to people who think progressively. Seek advice from those who know, those who have accomplished what you want to accomplish. Go first class when you have questions and ignore advice from those who are only experts in giving their opinion.
- Circulate in new groups. But be sure they are good people. Success building comes from being an expert in people. Make new friends. Find friends who want to see you succeed. Enlarge your social circle. Listen to those who have different views than your own. Learn to see from both sides of an argument.
- Avoid petty and gossiping friends. Thought poison is small yet effective poison. Be impeccable with your words. Do not say anything about anyone that you would not want that person to hear. Talk about people but stay on the positive side. Always look for something good to say. This discourages others from bringing their rumors or complaints to you.
- Go first class in everything. This includes how you speak of people and the types of friendships you cultivate. Develop an instinct for quality, including quality relationships. Spend more on less. You can’t afford to go any other way. Make it your mission to expose yourself to plenty of psychological sunshine daily.
(08) Make Your Attitudes Your Allies
- The expert actor must think and feel like their character. How we respond to others and how others respond to us comes through in our attitudes. When attitude is right abilities reach maximum effectiveness. Right attitudes win for us in every situation.
- Our attitude speaks. How we think shows through in how we act. Attitude appraisals allow us to read one another’s minds.
- There are three attitudes: (1) I’m activated (enthusiastic), (2) YOU are important and (3) Service first.
- I’m Activated (enthusiastic) A teacher must first be enthusiastic about what he’s teaching before he can make the student enthusiastic about learning. Enthusiasm makes things better. Show enthusiasm about what’s important. Results come in proportion to enthusiasm applied. To develop enthusiasm:
- Dig into the topic deeper. Learn more. Listen to someone who’s enthusiastic about the topic. Put this principle to use when unenthusiastic about something. When in a new environment, learn as much as possible about it to become enthusiastic about it.
- In everything you do, live it up:
- Lively up your smiles and handshakes.
- Live up your “thank yous.” Make thank you mean : THANK YOU VERY MUCH!
- Liven up your talk. Make your ‘good morning’ really good. Say it with life. Say I feel great at every opportunity. How we feel is, in large part, how we think we feel.
- Broadcast good news. Good news pleases people and develops enthusiasm. No one ever accomplished anything broadcasting bad news. It’s pointless to complain about the bad. Make it a habit to delight about the good in life. Practice relieving worriers with good news. Leave people better than you found them. Good news gets results. Give them a good word, or none at all.
- You are Important - Everybody wants to feel important. Make people feel important. People do more for us when we make them feel important. It pays to make little people feel like big people. Make others feel important and they will care for you and do more for you. When we make others feel important, we are rewarded by them making us feel more important. To make others feel important:
- Practice appreciation - Let others know you appreciate what they do for you. Compliment people on the little things. Make no exceptions, make everybody feel important.
- Practice calling people by name.
- Don’t hog glory, invest it instead - Pass the praise you receive down to your subordinates and they will work harder for you.
- Always ask, What can I do today to make my wife and family happy? - Deliberately find ways to put your family’s interests first. It doesn’t have to be special, it’s the thought that counts. Work out a schedule so that time is always devoted to them.
- Put Service First - This attitude is the key to making money. The seed of money is service. Put service first and money takes care of itself. Give more service than the customer expects. The difference is service and service is the reason for the profits. Do a better job than what they pay you for. Plant service today and harvest it later. Each day, ask “How can I give more than what's expected of me?”
(09) Think Right Toward People
- Success depends on the support of other people. Think right toward people and they will like and support you. Likability factor is given far more weight than technical factors. We are lifted up to higher levels by those who know us as likable.
- Have a clear definite plan for liking people. — Lyndon Johnson
- Learn to remember names.
- Be a comfortable person to be around. Old shoe comfort: there should be no strain in being with you.
- Develop the quality of being relaxed and easy going, so that things do not ruffle you.
- Be humble. Don’t be egotistical. Guard against the quality that we know-it-all.
- Cultivate the quality of being interesting so people will get value from knowing you.
- Be self aware. Study your communication habits to get the scratchy elements out of your personality, such as any tendencies to complain or blame or to engage in gossip.
- Sincerely attempt to heal every misunderstanding, drain off your grievances.
- Practice liking people until you genuinely do.
- Never waste an opportunity to say a word upon anyone’s achievements or to express sympathy in sorrow or disappointment.
- Give spiritual strength to people, they will give genuine affection in return.
- Successful people go out of their way to meet people. Learn to talk to strangers:
- Introduce yourself to others everywhere.
- Make sure you get names right.
- Write down the other person’s name, get it right, get contact information.
- Follow up with a warm message.
- Say pleasant things to strangers.
- Don’t be a reformer.
- Never dislike others because they are different. No person is perfect. Live and let live. You don’t have to approve of how others live their life, but you must not dislike them for doing it. Accept people for what they are: neither 100% good nor 100% bad.
- Think only good thoughts about people. When someone starts to gossip, quickly and discreetly change the topic.
- Practice conversation generosity. Allow others to talk about themselves.
- When things go wrong:
- Ask what I can do to make myself worthy of the next opportunity.
- Don’t waste time and energy berating yourself. Focus your energy on planning to win the next time.
- Summary:
- Make yourself lighter to life: be a likable person.
- Take the initiative in building relationships.
- Accept human limitations and differences.
- Tune in to channel positive energy only.
- Practice conversation generosity. Only think about others.
- Practice courtesy all the time.
- How you think when you lose determines how long it takes you to win again.
(10) Get the Action Habit
- There is plenty of room at the top. The missing ingredient is the ability to get things done. Nothing comes merely by thinking. Ideas must be acted upon.
- The mediocre are passive. To wait for the perfect conditions means to wait forever. Activationists have the action habit.
- Make intelligent compromises - The work is not to solve every problem before it arises but to be able to solve problems as they arise. Cross bridges as you come to them. Expect obstacles and risks on any venture. Embrace the difficulty. The task that hinders your task is your task. All risk cannot be eliminated.
- Ideas are important but ideas are not enough. Ideas are only of value if they are acted upon. Use action to cure fear and gain confidence. The longer we wait, the greater the fear. Action cures fear - the way to combat any fear, any type of fear, is through action. Destroy fear and build confidence through action. The way to combat any type of fear is through action. Destroy fear and build confidence through action.
- Don’t wait for the spirit to move you. Move your spirit. Most of our good ideas come from just getting to work. The only way to start is to start. Use the mechanical way to get things done. Rather than deliberate, just jump right in and get started. Pick the one thing you like to do least and do it. A pencil and a paper are the most important tool we can use.
- 'NOW' is the magic word for success. Develop the 'speak up' habit: don't leave your light under a bushel.
- Don't put off until tomorrow what you can get done today. — Ben Franklin
- If the finances are lacking, get excited to spend on saving.
- Use 'get ready' time to 'get going' instead.
- To build this habit:
- Be a crusader: When you see something that ought to be done, pick up the ball and run.
- Be a volunteer: anything you want to volunteer for, do it. Be acknowledged by those who support this cause, ignore no those who would criticize out of jealousy.
- Key Points
- Be an activationist. The successful are active; we'll call them activationists. Be a person who gets things done.
- Conditions will never be perfect, don't wait.
- Ideas only matter if acted upon.
- Use action to cure fear. Do what you fear and fear disappears.
- Move the spirit through action.
- Use the power of 'NOW': Be an "I'm starting right now" type of person.
- Use energy to 'get going' not 'get ready'.
- Seize the initiative. Get in gear and go. Be a crusader and volunteer whenever we see something that ought to be done.
(11) How to Turn Defeat into Victory
- When you lose, learn to use setbacks to propel you forward. After every failure, learn from it , bounce back up and move forward. This is the path to success. The mediocre person’s (who ends up on skid row) response to defeat: fell, got back on his knees, gave up and crawled away. The successful person’s response: bounced up, learned a lesson, forgot the beating and moved upward.
- Being licked is valuable, if we learn from it. Have the humility and courage to face your shortcomings.
- Ask: Why did I fail? How can I win next time? Being self critical and facing our faults is constructive. Seek out inadequacies and correct them. Use mistakes to show you what you need to work on. Never blame failure or luck.
- Be stubborn and persistent about goals. Be flexible about methods. Be willing to experiment. Don’t beat your head against the wall with methods that aren’t working.
- Believe the problem is solvable. The only way a problem is unsolvable is if you believe the problem is unsolvable. Learn to back off and start afresh. A walk, music or a nap is essential to weeding out the inconsequential details and finding creative solutions based on fundamental principles.