The Magic of Thinking Big - David J. Schwartz  ## Metadata - Author: **David J. Schwartz** - Full Title: The Magic of Thinking Big - Category: #books ## Highlights - success is determined not so much by the size of one’s brain as it is *by the size of one’s thinking.* ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j04631pa3gygpewvf3fxtfyq)) - . Case history after case history proved that the size of bank accounts, the size of happiness accounts, and the size of one’s general satisfaction account is dependent on *the size of one’s thinking.* There *is* magic in thinking big. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j0463jh6ppq6mrd8330pr1m9)) - **TYPE OF FEAR** **ACTION** 1. Embarrassment because of personal appearance. Improve it. Go to a barbershop or beauty salon. Shine your shoes. Get your clothes cleaned and pressed. In general, practice better grooming. It doesn’t always take *new* clothes. 2. Fear of losing an important customer. Work doubly hard to give better service. Correct anything that may have caused customers to lose confidence in you. 3. Fear of failing an examination. Convert worry time into study time. 4. Fear of things totally beyond your control. Turn your attention to helping to relieve the fear of others. Pray. 5. Fear of being physically hurt by something you can’t control, such as a tornado or an airplane out of control. Switch your attention to something totally different. Go out into your yard and pull up weeds. Play with your children. Go to a movie. 6. Fear of what other people may think and say. Make sure that what you plan to do is right. Then do it. No one ever does anything worthwhile for which he is not criticized. 7. Fear of making an investment or purchasing a home. Analyze all factors. Then be decisive. Make a decision and stick with it. Trust your own judgment. 8. Fear of people. Put them in proper perspective. Remember, the other person is just another human being pretty much like yourself. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j04aa3zdcthft0bfajpqpgda)) - Use this two-step procedure to cure fear and win confidence: 1. Isolate your fear. Pin it down. Determine exactly what you are afraid of. 2. Then take action. There is some kind of action for any kind of fear. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j04agrbxfz3wexpryw70ry0d)) - Probably the greatest human weakness is self-deprecation—that is, selling oneself short. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j04ajvzp0bqf70pj136c3sck)) - Here is an exercise to help you measure your true size. I’ve used it in training programs for executives and sales personnel. It works. 1. Determine your five chief assets. Invite some objective friend to help—possibly your wife, your superior, a professor—some intelligent person who will give you an honest opinion. (Examples of assets frequently listed are education, experience, technical skills, appearance, well-adjusted home life, attitudes, personality, initiative.) 2. Next, under each asset, write the names of three persons you know who have achieved large success but who do *not* have this asset to as great a degree as you. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j04amtswkj8x0nae57an3ab7)) - **SITUATION** **THE PETTY THINKER’S APPROACH** **THE BIG THINKER’S APPROACH** *Expense accounts* 1. Figures out ways to increase income through chiseling on expense accounts. 1. Figures out ways to increase income by selling more merchandise. *Conversation* 2. Talks about the negative qualities of his friends, the economy, his company, the competition. 2. Talks about the positive qualities of his friends, his company, the competition. *Progress* 3. Believes in retrenchment or at best the status quo. 3. Believes in expansion. *Future* 4. Views the future as limited. 4. Sees the future as very promising. *Work* 5. Looks for ways to avoid work. 5. Looks for more ways and things to do, especially helping others. *Competition* 6. Competes with the average. 6. Competes with the best. *Budget problems* 7. Figures out ways to save money by cutting down on necessary items. 7. Figures out ways to increase income and buy more of the necessary items. *Goals* 8. Sets goals low. 8. Sets goals high. *Goals vision* 9. Sees only the short run. 9. Is preoccupied with the long run. *Security* 10. Is preoccupied with security problems. 10. Regards security as a natural companion of success. *Companionship* 11. Surrounds himself with petty thinkers. 11. Surrounds himself with persons with large, progressive ideas. *Mistakes* 12. Magnifies minor errors. Turns them into big issues. 12. Ignores errors of little consequence. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j05bfmwk4d7jp1b10fskc2pv)) - Don’t sell yourself short. Conquer the crime of self-deprecation. Concentrate on your assets. You’re better than you think you are. 2. Use the big thinker’s vocabulary. Use big, bright, cheerful words. Use words that promise victory, hope, happiness, pleasure; avoid words that create unpleasant images of failure, defeat, grief. 3. Stretch your vision. See what can be, not just what is. Practice adding value to things, to people, and to yourself. 4. Get the big view of your job. Think, really think your present job is important. That next promotion depends mostly on how you think toward your *present* job. 5. Think above trivial things. Focus your attention on big objectives. Before getting involved in a petty matter, ask yourself, “Is it really important?” ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j05bg0yabp9an3j72r5bz8h8)) - Rule: Remember, your appearance “talks.” Be sure it says positive things about you. Never leave home without feeling certain you look like the kind of person you want to be. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j05bpvw1y00066qga9zzvkwp)) - *A person who* thinks *his job is important* *Receives mental signals on how to do his job better*; *And a better job means* *More promotions, more money, more prestige, more happiness.* ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j05bv63d3drft65kpz6mt239)) - That day I decided to try it. Without telling anyone I walked out on the lot and found a vacant car. Then for several minutes I talked to myself. I told myself, ‘I’m a good car salesman and I’m going to be the best. I sell good cars and I give good deals. The people I’m phoning need those cars and I’m going to sell them.’ ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j05bwr76jhvfk9m3fdk8d496)) - **SITUATION** **ASK YOURSELF** 1. When I worry Would an important person worry about this?   Would the most successful person I know be disturbed about this? 2. An idea What would an important person do if he had this idea? 3. My appearance Do I look like someone who has maximum self-respect? 4. My language Am I using the language of successful people? 5. What I read Would an important person read this? 6. Conversation Is this something successful people would discuss? 7. When I lose my temper Would an important person get mad at what I’m mad at? 8. My jokes Is this the kind of joke an important person would tell? 9. My job How does an important person describe his job to others? ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j05bycmayr6f1jg29k5c297g)) - Look important; it helps you think important. Your appearance talks to you. Be sure it lifts your spirits and builds your confidence. Your appearance talks to others. Make certain it says, “Here is an important person: intelligent, prosperous, and dependable.” 2. Think your work is important. Think this way, and you will receive mental signals on how to do your job better. Think your work is important, and your subordinates will think their work is important too. 3. Give yourself a pep talk several times daily. Build a “sell-yourself-to-yourself” commercial. Remind yourself at every opportunity that you’re a first-class person. 4. In all of life’s situations, ask yourself, “Is this the way an important person thinks?” Then obey the answer. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j05c0jz3k9hee9pr719jy39g)) - Be environment-conscious. Just as body diet makes the body, mind diet makes the mind. 2. Make your environment work for you, not against you. Don’t let suppressive forces—the negative, you-can’t-do-it people—make you think defeat. 3. Don’t let small-thinking people hold you back. Jealous people want to see you stumble. Don’t give them that satisfaction. 4. Get your advice from successful people. Your future is important. Never risk it with freelance advisors who are living failures. 5. Get plenty of psychological sunshine. Circulate in new groups. Discover new and stimulating things to do. 6. Throw thought poison out of your environment. Avoid gossip. Talk about people, but stay on the positive side. 7. Go first class in everything you do. You can’t afford to go any other way. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j05c3831jdwhmxkq0x6ts5y8)) - 1. Grow the “*I’m activated*” attitude. Results come in proportion to the enthusiasm invested. Three things to do to activate yourself are: **Dig into it deeper. When you find yourself uninterested in something, dig in and learn more about it. This sets off enthusiasm.** **Life up everything about you: your smile, your handshake, your talk, even your walk. Act alive.** **Broadcast good news. No one ever accomplished anything positive telling bad news.** 2. Grow the “You are important” attitude. People do more for you when you make them feel important. Remember to do these things: **Show appreciation at every opportunity. Make people feel important.** **Call people by name.** 3. Grow the “Service first” attitude, and watch money take care of itself. Make it a rule in everything you do: give people more than they expect to get. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j05c5pnmtta7ta0hfj0e5eqb)) - 1. Make yourself lighter to lift. Be likable. Practice being the kind of person people like. This wins their support and puts fuel in your success-building program. 2. Take the initiative in building friendships. Introduce yourself to others at every opportunity. Make sure you get the other person’s name straight, and make certain he gets your name straight too. Drop a personal note to your new friends you want to get to know better. 3. Accept human differences and limitations. Don’t expect anyone to be perfect. Remember, the other person has a right to be different. And don’t be a reformer. 4. Tune in Channel P, the Good Thoughts Station. Find qualities to like and admire in a person, not things to dislike. And don’t let others prejudice your thinking about a third person. Think positive thoughts towards people—and get positive results. 5. Practice conversation generosity. Be like successful people. Encourage others to talk. Let the other person talk to you about *his* views, *his* opinions, *his* accomplishments. 6. Practice courtesy *all* the time. It makes other people feel better. It makes *you* feel better too. 7. Don’t blame others when you receive a setback. Remember, how you think when you lose determines how long it will be until you win. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j05c9fxq7bzmpznej2kgc81b)) - 1. Be an activationist. Be someone who does things. Be a doer, not a don’t-er. 2. Don’t wait until conditions are perfect. They never will be. Expect future obstacles and difficulties and solve them as they arise. 3. Remember, ideas alone won’t bring success. Ideas have value only when you act upon them. 4. Use action to cure fear and gain confidence. Do what you fear, and fear disappears. Just try it and see. 5. Start your mental engine mechanically. Don’t wait for the spirit to move you. *Take action*, dig in, and you move the spirit. 6. Think in terms of *now. Tomorrow, next week, later*, and similar words often are synonymous with the failure word, *never.* Be an “I’m starting right now” kind of person. 7. Get down to business—*pronto.* Don’t waste time getting ready to act. Start acting instead. 8. Seize the initiative. Be a crusader. Pick up the ball and run. Be a volunteer. Show that you have the ability and ambition to *do.* ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j05ccw991w0xrzrh1c7kt1rd))