PDF Summary:The Magic of Thinking Big, by David J. Schwartz

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When You Believe in Yourself, You Gain Power

Here’s what happens when you believe in yourself and adopt an “I know I can do it” attitude:

• You generate the energy, skills and power to set and achieve your goal. The American space program was driven by a firm, unwavering belief that space exploration was possible. Without this belief, it could never have happened.
• Because you believe you can do it, you overcome obstacles. The underwater English Channel Tunnel linking England and France was seen as incredibly difficult and costly. But with resolution to achieve the goal, the builders overcame the many engineering and political obstacles that arose.
• Others have confidence in you when you project confidence and a belief in yourself. In the book, a young woman with dreams of selling mobile homes was viewed with skepticism because of her lack of capital and experience. But she believed so firmly in her success that she convinced investors to fund her and manufacturers to advance her inventory, and she sold millions of dollars of mobile homes.

In summary, “whether you think you can, or you think you can't—you're right.”

How to Develop the Power...

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The author shares a story about a golfer friend who had an arm amputated. No one would’ve blamed him if he gave up his sport, but instead he remained positive, upbeat and determined. He worked on perfecting his swing, and others marveled at how he became better than most two-armed golfers. The golfer said, “It’s my experience that the right attitude and one arm will beat the wrong attitude and two arms every time.” People with an actual disadvantage but the right attitude will always beat someone without the disadvantage but with a bad attitude.

How to Cure Health Excusitis:

1. Don’t talk about your health issues. The more you talk about a health problem, the worse it seems. The author likens talking about your health woes to putting “fertilizer on weeds.” Plus, discussing your ailments tends to bore people and makes you seem self-centered.
2. Don’t worry about your health excessively. Worrying about your health doesn’t help anything, and the stress can lead to even more problems.
3. Be grateful for the health you have. Know that if you’re alive, you are incredibly fortunate.
   • The author, a diabetic himself, talks about a diabetic acquaintance who...

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• She could investigate the reason for slipping sales and rally her team.
• She could seek the advice of other managers and formulate a plan of action to boost sales.
• She may also want to hedge her bets by polishing her resume and looking out for other opportunities.

In all cases, she is taking back control of her life and doing something about her situation. Fear conquered.

There is some kind of action for every fear.

• Worried about a big test? Use the worry time as study time.
• Terrified of interacting with people you don’t know? Remember that other people are human just like you; practice and get into the habit of speaking up.
• Afraid of making a big decision like buying a house? Analyze all factors thoroughly. Then make a decision, and trust your judgment.

Isolate your fear and take action.

Think Positively

Think of your brain as a bank, where you make thought deposits and thought withdrawals. Your inner bank teller is very responsive, ready to deliver whatever memory you call upon as thought evidence. Feeling inadequate in the face of a big decision? Your “teller” will swiftly supply you with past failures, remind you of the people who...

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To accept your full worth and stop selling yourself short, try this fun exercise. It helps you do a reality check and realize just how capable you really are.

1. Write down your five best “assets” (education, appearance, skills, attitude, initiative.) Get some objective input from trusted friends, your spouse, and perhaps colleagues. Look for someone who can give an honest opinion.
2. Next, under each of your five assets, list three people you know of who have achieved great success, but don’t have this asset to as high a degree as you.

When you’re done, you’ll see that you score better in certain areas than even highly successful people you admire. You have concrete proof that you’re bigger than you think. This is inspiration to fit your thinking to your true size.

Big Thinkers Use Positive Words

To become a big thinker, we must develop a “big thinker’s vocabulary.” This isn’t about using big words — it’s using words that paint a picture of positivity and success.

First, it’s important to understand that when you speak or write, you are essentially painting a picture in the minds of others. If someone tells you, “Carol bought a house,” one picture comes to mind....

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Stop Traditional Thinking

Traditional thinking is the belief that there is one, proven way to get something done, and that’s that. When you think like this, nothing gets innovated because you do the same thing over and over again.

Here’s a test - see what your reaction is to the following ideas:

• School should start at 10AM, not at 8AM.
• Companies should have a 4-day workweek.
• Presidents should have 5 year terms, instead of 4.

Did you have an instinctively negative reaction? Something like, “no, this is not the way things have been. We shouldn’t change things.” This is a sign of traditional thinking. With this reaction, you constrain your mind, and you don’t give anything permission to change.

Instead, an untraditional thinker person would react by saying, “huh, that’s an interesting idea. Why do you think this?”

When you take on the philosophy that there is no one best way to do anything, you signal your mind to unleash creative thinking and find ways to innovate. There are three ways to fight traditional thinking:

1. Welcome new ideas. Be receptive to new thoughts, even ones you might disagree with at first.
2. Experiment. Break up your...

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Dressing differently also influences how other people perceive you. When you buy produce, you want to buy more attractive, better-packaged produce more than less attractive produce. Other people treat you the same way.

What if money is an issue? You’d love to wear a top-notch suit and think more like an executive, but you simply can’t afford it. Then buy fewer items, but make sure they’re higher quality. You may ultimately spend less because higher-quality items tend to last longer.

Believe That Your Work Is Important

(Shortform note: this builds on ideas in Chapter 4.)

Just like your appearance, your attitude toward your work or goal speaks volumes to everyone around you. If you believe your work is important, other people will believe you are important.

There’s a classic story of three bricklayers who are asked what they’re doing.

• The first answered, “Laying brick.”
• The second said, “Making $9 an hour.”
• The third said, “Building the world’s greatest cathedral.”

The third bricklayer showed vision and respect. You can imagine the third one propelling himself to greater heights. You wouldn’t imagine the first two doing that.

If you think your...

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Others surrender partially at first, holding out hope that someday big things will happen. As time goes by, however, this group loses their fight and decides that greater success isn’t worth the effort.

The third group never surrenders to the “you’ll never accomplish anything big” line of thinking. What’s different about this group? Big thinkers refuse to listen to suppressive talk and advice and instead think about success and drive toward success. They simply don’t listen to anyone who says their goals can’t be accomplished. They’ve developed a defense against the negative opinions of other people, seeing negativity only as an opportunity to prove the naysayers wrong.

Even if you’re not in the third group now, you can get there. You are fully capable of reconditioning yourself for success. (Much of this book is about doing this). It takes a shift in attitude and a deep-seated belief in yourself and your ability to achieve your goals. You have to condition yourself to ignore the poisonous opinions of others, which can be aided by managing your social environment, which we’ll discuss next.

Manage Your Social Environment

There are several aspects to managing...

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• Add more life to everything you do. Practice enthusiasm in your actions and words.
  • When you shake hands with someone, grasp their hand firmly, make eye contact and smile. They’ll feel great and you’ll feel engaged.
  • When you say “thank you,” or “how are you?” smile and speak sincerely. Others will see an enthusiastic, warm individual.
• Spread good news. Good news makes people happy and spreads enthusiasm.
  • You can broadcast good things happening in your life. “My kid got into college!”
  • Share good company news. “We made our quota!”
  • Relay positivity. “I ran into your friend the other day; he spoke so highly of you!”
  • Likewise, avoid negative news. Don’t complain about the weather.

The “You Are Important” Attitude

Everyone wants to feel important. Others — customers, employees, friends — react positively to you when you make them feel important. They’ll work harder for you, cooperate more and offer more help.

Three tips on conveying the “You are important” attitude:

• Show sincere appreciation. People thrive on praise and compliments.
  • Give sincere, deserved compliments. For example, tell...

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1. Follow up with a note (email or text if appropriate). If you want to know them better, it’s important to follow through and take the next step.
2. Say nice things to strangers. Offer sincere compliments.

Average people wait for others to introduce themselves. Successful people take the initiative, finding out who the other person is — and making sure that other person knows who they are.

Don’t Expect Perfection in Other People

The perfect person doesn’t exist; we’re all human. When you expect perfection from others — coworkers, superiors, family, partners, friends — you set yourself up for disappointment and diminish your likeability.

Learn to go easy on other people:

• Understand that no one is perfect. We’re all just human beings who make mistakes.
• Recognize that others can be very different from you. We all have our own life experiences, habits, cultures, religions. You don’t have to approve of everything someone else does, but you must not dislike him for it.
• Don’t try to change other people’s opinions or beliefs. It’s not up to you to reform. Instead, live and let live respectfully.

Tune in to Channel P When Dealing With Other...

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*   Successful people think creatively and find ways to make their goals, such as buying a home, a reality even when issues crop up.

• Conditions will never be perfect.
  • You want to take your family on a road trip when things are just right. But if you waited until conditions were perfect (weather, no bad drivers, perfect roadways), you’d never go.
  • Successful people face bad conditions and find creative solutions. They don’t wait for conditions to be perfect before they take action.

Successful people take action, meet problems as they arise, and work them out creatively along the way.

Action Cures Fear

When we put off our goals because we’re afraid of the potential roadblocks ahead, we do our excellent ideas a disservice. These ideas — what we could have accomplished — can come back to haunt us.

• Fear leads to lost opportunities and regret. The author refers to this as the “ghost of ideas coming back to haunt you.”
  • Think of a talented writer with an intriguing voice and a compelling subject. If he lets fear and life get in the way and never writes his book, he’ll feel enormous regret for what might have been.
• **Successful...

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• If an airport is closed due to weather, a plane wouldn’t circle aimlessly - it would reroute to another airport.

Successful people take detours in stride. They keep going, even if they have to find a new path toward their goals. They know that you don’t need to change your goal when you hit a detour; you just need to find a different route.

Don’t Assign Blame for Your Setbacks

When we win, we want to take credit. But when something goes sideways, we tend to look for someone or something else to blame.

We often blame others for our failures.

• A salesperson blames customers when he loses contracts.
• Spouses blame each other when finances go awry.
• Executives blame employees when the company misses goals.

Others may get in our way at times, but blaming others for setbacks is unproductive. Instead, successful people look inward and become self-critical in a constructive way. Find your weaknesses objectively, then correct them.

But don’t take it too far. Don’t say, “I’m really a failure.” Say, “Now that I learned this, I’m going to become a bigger winner.”

People also like blaming bad luck for failing. Blaming bad luck sucks all your personal...

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No matter how big or small, goals have incredible power. Focusing on a goal immediately boosts energy, cures boredom, and unleashes physical power. Think of a weekend morning when you wake up with nothing to do. Sounds nice, but on days like this we accomplish little. When we wake up with a plan, we get things done.

Small goals on a daily and weekly basis keep us going and accomplishing. Salespeople have quotas that define what they need to sell, keeping them motivated and on task. Teachers set deadlines to motivate students to work efficiently. We accomplish what we plan to accomplish.

On a larger level, goals can help keep us alive, literally and figuratively. Think of the retiree who views retirement as the end of purposeful living. Having nothing to strive for is a recipe for depression. But the retiree who jumps in to new projects and interests and continues with her passions will thrive.

For Your Career, Follow Your Desire

The work, home and social aspects of your life are all important, but your career has the strongest influence on the other areas. Career success funds the standard of living that supports our home and social lives, so it’s important to...

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• If you’re throwing a party, think about the music and food your guests would like.

Constantly ask yourself, “If I were the other person, how would I react to this situation?” Then take the course of action that would connect with you if you were the other person.

Think About the “Human” Way to Handle a Situation

There are several types of leaders.

• Dictators: There’s no discussion; it’s your way or the highway. Dictators don’t tend to last long, as followers inevitably resent them.
• “By the books” leaders: You follow procedures and punish people for falling out of line. These don't inspire loyalty because people don’t appreciate being treated like machines, with little room for nuance or individuality.
• “Be human” leaders: These leaders are the most successful because they treat others with basic human decency. In dozens of small ways, this leader tells others that they are important. These small, human interactions create loyalty and support, as well as a positive atmosphere with good morale. A human leader:
  • Remembers her employees’ birthdays and sets up small office parties.
  • Offers assistance if an employee had an illness in...

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• Ask, “is this really important enough to spend time on? Would a big person waste time on this?”
• Don’t sweat the small stuff. They don’t move you toward your big goals.

When you encounter a setback:

• Remember every setback is a lesson. Learn from it. Every failure is just another reason you’ll succeed next time.
• Don’t blame other people or bad luck. Focus on how you can make yourself better.
• Experiment with new approaches. Don’t keep trying something that hasn’t worked many times before.