The Magic of Thinking Big

by David J. Schwartz

Start out with this thought of the great philosopher Disraeli: “Life is too short to be little.”

Those who believe they can move mountains, do. Those who believe they can’t, cannot. Belief triggers the power to do.

It is well to respect the leader. Learn from him. Observe him. Study him. But don’t worship him. Believe you can surpass. Believe you can go beyond. Those who harbor the second-best attitude are invariably second-best doers.

Then it dawned on me that no one else was going to believe in me until I believed in myself.

Believe in yourself, and good things do start happening.

Think success, don’t think failure. At work, in your home, substitute success thinking for failure thinking. When you face a difficult situation, think, “I’ll win,” not “I’ll probably lose.” When you compete with someone else, think, “I’m equal to the best,” not “I’m outclassed.” When opportunity appears, think “I can do it,” never “I can’t.” Let the master thought “I will succeed” dominate your thinking process. Thinking success conditions your mind to create plans that produce success. Thinking failure does the exact opposite. Failure thinking conditions the mind to think other thoughts that produce failure.

It’s fun to feel yourself growing more confident, more effective, more successful day by day, month by month. Nothing—absolutely nothing—in this life gives you more satisfaction than knowing you’re on the road to success and achievement. And nothing stands as a bigger challenge than making the most of yourself.

The right attitude and one arm will beat the wrong attitude and two arms every time.

Just enough sense to stick with something—a chore, task, project—until it’s completed pays off much better than idle intelligence, even if idle intelligence be of genius caliber. For stickability is 95 percent of ability.

The difference in the very successful and the very unsuccessful finally reduced to differences in attitudes, or difference in thought management.

Knowledge is power—when you use it constructively.

Knowledge is only potential power. Knowledge is power only when put to use—and then only when the use made of it is constructive.

The story is told that the great scientist Einstein was once asked how many feet are in a mile. Einstein’s reply was “I don’t know. Why should I fill my brain with facts I can find in two minutes in any standard reference book?” Einstein taught us a big lesson. He felt it was more important to use your mind to think than to use it as a warehouse for facts.

When we face tough problems, we stay mired in the mud until we take action. Hope is a start. But hope needs action to win victories.

Be a front seater. Make eye contact. Walk 25 percent faster. Speak up. Smile big.

When you believe something is impossible, your mind goes to work for you to prove why. But when you believe, really believe, something can be done, your mind goes to work for you and helps you find the ways to do it.

Nothing grows in ice. If we let tradition freeze our minds, new ideas can’t sprout.

Capacity is a state of mind. How much we can do depends on how much we think we can do. When you really believe you can do more, your mind thinks creatively and shows you the way.

Concentrate on what the other person says. Listening is more than just keeping your own mouth shut. Listening means letting what’s said penetrate your mind. So often people pretend to listen when they aren’t listening at all. They’re just waiting for the other person to pause so they can take over with the talking. Concentrate on what the other person says. Evaluate it. That’s how you collect mind food.

Your physical exterior affects your mental interior. How you look on the outside affects how you think and feel on the inside.

People who tell you it cannot be done almost always are unsuccessful people, are strictly average or mediocre at best in terms of accomplishment.

Spread good news. It’s pointless to pass on the bad. It only makes your family worry, makes them nervous. Bring home some sunlight every day.

No person is all good and no person is all bad. The perfect person just doesn’t exist.

“A failure is a man who has blundered but is not able to cash in on the experience.”