The Magic of Thinking Big

by David J. Schwartz

Think enthusiastically. Build in yourself an optimistic, progressive glow, a feeling that “this is great and I’m 100 percent for it.”

You are what you think. Think enthusiasm and you’ll be enthusiastic. To get high-quality work, be enthusiastic about the job you want done. Others will catch the enthusiasm you generate and you’ll get first-class performance.

The moral: Practice uplifting self-praise. Don’t practice belittling self-punishment. You are what you think you are. Think more of yourself and there is more of you.

Because big men do not laugh at big ideas.

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

terms of accomplishment. The opinions of these people can be poison.

Taking an ax and chopping your neighbor’s furniture to pieces won’t make your furniture look one bit better; and using verbal axes and grenades on another person doesn’t do one thing to make you a better you or me a better me.

1. Be environment-conscious. Just as body diet makes the body, mind diet makes the mind.

Attitudes do make the difference. Salesmen with the right attitude beat their quotas; students with the right attitude make As; right attitudes pave the way to really happy married life. Right attitudes make you effective in dealing with people, enable you to develop as a leader. Right attitudes win for you in every situation. Grow these three attitudes. Make them your allies in everything you do. 1. Grow the attitude of I’m activated. 2. Grow the attitude of You are important. 3. Grow the attitude of Service

To activate others, to get them to be enthusiastic, you must first be enthusiastic yourself.

To get enthusiastic, learn more about the thing you are not enthusiastic about. Chances are you are quite unenthusiastic about bumblebees. But if you study bumblebees, find out what good they do, how they relate to other bees, how they reproduce, where they live in

winter—if you find out all you can about bumblebees, you will soon find yourself really interested in bumblebees.

Dig into it deeper, and you’ll develop enthusiasm. Put this principle to work next time you must do something you don’t want to do. Put this principle to work next time you find yourself becoming bored. Just dig in deeper and you dig up interest.

First, people do more for you when you make them feel important.

Let’s not kid ourselves. People who do not have a deep-down feeling of self-importance are slated for mediocrity. Again and again this point must be driven home: You must feel important to succeed. Helping others to feel important rewards you because it makes you feel more important.

Always give people more than they expect to get. Each little extra something you do for others is a money seed. Volunteering to work late and get the department out of a tight spot is a money seed; giving customers extra service is a money seed because it brings customers back; advancing a new idea that will increase efficiency is a money seed. Money seeds, of course, grow money. Plant service and harvest money.

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.

Success depends on the support of other people. The only hurdle between you and what you want to be is the support of others.

Now, here is an exceptionally important observation: In at least nine cases out of ten, the “likability” factor is the first thing mentioned. And in an overwhelmingly large number of cases, the “likability” factor is given far more weight than the technical factor. The above holds true even in selecting scholars for university professorships. In my own academic experience I’ve sat in on a considerable number of occasions when names for new faculty personnel were under question. When a name came up, the group would weigh most carefully thoughts such as “Will he fit in?” “Will students like him?” “Will he cooperate with others on the staff?”

Learn to remember names. Inefficiency at this point may indicate that your interest is not sufficiently outgoing. 2. Be a comfortable person so there is no strain in being with you. Be an old-shoe kind of individual. 3. Acquire the quality of relaxed easy-going so that things do not ruffle you. 4. Don’t be egotistical. Guard against the impression that you know it all. 5. Cultivate the quality of being interesting so people will get something of value from their association with you. 6. Study to get the “scratchy” elements out of your personality, even those of which you may be unconscious. 7. Sincerely attempt to heal, on an honest basis, every misunderstanding you have had or now have. Drain off your grievances. 8. Practice liking people until you learn to do so genuinely. 9. Never miss an opportunity to say a word of congratulation upon anyone’s achievement, or express sympathy in sorrow or disappointment. 10. Give spiritual strength to people, and they will give genuine affection to you.

Take the initiative in building friendships—leaders always do.

Next time you are in a large group, observe something very significant: the most important person present is the one person most active in introducing himself.

Introduce yourself to others at every possible opportunity—at parties, meetings, on airplanes, at work, everywhere. 2. Be sure the other person gets your name straight. 3. Be sure you can pronounce the other person’s name the way he pronounces it. 4. Write down the other person’s name, and be mighty sure you have it spelled correctly; people have a fetish about the correct spelling of their own names! If possible, get his address and phone number, also. 5. Drop a personal note or make a phone call to the new friends you feel you want to know better. This is an important point. Most successful people follow through on new friends with a letter or a phone call. 6. And last but not least, say pleasant things to strangers. It warms you up and gets you ready for the task ahead. Putting these six rules to work is really thinking right about people. To be sure, it is not the way the average person thinks.

Mr. “Average” never takes the initiative in making introductions. He waits for the other person to introduce himself first. Take the initiative. Be like the successful. Go out of your way to meet people. And don’t be timid. Don’t be afraid to be unusual. Find out who the other person is, and be sure he knows who you are.

Your mind is a mental broadcasting station. This broadcasting system transmits messages to you on two equally powerful channels: Channel P (positive) and Channel N (negative).

Make a forceful promise to yourself. Refuse to let others prejudice your thinking. Stay tuned to Channel P.

Once you’ve mastered the technique of thinking only good thoughts about people, greater success is guaranteed. Let me tell

“My success,” he continued, “is based on one thing. I like, really like the guy I’m selling. Let me say again, I really like him. Some of my fellow salesmen try to pretend they like the other fellow, but this won’t work. You can’t even fool a dog. Your mannerisms, eyes, facial expressions, all spell p-h-o-n-y when you pretend.

The person who does the most talking and the person who is the most successful are rarely the same person. Almost without exception, the more successful the person, the more he practices conversation generosity, that is, he encourages the other person to talk about himself, his views, his accomplishments, his family, his job, his problems.

Remember this: the average person would rather talk about himself than anything else in this world. When you give him the chance, he likes you for it. Conversation generosity is the easiest, simplest, and surest way there is to win a friend.

Thinking right toward people removes frustrations and stress. When you boil it all down, the big cause of stress is negative feelings toward other people. So think positive toward people and discover how wonderful, really wonderful this world is.

Remember this: how you think when you lose determines how long it will be until you win.

when things go wrong. Just do two things: 1. Ask yourself, “What can I do to make myself more deserving of the next opportunity?” 2. Don’t waste time and energy being discouraged. Don’t berate yourself. Plan to win next time.

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.

Excellent ideas are not enough. An only fair idea acted upon, and developed, is 100 percent better than a terrific idea that dies because it isn’t followed up.

Got a good idea? Then do something about it. Use action to cure fear and gain confidence. Here’s something to remember. Action feeds and strengthens confidence; inaction in all forms feeds fear. To fight fear, act. To increase fear—wait, put off, postpone.

The point is clear. People who get things done in this world don’t wait for the spirit to move them; they move the spirit. Try these two exercises:

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.

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.

It is not possible to win high-level success without meeting opposition, hardship, and setback. But it is possible to use setbacks to propel you forward.

salvage something from every setback. When a setback hits us personally, our first impulse is often to become so emotionally upset that we fail to learn the lesson.

Don’t, of course, try to find your faults so you can say to yourself, “Here’s another reason I’m a loser.” Instead view your mistakes as “Here’s another way to make me a bigger winner.”

The difference between success and failure is found in one’s attitudes toward setbacks, handicaps, discouragements, and other disappointing situations.

Study setbacks to pave your way to success. When you lose, learn, and then go on to win next time.

Have the courage to be your own constructive critic. Seek out your faults and weaknesses and then correct them. This makes you a professional. 3. Stop blaming luck. Research each setback. Find out what went wrong. Remember, blaming luck never got anyone where he wanted to go. 4. Blend persistence with experimentation. Stay with your goal but don’t beat your head against a stone wall. Try new approaches. Experiment. 5. Remember, there is a good side in every situation. Find it. See the good side and whip discouragement.

Nothing happens, no forward steps are taken, until a goal is established. Without goals individuals just wander through life.

The important thing is not where you were or where you are but where you want to get.

Desire, when harnessed, is power. Failure to follow desire, to do what you want to do most, paves the way to mediocrity.

Success requires heart-and-soul effort, and you can put your heart and soul only into something you really desire.