The Magic of Thinking Big

by David J. Schwartz

the reason I lacked initiative was because I didn’t believe inside that I was worth very much.

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

For stickability is 95 percent of ability.

Remember, the thinking that guides your intelligence is much more important than how much intelligence you have.

“My attitudes are more important than my intelligence.” At work and at home practice positive attitudes. See the reasons why you can do it, not the reasons why you can’t. Develop an “I’m winning” attitude. Put your intelligence to creative positive use. Use it to find ways to win, not to prove you will lose.

The thinking that guides your intelligence is much more important that how much intelligence you have because it guides your intelligence either to a direction that serves or fails you.

action cures fear. Indecision, postponement, on the other hand, fertilize fear.

Best cure to fear is action not thinking as thinking yields indecision.

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.

Put the action principle to work. Next time you experience big fear or little fear, steady yourself. Then search for an answer to this question: What kind of action can I take to conquer my fear? Isolate your fear. Then take appropriate action.

Cure feat with action.

To think confidently, act confidently.

Thinking confidently starts with action.

“Remember, motions are the precursors of emotions.

Go through the proper motions each day and you’ll soon begin to feel the corresponding emotions! Just be sure you and your mate go through those motions of dates and kisses, the phrasing of sincere daily compliments, plus the many other little courtesies, and you need not worry about the emotion of love. You can’t act devoted for very long without feeling devoted.”

Action cures fear. Isolate your fear and then take constructive action. Inaction—doing nothing about a situation—strengthens fear and destroys confidence.

Reminder that inaction destroys confidence more than anything else even taking incorrect decisions sometimes.

The point is this: Big thinkers are specialists in creating positive, forward-looking, optimistic pictures in their own minds and in the minds of others. To think big, we must use words and phrases that produce big, positive mental images.

Look at things not as they are, but as they can be. Visualization adds value to everything. A big thinker always visualizes what can be done in the future. He isn’t stuck with the present.

In marriage the big objective is peace, happiness, tranquillity—not winning quarrels or saying “I could have told you so.”

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.

Each day before you begin work, devote ten minutes to thinking “How can I do a better job today?”

In business, in the home, in the community, the success combination is do what you do better (improve the quality of your output) and do more of what you do (increase the quantity of your output).

Carry a notebook or some small cards with you. When you get an idea, write it down.

Big people monopolize the listening; small people monopolize the talking.

give your ideas value by acting on them. Regardless of how good the idea, unless you do something with it, you gain nothing.

Dread making a certain phone call? Make it, and dread disappears. Put it off, and it will get harder and harder to make.

Another reminder of taking action

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.

Do this today: Pick the one thing you like to do least. Then, without letting yourself deliberate on or dread the task, do it. That’s the most efficient way to handle chores.

I’ve never heard anyone complimented and praised because “he doesn’t disturb anyone,” “he doesn’t take action,” or “he waits until he’s told what to do.” Have you?

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.

AN IMAGE OF ME, 10 YEARS FROM NOW: 10 YEARS’ PLANNING GUIDE A. Work Department: 10 years from now: 1. What income level do I want to attain? 2. What level of responsibility do I seek? 3. How much authority do I want to command? 4. What prestige do I expect to gain from my work? B. Home Department: 10 years from now: 1. What kind of standard of living do I want to provide for my family and myself? 2. What kind of house do I want to live in? 3. What kind of vacations do I want to take? 4. What financial support do I want to give my children in their early adult years? C. Social Department: 10 years from now: 1. What kinds of friends do I want to have? 2. What social groups do I want to join? 3. What community leadership positions would I like to hold? 4. What worthwhile causes do I want to champion?

THIRTY-DAY IMPROVEMENT GUIDE Between now and _____ I will A. Break these habits: (suggestions) 1. Putting off things. 2. Negative language. 3. Watching TV more than 60 minutes per day. 4. Gossip. B. Acquire these habits: (suggestions) 1. A rigid morning examination of my appearance. 2. Plan each day’s work the night before. 3. Compliment people at every possible opportunity. C. Increase my value to my employer in these ways: (suggestions) 1. Do a better job of developing my subordinates. 2. Learn more about my company, what it does, and the customers it serves. 3. Make three specific suggestions to help my company become more efficient. D. Increase my value to my home in these ways: (suggestions) 1. Show more appreciation for the little things my wife does that I’ve been taking for granted. 2. Once each week, do something special with my whole family. 3. Give one hour each day of my undivided attention to my family. E. Sharpen my mind in these ways: (suggestions) 1. Invest two hours each week in reading professional magazines in my field. 2. Read one self-help book. 3. Make four new friends. 4. Spend 30 minutes daily in quiet, undisturbed thinking.