The Magic of Thinking Big - David Schwartz

Rating 8/10

My Summary:

These business self help books are an interesting breed. Though, they do a good job of shifting one’s mentality. If you have grand ideas about social interactions and business ventures in the back of your brain, you are much more likley to act upon them. Though I don’t think I learned anything tangibly new or life changing, 10 minutes of reading this book puts your mind in a mood to create and socialize.

Quotes:

Praise, sincerely administered, is a success tool. Use it! Use it again and again and again. Compliment people on their appearance, their work, their achievements, their families.

The moral is this: 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.

Eliminate the word impossible from your thinking and speaking vocabularies. Impossible is a failure word. The thought “It’s impossible” sets off a chain reaction of other thoughts to prove you’re right.

Whether these ideas are sound or practical is not the point. What is significant is how a person handles propositions like these. If he laughs at the idea and doesn’t give it a second thought (and probably 95 percent will laugh at it) chances are he suffers from tradition paralysis. But the one in twenty who says, “That’s an interesting idea; tell me more about it,” has a mind that’s turned to creativity.

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.

The bigger the person, the more apt he is to encourage you to talk; the smaller the person, the more apt he is to preach to you. Big people monopolize the listening. Small people monopolize the talking.

Don’t let tradition paralyze your mind. Be receptive to new ideas. Be experimental. Try new approaches. Be progressive in everything you do

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.

Remember: 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.

How we think is directly affected by the group we’re in. Be sure you’re in the flock that thinks right.

A man who lacks enthusiasm never develops it in another. But a person who is enthusiastic soon has enthusiastic followers.

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.

Ever notice how seldom children complain about the weather? They take hot weather in stride until the negative news corps educate them to be conscious of unpleasant temperatures. Make it a habit always to speak favorably about the weather regardless of what the weather actually is. Complaining about the weather makes you more miserable and it spreads misery to others.

The desire to be important is man’s strongest, most compelling nonbiological hunger.

Practice calling people by their names. Every year shrewd manufacturers sell more briefcases, pencils, Bibles, and hundreds of other items just by putting the buyer’s name on the product. People like to be called by name. It gives everyone a boost to be addressed by name.

Introduce yourself to others at every possible opportunity—at parties, meetings, on airplanes, at work, everywhere.

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.

Regardless of how good the idea, unless you do something with it, you gain nothing.

Perhaps the most unpleasant household task to most women is washing dishes. My mother is no exception. But she has mastered a mechanical approach to dispensing with this task quickly, so she can return to things she likes to do.

Remind yourself once again that you are not pulled to high levels of success. Rather, you are lifted there by those working beside and below you.

Trade minds with the people you want to influence. 2. Think: What is the human way to handle this? 3. Think progress, believe in progress, push for progress. 4. Take time out to confer with yourself and develop your supreme thinking power.

As a general rule, the more interest you show in a person, the more he will produce for you. And his production is what carries you forward to greater and greater success.

Rather, a man big enough to be humble appears more confident than the insecure man who feels compelled to call attention to his accomplishments. A little modesty goes a long way.

Praise is the greatest single incentive you can give people, and it costs you nothing.

Think Big Enough to be immune to the attacks of petty people.