The Magic of thinking big- David Schwartz (Summary)

 

Hello Everyone, 

Hope you guys are doing good,

In this blog am going to share my perspective about the book The Magic Of Thinking Big By David  Schwartz, which I read during Quarantine time (plenty of time we had in the year 2020), reading this book was absolutely worth it. As we all know that we have been to the fatal virus and since then we have been trying to adapt the new normal, everything seems to be weird or strange that we never could of been imagined. So, in this situation what we all need is motivation to embrace the new challenges which are unpredictable and to conquer it. 

This book contains over all 13 chapters which covers all aspect of life, that we usually tend to get stuck. am going to illustrate each chapter.

1. Believe You Can Succeed and You Will

This chapter is all about developing the power of belief and how to conquer it, Steps to follow as such.

1. 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." and "I will succeed" dominate your thinking process. Thinking success conditions your mind to create plans that produce success. 

2. Remind yourself regularly that you are better than you think you are. And Success isn't based on luck. Successful people are just ordinary folks who have developed belief in themselves and what they do. Never-yes, never-sell yourself short. 

3. Believe Big. The size of your success is determined by the size of your belief. Think little goals and expect little achievements. Think big goals and win big success. Remember this, too!

2. Cure Yourself of Excusitis, The Failure Disease

This chapter explains you about why excusitis are biggest hindrance to success and how to conquer it. Excusitis appears in a wide variety of forms, but the worst types of this disease are Health excusitis, Intelligence excusitis, Age excusitis, and Luck excusits. 

Health Excusitis : Refuse to talk about your health. The more you talk about an ailment, even the common cold, the worse it seems to get. Talking about bad health is like putting fertilizer on weeds. Be genuinely grateful that your health is as good as it is. There's an old saying worth repeating often : I felt sorry for myself because I had ragged shoes until I met a man who had no feet. Life is yours to enjoy. Don't waste it. Don't pass up living by thinking yourself into a hospital bed.

Intelligence Excusitis : Never underestimate your own intelligence, and never overestimate the intelligence of others. Don't sell yourself short. Concentrate on your assets. Discover your superior talents. Remind yourself several times daily, "My attitudes are more important than my intelligence."

Age Excusitis : Look at your present age positively. Think, "I' m still young," not "I'm already old.". Invest future time in doing what your really want to do, it's too late only when you let your mind go negative and think it's too late. 

Luck Excusitis : Take always second look at what appears to be someone's "good luck." You'll find that not luck but preparation, planning, and success-producing thinking preceded his good fortune. Don't be a wishful thinker. Don't waste your mental muscles dreaming of an effortless way to win success. Success come from doing those things and mastering those principles that produce success.

3. Build Confidence and Destroy Fear.

This chapter talks about how to build confidence with techniques as follows.

• Action cures fear. Isolate your fear and then take constructive action. Inaction doing nothing about a situation strengthens fear and destroys confidence.
• Put people in proper perspective. Remember, people are more alike, much more alike, than they are different. Get a balanced view of the other fellow. He is just another human being. And develop an understanding attitude. Many people will bark, but it’s a rare one who bites. 
• Make everything about you say, “I’m confident, really confident.” Practice these little techniques in your day-to-day activities: Be a front seater. Make eye contact. Walk 25 percent faster. Speak up. Smile big.

 4. How To Think Big 

As the name says, this chapter is all about why we need to think big and what are benefits thinking big, along with some of the live examples, and below are some of the tips to follow from the book. 

• Concentrate on your assets. You’re better than you think you are. Use the big thinker’s vocabulary. Use big, bright, cheerful words. Use words that promise victory, hope, happiness, pleasure; avoid words that create unpleasant images of failure, defeat, grief. 

• Stretch your vision. See what can be, not just what is. Practice adding value to things, to people, and to yourself. Get the big view of your job. 
• Think, really think your present job is important. That next promotion depends mostly on how you think toward your present job. 
• Think above trivial things. Focus your attention on big objectives. Before getting involved in a petty matter, ask yourself, “Is it really important?” 

                  Grow big by thinking big!

5. How To Think and Dream Creativity 

This Chapter explains you about thought process and included some of the tips to follow to achieve it. 

• Believe it can be done. When you believe something can be done, your mind will find the ways to do it. Believing a solution paves the way to solution. Eliminate “impossible,” “won’t work,” “can’t do,” “no use trying” from your thinking and speaking vocabularies. 
• Don’t let tradition paralyze your mind. Be receptive to new ideas. Be experimental. Try new approaches, Be progressive in everything you do. 
• Ask yourself daily, “How can I do better?” There is no limit to self-improvement. When you ask yourself, “How can I do better?” sound answers will appear. Try it and see. Stretch your mind. Get stimulated. 
• Associate with people who can help you think of new ideas, new ways of doing things. Mix with people of different occupational and social interests.

6. You Are What You Think You Are

This chapter explains you about how we can change our life by just thinking what is right. Below are some of the tricks which I included from the book. 

• Look important; it helps you think important. Your appearance talks to you. Be sure it lifts your spirits and builds your confidence. Your appearance talks to others. Make certain it says, “Here is an important person: intelligent, prosperous, and dependable.” 
• Think your work is important. Think this way, and you will receive mental signals on how to do your job better. Think your work is important, and your subordinates will think their work is important too. Give yourself a pep talk several times daily. 
• Build a “sell-yourself-to-yourself” commercial. Remind yourself at every opportunity that you’re a first-class person. In all of life’s situations, ask yourself, “Is this the way an important person thinks?” Then obey the answer.

7. Manage Your Environments : Go First Class

This chapter explains you about importance of making decisions despite circumstances and choosing the best that you can offered. below are the points from the book.

• Be environment-conscious. Just as body diet makes the body, mind diet makes the mind. 
• Make your environment work for you, not against you. Don’t let suppressive forces—the negative, you-can’t-do-it people—make you think defeat.
• Throw thought poison out of your environment. Avoid gossip. Talk about people, but stay on the positive side. 
• Go first class in everything you do. You can’t afford to go any other way.

8. Make Your Attitudes Your allies

This  chapter is all about how right attitude can make you reach your greatest potential by following some rules such as.

• 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 Life up everything about you: your smile, your handshake, your talk, even your walk. Act alive. 
• 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. 
• 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.

9. Think Right Towards People

In this chapter it explains you, how support can help you in achieving things in life and thinking right about them. Some of the points which is mentioned in the books as follows.

• 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. 
• 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.
• Practice courtesy all the time. It makes other people feel better. It makes you feel better too. 
• 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.

10.  Get The Action Habit

In this chapter it talks about how taking action makes a huge difference rather than merely thinking about it, below are the some of the summarized points.  

• Be an activationist. Be someone who does things. Be a doer, not a don’t-er. 
• Don’t wait until conditions are perfect. They never will be. Expect future obstacles and difficulties and solve them as they arise. 
• Remember, ideas alone won’t bring success. Ideas have value only when you act upon them. 
• Use action to cure fear and gain confidence. Do what you fear, and fear disappears. Just try it and see.
• 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. 

                          Get in gear and go! 

11. How To Turn Defeat Into Victory 

This chapter talks about how we can turn our defeats into victory by taking right actions, and some of the points as mentioned below.

• 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. 
• Stop blaming luck. Research each setback. Find out what went wrong. Remember, blaming luck never got anyone where they wanted to go. 
• Blend persistence with experimentation. Stay with your goal but don’t beat your head against a stone wall. Try new approaches. Experiment. 
• Remember, there is a good side in every situation. Find it. See the good side and whip discouragement.

12. Use your Goals To Help You Grow

This chapter explains success building principles and how to use it effectively. some of the tips as mentioned below.

• Get a clear fix on where you want to go. Create an image of yourself ten years from now.
• Write out your ten-year plan. Your life is too important to be left to chance. Put down on paper what you want to accomplish in your work, your home, and your social departments. 
• Surrender yourself to your desires. Set goals to get more energy. Set goals to get things done. Set goals and discover the real enjoyment of living. 
• Let your major goal be your automatic pilot. When you let your goal absorb you, you’ll find yourself making the right decisions to reach your goal. 
• Achieve your goal one step at a time. Regard each task you perform, regardless of how small it may seem, as a step toward your goal. 
• Build thirty-day goals. Day-by-day effort pays off. 
• Take detours in your stride. Adetour simply means another route. It should never mean surrendering the goal. 
• Invest in yourself. Purchase those things that build mental power and efficiency. Invest in education. Invest in idea starters.

13. How To Think Like A Leader

This chapter explains you about how to think and behave like leader, what all consequences you will have to face and how to deal with it, some of the points as mentioned. 

• Apply the “Be-Human” rule in your dealings with others. Ask, “What is the human way to handle this?” In everything you do, show that you put other people first. Just give other people the kind of treatment you like to receive. You’ll be rewarded. 
• Think progress, believe in progress, push for progress. Think improvement in everything you do. Think high standards in everything you do. Over a period of time subordinates tend to become carbon copies of their chief. Be sure the master copy is worth duplicating. Make this a personal resolution: ‘At home, at work, in community life, if it’s progress I’m for it.”

This is what, I have summarized from the book, if you read the book you will come across many such amazing tips to follow.

This is all for this book, many other book summaries on the way of my book reading. Hope  you guys liked it. 

Thank you!!