The Magic Of Thinking Big

Schwartz says that each chapter provides “dozens of hardheaded, practical ideas, techniques, and principles” for achieving success (5). The list includes a total of 84 distinct benefits from reading the book. These include learning how to use belief to achieve goals, as well as how to “defeat disbelief,” believe big, generate positive thoughts and increase their power, plan a program for success, and avoid excuses. Also included are techniques to master health issues, understand luck, use the “action technique,” manage memory, reduce fear of others, satisfy one’s conscience, and master the five steps that improve confidence.

The book also shows how to add value to others, think big on the job, focus on what’s important, brainstorm solutions, sidestep “traditional thinking,” believe in one’s importance, manage and use one’s work environment, avoid the chains of “small people,” recharge during leisure, go “first class” at all times, and develop enthusiasm. Additionally, the book describes how to prioritize serving others, think positively about them, be easier to work with, overcome setbacks, salvage value from them, become action-oriented, critique oneself constructively, persist and experiment, set definite goals, learn leadership and how to influence others, and think big during critical events.

Schwartz declares: “Success—achievement—is the goal of life!” (9). This doesn’t happen by mere wishing; one must believe that it will occur. Most people wish to climb the ladder of success but they don’t really believe that they can. Those who do believe they’ll succeed take the steps that lead in that direction.

A young woman decided to start a mobile home sales business. She was new to the industry, underfunded, and told that competition was heavy. She noticed, however, that the industry was growing, and she realized that she could out-market her competition. Quickly she obtained two backers and got a manufacturer to advance her some inventory. Her first year was a rousing success, and she foresaw doubling her revenue in year two.

A state highway bureau sought bids from 21 engineering firms on designing eight bridges. Four big firms placed bids. All but one of the small firms quickly bowed out, fearing the sheer size of their competitors. The sole small firm that entered, though, is the one that got the job.

Humanity’s entrance into space began on the belief that it could be done. The “driving force” behind great human achievements is that belief. It’s important, then, to study leaders but not feel intimidated by them. These leaders succeeded on the back of their belief in themselves, and so, too, can anyone who admires them.

One tool-and-dye sales rep, lamenting his mediocre career, had it out with himself and realized, “[T]he reason I lacked initiative was because I didn’t believe inside that I was worth very much” (17). He realized he was selling himself short and turned his attitude around. His career grew quickly, and his ability to make sales even during a recession won him company stock and a pay raise.

Two foremen operate one’s mind: One, “Mr. Triumph,” creates thoughts of success; the other, “Mr. Defeat,” specializes in the “why-you-will-fail” chain of thoughts (18). Either one will snap to attention, depending on which type of thought they’re fed. If a person thinks that the day is bad, Mr. Defeat will devise reasons why that’s true; if, instead, the person thinks that the day is good, Mr. Triumph will swing into action and produce a cascade of positive thoughts. The secret is to fire Mr. Defeat and use Mr. Triumph all the time.

Three techniques generate the belief power: Visualize success, not failure; don’t assume one lacks the ability to succeed; and “think Big.” The book describes what’s to be achieved. Each chapter then shows how to do so. Results will appear in the form of greater respect, status, usefulness, and income. Readers must apply these principles in the laboratory of the humans around them. This lab is free to use.

A simple way to observe others is to select both a successful and an unsuccessful person and check to see how their behaviors match the principles from the book.

Unsuccessful people suffer from a disease called “excusitis”: “Persons with mediocre accomplishments are quick to explain why they haven’t, why they don’t, why they can’t, and why they aren’t” (25). This illness is absent from successful people.

Those who need to save face find a good excuse—poor health, unfinished education, age, bad luck—and then strengthen it until they believe the excuse.

Everyone has one health problem or another, but it doesn’t have to be an excuse. In the book How to Live 365 Days a Year, author Dr. John Schindler asserts that three-fourths of hospital patients suffer from “Emotionally Induced Illness” (28). On the other hand, Schwartz met a man diagnosed with tuberculosis who refused to let its restrictions prevent him from raising a family and practicing law. At age 78, he was still going strong. Another acquaintance lost an arm in World War II. He admits that two arms are better, but his spirit is intact. He golfs better than a lot of players and believes that one arm and a good attitude beats two arms and a poor one.

Four techniques defeat health excusitis: Never complain about health; don’t worry about health; be grateful for good health; and “wear out” instead of rusting out.

Most people believe they’re not smart enough to succeed, but the amount of intellect one has is less important than what one does with it. Interest and enthusiasm are much more important than IQ points, even in science, and an active intelligence is more powerful than an idle one. Schwartz knows a brilliant man, a Phi Beta Kappa college grad, who works in a mediocre job because he’s afraid of responsibility, and he uses his brains to prove why he can’t succeed.

An officer in an ad agency, Phil F., didn’t finish college and knew nothing about statistics and research, but he earned three times his smarter subordinates’ salaries because he understood people and knew how to inspire them. At college and in business, everyone chosen is smart, but only the ones with a good attitude make the grade.

Schwartz did research for an insurance company on the differences in sales success among its sales force. Brains and education didn’t make a difference. Instead, “[t]he top group worried less, was more enthusiastic, had a sincere liking for people” (37).

Knowing a lot of facts isn’t the same as making good use of them. Both Albert Einstein and Henry Ford believed that it’s better to use one’s mind to think constructively than to memorize information that can be looked up. One manufacturing director told Schwartz he’d refuse to hire someone who knew lots of facts but didn’t know how to solve problems.

Three ways to cure oneself of “intelligence excusitis” are as follows: Don’t underestimate one’s own intellect or overestimate that of others; use the mind to find ways of winning instead of reasons for losing; practice thinking up new and useful ideas that can improve how things are done.

Most excuses about age are either about being too old or too young. Especially popular is the idea that, after a certain age, it’s too late to succeed. A man named Cecil wanted to be a manufacturer representative but, at age 40, believed he was too old. Schwartz asked him what he thought was the lower and upper age limit for productivity; Cecil answered that it was between 20 and 70. Schwartz pointed out that Cecil, at 40, wasn’t even halfway through his productive years. Cecil realized he was still young after all.

A young man out of college was promoted to sales manager but worried he wasn’t old enough to manage people several years older than himself. Schwartz counseled him that ability, not age, makes the leader, and that many leaders are in charge of much older people. He advised him to believe in himself and not try to lord it over the workers. Besides, the sheer energy of youth also has its advantages.

Much of bad luck is really bad decisions. If luck ruled business affairs, then each work position would be determined by lottery. What most people consider the good luck of others usually is due to hard work and careful planning.

Fear can be cured by action. One executive buyer faced dwindling sales during an upturn in his company’s revenues. Paralyzed by fear, he felt himself drowning while sharks circled. Schwartz suggested he take immediate action to plug the sales leaks—perhaps with discounts to move old merchandise and make room for new, better-selling items—and make it clear to his workers that he’s on the job and things are changing. Second, he needed to generate job offers from other stores: This would insure against having to get hired while unemployed. The executive began holding daily sales meetings where he energized his reps, and their sales began to lead the store. He also got two outside job offers.

Hesitation worsens fear. Two steps mitigate it: First, isolate it and understand the fear completely. Second, “take action. There is some kind of action for any kind of fear” (55). If an upcoming exam causes fear, convert the worry to study time. For fear of criticism, figure out the right thing to do, stick to it, and know that all worthwhile acts get criticized.

People often search their memories for, and easily find, examples of their own failures. These contribute to fear. People can just as easily find cases where they succeeded, and these memories help overcome fear. A focus on depositing positive thoughts and avoiding negative rumination fills your mind with success memories. While alone, “deposit good thoughts in your memory bank” (57). Before sleep, recall the good things that happened during the day.

Schwartz worked with a group of psychologists who found that people often brood negatively on problems for years. Many persons worry or humiliate themselves literally to death. One therapist gave a woman with depression—she saw her life only in negative terms—an assignment to write daily lists of things that made her happy. Over the months, she began to improve greatly. It helps that, in general, unpleasant memories tend to fade if not constantly reviewed.

Much of the fear about other people is that they’re better, or more important than, oneself. The truth is that people are pretty much the same, including the big and powerful, and that everyone is important as an individual. Bullies usually are highly stressed by other people. As one hotel clerk put it after politely standing up to an aggressive guest who tried to berate him into an upgrade, “Underneath he’s probably a very nice guy” (64).

One of Schwartz’s students turned in an exam paper that was way below par. Schwartz called him in, and he confessed that he’d used cribbed notes while taking the test. He really wanted an A in the class; it was his first cheat, but his conscience was tormenting him. Schwartz pointed out that in later life—business or marriage, for example—cheating causes guilt that eats into a person’s confidence like a cancer, eventually causing failure and discovery. He gave the student a book, Fifty Years with the Golden Rule (1950) by retail magnate J.C. Penney, and said if he read it, the entire cheating incident would be forgotten.

Feelings follow actions. Thus, to feel confidence, one must act with confidence. To do so, sit up front at meetings, make eye contact, walk 25% faster and a bit taller, speak up at meetings, and smile. Smiling is especially powerful. It fills the smiler with confidence, others respond well to it, and it melts anger.