Introduction
David Schwartz’s ‘The Magic of Thinking Big’ demonstrates that success is determined more by the size of your thinking than by the size of your brain. Published in 1959, this timeless classic shows how to develop the attitudes and thought patterns that lead to success in every area of life. Schwartz, a professor and consultant, combines psychological insights with practical strategies to show how thinking big creates the confidence, energy, and skills needed to achieve extraordinary results.
Key Takeaways
- Believe you can succeed and you will – belief is the foundation of all achievement
- Think big thoughts and big things will happen to you
- Cure yourself of ‘excusitis’ – the failure disease that prevents success
- Build confidence through action and positive self-talk
- Think and dream creatively to find solutions and opportunities
- Manage your environment to support big thinking and positive attitudes
- Turn defeat into victory by learning from setbacks and persisting
Detailed Summary
David Schwartz opens with a fundamental truth: the size of your success is determined by the size of your thinking. Big thinkers achieve big results, while small thinkers achieve small results. This isn’t about intelligence or education – it’s about developing the mental attitudes and thought patterns that create success.
Believe You Can Succeed and You Will
Belief is the foundation of all achievement. When you believe you can accomplish something, your mind finds ways to make it happen. When you believe you can’t, your mind finds reasons why it’s impossible.
The Power of Belief
Belief works in three ways:
- Belief guides your actions: What you believe determines what you do
- Belief attracts others: People are drawn to those who believe in themselves
- Belief creates the power to achieve: Strong belief generates the energy and persistence needed for success
Building Stronger Belief
- Think success, not failure: Focus on positive outcomes rather than potential problems
- Remind yourself regularly of your past successes: Build confidence through evidence of your capabilities
- Believe big: Set ambitious goals that inspire and motivate you
- Visualize success: See yourself achieving your goals in vivid detail
The Belief-Action Cycle
Belief and action reinforce each other:
- Strong belief leads to confident action
- Confident action produces positive results
- Positive results strengthen belief
- Stronger belief leads to even more confident action
Cure Yourself of Excusitis
Excusitis is the failure disease – the habit of making excuses for why you can’t succeed. Schwartz identifies four common forms of excusitis and provides cures for each.
Health Excusitis
The Problem: Using minor health issues as excuses for not pursuing goals
The Cure:
- Focus on what you can do, not what you can’t
- Refuse to talk about your health problems
- Be grateful for the health you have
- Use your mind to overcome physical limitations
Intelligence Excusitis
The Problem: Believing you’re not smart enough to succeed
The Cure:
- Remember that thinking ability is more important than raw intelligence
- Focus on developing your ideas rather than comparing IQ scores
- Use your brain creatively and constructively
- Concentrate on your strengths and abilities
Age Excusitis
The Problem: Thinking you’re too old or too young to achieve your goals
The Cure:
- Look at your age as an asset, not a liability
- Focus on your experience and wisdom (if older) or energy and fresh perspective (if younger)
- Remember that success has no age requirements
- Take action regardless of your age
Luck Excusitis
The Problem: Attributing others’ success to luck while blaming your failures on bad luck
The Cure:
- Accept responsibility for your results
- Prepare yourself for opportunities
- Work to create your own ‘luck’ through preparation and action
- Focus on what you can control
Build Confidence and Destroy Fear
Confidence is built through action, not through wishful thinking. The more you act despite fear, the more confident you become.
Understanding Fear
Fear is a normal emotion, but it becomes destructive when it prevents action. Most fears are based on imagined rather than real dangers.
The Confidence-Building Process
- Isolate your fear: Identify exactly what you’re afraid of
- Take action: Do the thing you fear in small steps
- Build on success: Use each small victory to build confidence for bigger challenges
- Develop competence: The more skilled you become, the more confident you feel
Confidence-Building Techniques
- Sit in the front row: Take visible positions that build confidence
- Make eye contact: Look people in the eye when speaking
- Walk faster: Move with purpose and energy
- Speak up: Share your ideas and opinions
- Smile big: Use your facial expression to build positive feelings
Think and Dream Creatively
Creative thinking is the ability to find new solutions to old problems and to see opportunities where others see obstacles.
Developing Creative Thinking
Ask yourself: ‘How can I do this better?’
- Challenge existing methods and approaches
- Look for ways to improve everything you do
- Question assumptions and conventional wisdom
- Seek multiple solutions to every problem
Believe it can be done
- When you believe something is possible, your mind works to find ways to make it happen
- Eliminate phrases like ‘impossible,’ ‘can’t be done,’ and ‘won’t work’
- Focus on solutions rather than problems
Don’t let tradition paralyze your mind
- Just because something has always been done a certain way doesn’t mean it’s the best way
- Be open to new ideas and approaches
- Challenge the status quo constructively
You Are What You Think You Are
Your self-image determines your performance. If you think of yourself as successful, you’ll act successfully. If you think of yourself as a failure, you’ll act accordingly.
Upgrading Your Self-Image
Look important
- Dress well and appropriately for your goals
- Maintain good posture and confident body language
- Take care of your appearance and grooming
Think your work is important
- Find meaning and value in what you do
- Focus on how your work contributes to others
- Take pride in doing quality work
Give yourself a pep talk several times daily
- Use positive self-talk to build confidence
- Remind yourself of your strengths and capabilities
- Visualize yourself succeeding
Manage Your Environment: Go First Class
Your environment – the people you associate with and the places you frequent – has a powerful influence on your thinking and behavior.
Environmental Factors That Influence Success
The people you associate with
- Spend time with positive, successful people
- Avoid negative, pessimistic individuals
- Seek mentors and role models
- Join groups and organizations aligned with your goals
The thoughts you think
- Feed your mind positive, constructive ideas
- Read books and materials that inspire and educate
- Listen to motivational and educational content
- Limit exposure to negative news and entertainment
The physical environment
- Surround yourself with quality and beauty
- Keep your workspace organized and inspiring
- Choose environments that support your goals
- Invest in your surroundings as an investment in yourself
Going First Class
Going first class doesn’t mean being extravagant – it means choosing quality over quantity and investing in things that support your success and well-being.
Make Your Attitudes Your Allies
Your attitudes determine your altitude. Positive attitudes create positive results, while negative attitudes create negative results.
Key Attitudes for Success
Enthusiasm
- Show genuine excitement about your work and goals
- Enthusiasm is contagious and attracts others
- Passionate people achieve more than indifferent people
Service orientation
- Focus on how you can help others
- Make yourself valuable by solving problems
- Put others’ interests ahead of your own
Optimism
- Expect good things to happen
- Look for the positive in every situation
- Maintain hope and confidence in the future
Growth mindset
- Believe you can improve and develop
- See challenges as opportunities to learn
- Embrace change and new experiences
Think Right Toward People
Success depends largely on your ability to work effectively with others. Thinking right toward people means seeing the best in them and treating them with respect and consideration.
Principles for Thinking Right Toward People
Make others feel important
- Show genuine interest in others
- Listen actively and attentively
- Acknowledge others’ contributions and achievements
- Treat everyone with dignity and respect
Practice empathy
- Try to understand others’ perspectives
- Consider their needs and concerns
- Show compassion and understanding
- Avoid judging others harshly
Be genuinely interested in others
- Ask questions about their interests and experiences
- Remember important details about their lives
- Show appreciation for their unique qualities
- Celebrate their successes
Get the Action Habit
Thinking big is important, but action is what turns thoughts into reality. Successful people develop the habit of taking action promptly and consistently.
Developing the Action Habit
Be an activationist, not a passivationist
- Take initiative rather than waiting for others to act
- Volunteer for challenging assignments
- Suggest improvements and solutions
- Lead by example
Don’t wait until conditions are perfect
- Perfect conditions rarely exist
- Start with what you have and improve as you go
- Take action despite uncertainty
- Learn and adjust through experience
Remember, ideas alone won’t bring success
- Implementation is more important than ideation
- Focus on execution rather than just planning
- Take small steps consistently
- Build momentum through action
Use action to cure fear
- The best way to overcome fear is to face it through action
- Start with small actions and build confidence
- Action creates competence, which reduces fear
- Hesitation increases fear, while action decreases it
How to Turn Defeat into Victory
Setbacks and failures are inevitable, but they can become stepping stones to success when handled properly.
Learning from Defeat
Study your setbacks
- Analyze what went wrong objectively
- Identify lessons and insights
- Look for ways to improve
- Use failures as education
Have the courage to be constructively self-critical
- Take responsibility for your role in setbacks
- Avoid blaming others or making excuses
- Focus on what you can control and improve
- Learn from mistakes without dwelling on them
Stop blaming luck
- Accept that setbacks are part of the success process
- Focus on preparation and effort rather than luck
- Create your own opportunities through action
- Take responsibility for your results
Use Goals to Help You Grow
Goals provide direction, motivation, and a framework for measuring progress. Big thinkers set big goals and work systematically to achieve them.
Setting Effective Goals
Make your goals specific
- Define exactly what you want to achieve
- Set measurable targets and deadlines
- Break large goals into smaller, manageable steps
- Write your goals down and review them regularly
Make your goals challenging but achievable
- Set goals that stretch your abilities
- Ensure goals are realistic given your resources and timeline
- Balance ambition with practicality
- Adjust goals as circumstances change
Visualize your goals
- See yourself achieving your objectives
- Imagine the feelings and benefits of success
- Use mental rehearsal to prepare for achievement
- Keep visual reminders of your goals
How to Think Like a Leader
Leadership is about influence and inspiration, not just position or authority. Anyone can develop leadership thinking and skills.
Leadership Thinking Principles
Trade minds with the people you want to influence
- Understand others’ perspectives and motivations
- Consider what they want and need
- Frame your ideas in terms of their interests
- Show how your proposals benefit them
Think: what is the human way to handle this?
- Treat people with dignity and respect
- Consider the human impact of decisions
- Show empathy and understanding
- Build relationships, not just complete tasks
Think progress, believe in progress, push for progress
- Constantly look for ways to improve
- Challenge the status quo constructively
- Encourage innovation and new ideas
- Focus on solutions rather than problems
Take time out to confer with yourself
- Learn from experience and adjust your approach
- Regularly reflect on your goals and progress
- Evaluate your decisions and their outcomes
- Plan your next steps thoughtfully
Conclusion
The Magic of Thinking Big demonstrates that success is primarily a matter of mindset and attitude rather than intelligence or circumstances. Schwartz’s timeless principles show that anyone can achieve extraordinary results by developing big thinking habits and maintaining positive attitudes. The book’s enduring appeal lies in its practical approach to personal development and its emphasis on taking action despite fear or uncertainty. Most importantly, it shows that the size of your success is determined by the size of your thinking – think big, and big things will happen to you.