Book Notes: The Magic of Thinking Big by David J. Schwartz
Directives and principles to succeed at life.

I imagine the advice in this book as what a Grandfather imparts onto his grandchildren when they come of age. Not to say there’s no valuable information that’s applicable to adults. Quite the contrary. It packs in lessons and directives that if applied will create drastic improvements in all facets of your life.
I have to warn you though, the style of writing is quite cheezy. Given that this was published in 1987, I can understand why it reached the level of fame and popularity that it did. There probably weren’t too many books in the past that gave you explicit directives on how to succeed in life.
If you look closely, you will find that some of the lessons can be contradictory in nature. That just exemplifies the fact that you really can’t be in either extremes. It’s all about balance. For example, if you find yourself being too confident, you need to balance that out with being humble. If you find yourself being too humble, you need to balance that out by selling yourself more.
All that being said, I’m going to just list out all the key lessons from the book so that you don’t have to spend time reading it. Most of the lessons are pretty self-explanatory.
Key Principles
- Believe you can succeed and you will.
- Cure yourself of excusitis, the failure disease — Stop making excuses.
- Build Confidence and destroy fear.
How to Think Big?
- Don’t sell yourself short.
- Use the big thinker’s vocabulary. Language determines attitude — use positive language.
- Stretch your vision — learn to see what can be.
- See how your work, no matter how small you think it is, can tie into a larger vision. Example: If you were a bricklayer, you could either be “just laying bricks” or you could be “building a cathedral”.
- You are what you think are.
How to Think and Dream Creatively?
- Believe it can be done.
- Don’t let tradition paralyze your mind.
- Ask yourself — How can I do better?
- Ask yourself — How can I do more?
- Learn something new whenever you can.
- Practice asking and listening.
- Stretch your mind.
Fear & Action
- Action cures fear. Do what you fear. Lean into it.
- Indecision, postponement and lack of action all fertilize fear.
- Ideas without action are like a car without an engine.
- Don’t wait for things to be perfect before taking action.
- Action strengthens confidence, inaction feeds fear.
- Don’t be afraid to seem foolish.
- Conquer fear of other people — don’t think of yourself as inferior or less than other people.
- You’re as important as the other person.
- Develop an understanding of other people, especially ones who are angry or being negative in any way.
External Influences Internal
- Push yourself to action, even if it's purely mechanical in nature, use those mechanical movements to get over the hump of action. (Example — forcing yourself to smile immediately affects you internally)
- Look important. Appearance matters. It will help you think important. Appearance indicates the kind of self-respect you have for yourself.
- Write
- When you write on paper, your brain is not capable of anything else other than thinking of what you’re writing about.
- When you write on paper, you write on your mind.
Confidence
- Memory bank influences confidence. So, depositing only good thoughts in your memory bank leads to more confidence.
- Give yourself a pep talk several times daily.
- Be a front-seater.
- Make eye contact.
- Speak up — At conferences, meetings and discussions be the first one to speak up.
- Walk 25% faster.
- Smile big.
- Speak slowly and clearly. Not fast.
Other People
- Give to others more than you receive.
- Broadcast good news.
- Compliment, congratulate and appreciate other people. Make them feel important.
- Remember and call people by their names.
- Service-first attitude. Be interested in other people. Give them value.
- Success depends on the support of other people.
- Think right towards other people.
- Practice liking people until you learn to do so genuinely.
- Build connections. Introduce yourself to as many people as you can.
Gratitude
- Withdraw only positive thoughts when you have time to think. Don’t dwell on troubles. Think about the good times. Have gratitude.
- Write a gratitude journal before bed.
Manage Your Environment
- Be conscious of your environment.
- Make your environment work for you, not against you.
- Don’t let small people thinking hold you back.
- Get your advice from successful people.
- Throw thought poison out of your environment. Avoid gossip.
Mental Broadcasting Station
Your brain has 2 mental broadcasting stations: Channel P and Channel N. Channel P broadcasts only positive thoughts. Channel N broadcasts negative thoughts. I know this sounds very cheesy. But, it works!
- The longer you stay tuned in to one channel, the harder it is to switch.
- When talking to people, make sure you’re tuned in to Channel P.
- To make a switch from Channel N to Channel P. Think one positive thought about whatever is in your mind, or whoever you’re talking to.
Leadership
‘Leadership-ability’: The ability to lead others is determined by getting people to do things they wouldn’t do if they were not lead.
- See things through your team’s or customers’ minds.
- Think: what is the human way to handle this task?
- Progress, progress, progress.
- Contemplate your actions and decisions.
Investing in Yourself
- Invest in education. This doesn’t necessarily mean college.
- Read books to cultivate new ideas.
Quotes I like
“Belief is like a thermostat that regulates what we accomplish in life.”
— Chapter 2, 4min39sec (audiobook)“How you feel is a product of how you think you feel.”
— Chapter 2, 29min54sec (audiobook)“It’s better to wear out than to rust out.”
— Chapter 2, 30min57sec (audiobook)“Learn to see what can be, not just what it is.”
— Chapter 2, 48min13sec (audiobook)“A person is not pulled up to a higher position by the people above him or her. Rather, that person is lifted to the higher position by the people who support them, who work with them and for them.”
— Chapter 5, 2min48sec (audiobook)“How you think when you lose determines how long it will be until you win.”
— Chapter 5, 14min10sec (audiobook)
