The Magic of Thinking Big by David J. Schwartz (Summary)

Belief, strong belief, triggers the mind to figuring ways and means and how-to. And believing you can succeed makes others place confidence in you.

I logically know that if I think I can succeed, it will help me succeed. But I don’t seem to be able to genuinely make myself believe it. How can I convince myself it’s really possible?

You have to acclimate yourself gradually. Start with small wins that help build your confidence and prove to yourself it’s not just wishful thinking. Set a minor goal you know is achievable if you put in the work – maybe it’s landing one new client or finishing a project ahead of schedule. Once you follow through and accomplish that first goal, you’ll begin to see yourself as someone who can make things happen. Rinse and repeat this process, taking on bigger goals each time. Let your small successes snowball into an authentic belief in your capacity to succeed on a major scale.

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.

What if my excuses are legitimate? For example, if I really am sick or was unfairly passed over for a promotion I deserved?

There’s a difference between explanations and excuses. If you’re genuinely ill, then you’re ill – not much you can do other than rest and recover before pushing ahead. Same goes for clear cases of prejudice or unfairness holding you back. Acknowledging setbacks is healthy, wallowing in self-pity is not. The key is to avoid making temporary obstacles your identity and letting them infect your long-term outlook. Process the disappointment, extract any valuable lessons, then redirect your focus to factors within your control. Maybe your illness allows you to write that business plan you’ve been putting off or your job search leads you to an even better opportunity. Bottom line – don’t let short-term setbacks become permanent excuses.

Action cures fear. Indecision, postponement, on the other hand, fertilize fear…Jot that down in your success rule book right now. Action cures fear.

I’m a chronic worrier who often gets paralyzed by fear and doubt. How can I realistically start to turn this around?

It may sound counterintuitive, but one of the best ways to conquer chronic worrying is to schedule time for it. Pick a 15-minute window each day to indulge all your worries, writing them down in vivid detail. Then, when your worry time is up, consciously redirect your focus to other activities. If worries pop up later in the day, remind yourself that you’ll attend to them during your designated worry period tomorrow.

This technique is effective for two reasons:

1. It honours your fears and signals to your psyche that you’re not ignoring them.
2. It keeps worry from consuming your entire day.

Over time, you’ll likely find that most of what you worry about doesn’t actually come to pass or turns out better than you imagined. You can apply the same principle to confidence building. Schedule 15 minutes a day to review things you did well or moments when you felt self-assured. Capture these in writing, too. With repetition, you’ll embed memories of your own courageousness more deeply and start to naturally access that confident part of yourself in the face of fear.

In brief, it really is easy to forget the unimportance of most things that fill our days. So often we allow ourselves to become upset over trivial things and petty people. So often we permit tiny trifles to influence decisions and attitudes…Success-minded people look at things not as they are, but as they can be. Visualization adds value to everything.

I want to think bigger but I’m not even sure what my big goals should be. How do I go about raising my sights when I feel unclear about the target?

Start by envisioning what an extraordinarily fulfilling and successful life looks and feels like to you 10, 20 or 30 years from now. Don’t worry about the “how” for now – give yourself permission to dream in high-definition detail without restraint. What kind of lifestyle are you living? What impact are you making? How have you grown as a person? Capture your vision in writing or imagery.

Once you’ve painted a vivid picture of your ideal future self, work backwards to reverse engineer milestones along the way. If your ultimate dream is to own a thriving business that transforms your industry, a 3-5-year goal might be securing funding to launch a new venture. In the next year, a meaningful target could be developing expertise or connections in your field to create a solid foundation. In the coming month, you might commit to having coffee with one potential mentor per week. Start from the vision and scaffold backwards to bridge the gap between distant dreams and actionable to-dos.

Creative thinking is simply finding new, improved ways to do anything…Figuring out ways to simplify record keeping, selling to the ‘impossible’ customer, keeping the children occupied constructively, making employees really like their work, or preventing a ‘certain’ quarrel – all of these are examples of practical, everyday creative thinking.

As a manager, what can I do to encourage more creative thinking in my team?

In addition to leading by example, one powerful way to spur collective creativity is by instituting a weekly “wild idea quota.” Challenge every team member to come up with three off-the-wall ideas to improve any aspect of your work – products, processes, culture, client experience, anything goes! The ideas don’t need to be immediately actionable. The point is stretching people’s imagination muscles. Keep a running list and periodically review for viable concepts to implement.

Consider designating time blocks for blue-sky brainstorming or collaborative problem-solving. Make it clear that the goal is creative quantity, not quality. When people know there are no wrong answers and every idea is valid, it takes the pressure off and gives them permission to think more boldly. You can always refine or cull ideas later. The most important thing is making creativity a clear expectation and group activity rather than a solo endeavour. With consistent practice and reinforcement, it will become your team’s default mode.

Remember, the main job of the leader is thinking. And the best preparation for leadership is thinking. Spend some time in managed solitude every day and think yourself to success.

I do positive self-talk but deep down I’m not sure I really believe it. Is that normal?

Absolutely normal! Our self-image is deeply ingrained, often from early childhood experiences or authority figures who told us in words or actions that we weren’t good enough. Reprogramming neural pathways carved over decades takes time and repetition. Don’t feel discouraged if you’re just going through the motions at first. With consistent practice, what initially feels like faking it starts to genuinely reflect how you see yourself. Some days will be easier than others – the key is to keep showing up with the most empowering self-talk you can muster, even if it doesn’t fully align with your current self-image. Trust that the more you drill supportive self-belief into both your conscious and subconscious mind, the more naturally it will flow. Remember – you have the power to step into any version of yourself that you’re willing to believe in and claim. Accept nothing less than your brightest light!

Be extra, extra cautious about this: don’t let negative thinking people—”negators”—destroy your plan to think yourself to success. Negators are everywhere and they seem to delight in sabotaging the positive progress of others

I know certain people and situations bring me down but I’m not sure how to gracefully remove them from my life. Any suggestions?

Shifting unsupportive relationships can feel awkward at first, but protecting your positivity is a form of self-care, not selfishness! Start by having an honest conversation with chronic complimentors about how their negativity affects you and request that they rein it in when you’re together. If they’re unwilling or unable to do so, gradually decrease the time spent in their presence. Respond slower to their outreach, schedule fewer get-togethers, and let calls go to voicemail more often. Decline invitations to events or activities that don’t uplift you with a polite but firm “No thanks, I have other priorities.”

If completely ending a draining relationship isn’t possible because of family, work or other considerations, set clear boundaries about acceptable discussion topics and behaviours. Have a go-to exit line ready like “I’m sorry you’re struggling with this, but I don’t feel comfortable engaging in this conversation. Let me know if there are constructive ways I can support you.” Then, promptly change the subject or physically remove yourself from the situation. The more consistent you are in avoiding energy-sapping interactions, the less others will look to you to fill that role. Keep your precious reserves for reciprocal relationships and top priorities.

Just as gasoline ignited in an engine provides power for a car, a positive attitude ignited by your enthusiasm will provide power for you. Through an attitude of enthusiasm you’ll have the power to do what you want to do. Your enthusiasm attitude will help you turn all your ability into real accomplishment.

Sometimes I feel like forcing myself to be positive and enthusiastic when I’m struggling just makes me feel more frustrated. How can I practice these success attitudes without being inauthentic?

It’s important to distinguish between repressing versus processing negative emotions. Denying or avoiding uncomfortable feelings is neither psychologically healthy nor sustainable. The key is to acknowledge and accept the existence of difficult emotions without getting stuck in them or allowing them to drive your decisions. Think of it as visiting versus living in a bad mental neighbourhood.

When you notice self-defeating attitudes surfacing, take a beat to observe and label them, almost as if you’re a scientist documenting specimens – “Ah, hello there, insecurity. I see you’re feeling threatened by this challenge.” Then, consciously pivot to a line of thinking that’s more resourceful – “I may not have all the answers yet, but I’m smart and resilient enough to figure it out.” With repetition, you’ll gain the facility of toggling between registering friction and choosing supportive thoughts that propel you onward. Remember, you can be both real about your struggles and intentional about your attitudes. It’s not either/or. It’s both/and.

Successful people follow a plan for liking people. Do you? People who reach the top get there by following a system of “people-liking” all the way up. You want to make your relationships wear well, to grow stronger as time passes. You do this by building a system for liking people into your own thought processes.

What if people take advantage of my kindness or generosity when I give them the benefit of the doubt? How do I protect myself from being naive?

It’s wise to deploy discernment about whom you extend yourself to and at what level. Some people are simply beyond the pale of trustworthiness and deserve to be kept at arm’s length after they’ve repeatedly proven their shortcomings. But, importantly – that’s on them, not you! The goal isn’t being an undiscriminating chump but rather defaulting to a stance of measured openness and goodwill unless or until definitively shown otherwise.

When you approach others with an attitude of considered faith, most will naturally want to live up to that projection. When they fall short, you can set appropriate boundaries from an empowered place of choice – “Given our history, I need to see a consistent pattern of follow-through before I can collaborate more deeply with you.” This communicates both your positive intentions and reasonable limits. Over time, you’ll refine your radar for when to press in and pull back with certain personalities. But never let a few bad apples sour your instinct to meet people with your highest self.

Ideas have value only when they are followed by action. Aspirations, intentions, plans – they are the things with which too many people stop. People who achieve success get into the habit of doing something about their ideas…Remember, ideas alone won’t bring success. Ideas have value only when you act upon them.

Sometimes I struggle to discern when my impulse to take action is rash versus apropros. How can I get better at knowing when to seize the moment versus pause for further reflection?

Learning to navigate that tension between considered caution and bold decisiveness is more art than science and something that even seasoned leaders continually wrestle with. As a general rule of thumb, the stakes and reversibility of the action should dictate your level of prudence. If taking a leap could have catastrophic or difficult-to-unwind consequences, it’s wise to solicit outside perspective and scenario plan more thoroughly. But if the potential downsides of “going for it” are manageable and outweighed by the upsides, that’s a strong case for carpe diem.

Another useful prompt is “What would my future self counsel – to wait or to initiate?” This invites you to play out the cost-benefit calculus with a wider lens – will you likely look back with greater regret on having swung the bat and missed or letting the proverbial pitch go by? As Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has shared about his own decision-making heuristics, he’s careful not to undertake actions that could jeopardize the company. But with high-reward and survivable-risk ventures, his philosophy is “If not now, when?” Trust that your accumulating experience and judgment will refine your sense of when to look before you leap. Remember, it’s typically less perilous to err on the side of (calculated) action than indefinite inaction.

Defeat is only a state of mind, and nothing more. There is a well-known saying worth remembering: If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. But there should be an addition to that adage: If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again – and find and use more knowledge.

I’ve been blindsided by some recent blows to my ego and ambitions that have me questioning my capabilities and resolve. What can I do to pull out of this tailspin and regain my fighting spirit?

First, extend yourself some grace – you’re sailing stormy seas, and it’s normal to feel tossed about for a time. Take some deep, intentional breaths and affirm that you’re stronger than your momentary struggles. Then, compile a “highlight reel” of your greatest hits and play it on a loop – summon memories of time when you’ve risen to intimidating challenges and prevailed against the odds. Really conjure the felt sense in your body of being grounded, capable and unstoppable as you revisit those personal victories. Steep yourself in that embodied wisdom to counter the amnesia of your current crisis.

Next, seek out inspiring stories of icons who have staged remarkable comebacks after getting mercilessly cut down – think Oprah Winfrey being fired from her first news anchor job and told she was “unfit for television” or Steve Jobs being ousted from the company he founded only to return and take it to stratospheric heights. Saturate your awareness with examples of the indomitable human spirit to activate that never-say-die archetype in yourself. Finally, find a way, however small, to get back in the arena – identify one courageous action you can take today to regain your agency and inch towards your goals. No grand heroic gestures necessary, just reassert your will to forge ahead. Remember, you’ve earned every bit of your self-belief through showing up persistently before – trust that you will again.

The important thing is not where you were or where you are but where you want to get. The important thing is not where you were or where you are but where you want to get.

My past attempts at ambitious goal-setting have often left me feeling discouraged when I inevitably fell short. How can I stay inspired to reach for the stars when repeated misses trigger self-doubt and goal fatigue?

You’re certainly not alone in this struggle! Overextending and under-delivering on our own expectations is a surefire recipe for frustration and demoralization. The key is to set goals that are incrementally outside your comfort zone rather than quantum leaps beyond your current capacity. Renowned Stanford psychologist Albert Bandura coined the term “self-efficacy” to describe our belief in our ability to succeed in a given situation. His research found that the optimal zone for expanding self-efficacy is taking on challenges that require a 20-30% stretch beyond our existing skill level. Attempting feats that vastly exceed that sweet spot overwhelms our sense of capability and erodes confidence. To rebuild your goal-getting muscles, start by setting micro-objectives you’re 80-90% certain you can accomplish and gradually dial up the difficulty as you rack up wins. Savour each small victory as evidence of your ever-increasing prowess. If you find yourself plateauing or backsliding, drop down to more feasible goals for a season before ascending anew. Think of goal mastery like progressive weight training – you don’t go from bench pressing 100 lbs to 300 lbs overnight. You make modest increases week over week and consolidate your gains. Periodically attempting a breakthrough lift presently out of range is healthy for gauging your limits. But the bulk of your growth comes from patient, persistent levelling up. Trust that with enough practice stretching 5% beyond your personal best, those pie-in-the-sky pipe dreams will eventually fall squarely within your sphere of influence. The journey of 1000 miles is conquered step by step.

Trade minds with the people you want to influence. It’s easy to get others to do what you want them to do if you’ll see things through their eyes. Ask yourself this question before you act: ‘What would I think of this if I exchanged places with the other person?

I often struggle to balance focusing on my own projects and priorities with being available and responsive to my team. How can I skillfully juggle the competing demands of leading others while also leading myself?

One illuminating framework for navigating that perennial tension comes from Harvard professor Leslie Perlow, author of “Sleeping with Your Smartphone.” Perlow proposes that leaders must learn to practice “predictable time off” or PTO – recurring intervals when you are unplugged and inaccessible for anything short of five-alarm emergencies. By ringfencing sacrosanct time for uninterrupted solo work or even personal restoration, you not only protect your own wellsprings of productivity and resilience, but you also force your team to become more self-reliant and judicious in their real-time requests.

The key is to establish clear expectations and rhythms around your availability far in advance – for example, instituting a team-wide policy of no emails between 7 pm and 7 am on weekdays and only text for truly urgent issues. When your constituents can anticipate your cadence of being alternately on and off the grid, it alleviates the anxiety of you being perpetually on-call. Counter-intuitively, deliberately limiting your accessibility in a predictable fashion actually deepens your team’s trust and regard for your leadership because they know you respect your own boundaries and have faith in their ability to function independently. Normalize unapologetically going dark to tend to your own imperatives as an act of superlative leadership, not negligence. They’ll manage up to your margins.

• The Magic of Thinking Big (Bok)
• Achieve Extraordinary Success: Insights from The Magic of Thinking Big (YouTube)
• The Magic of Thinking Big (Artikel)
• David J. Schwartz (Wikipedia)