The Magic of Thinking Big

As promised, here are a few excerpts from the great book The Magic of Thinking Big, by David J. Schwartz, Ph.D.:

• Look at things not as they are, but as they can be. Visualization adds value to everything. A big thinker always visualizes what can be done in the future. He isn't stuck with the present.

• Success comes from managed thinking.

• Remember: people who tell you it cannot be done almost always are unsuccessful people, are strictly average or mediocre at best in terms of accomplishment. The opinions of these people can be poison.

• How we think is directly affected by the group we're in. Be sure you're in the flock that thinks right.

• To activate others, to get them to be enthusiastic, you must first be enthusiastic yourself. A man who lacks enthusiasm never develops it in another. But a person who is enthusiastic soon has enthusiastic followers. The enthusiastic salesman need never worry about unenthusiastic buyers. The enthusiastic teacher need never worry about disinterested students. The activated minister need never be distressed by a sleepy congregation. Enthusiam can make things 1100 per cent better.

• Use the dig-into-it-deeper technique to develop enthusiasm toward other people. Find out all you can about another person -- what he does, his family, his background, his ideas and ambitions -- and you'll find your interest and enthusiasm toward him mounting. Keep digging and you're certain to find some common interests. Keep digging and you'll eventually discover a fascinating person.

• Here's a giant reason for making others feel important: when you help others feel important, you help yourself feel important too.

• The seed of money is service. That's why "put-service-first"is an attitude which creates wealth. Put service first and money takes care of itself.

Hey! That's exactly my philosophy when I started this blog! :-)

I typed the above excerpts from the book to encourage you to actually buy the book and read it from cover to cover. I've read so many books in my life, but this one is surely one of my top 10 favorites!