Magic of thinking big - book summary
“The Magic of Thinking Big” - by David J Schwartz PhD
This book was sent to me as pre course reading for the National Speakers Association retreat in Marco Island University Florida, which I attended in 2007
The first thing that stood out to me was that this book was written in 1959. Schwartz was Professor at Georgia State University and president of a leadership firm specialising in leadership development.
With most books I read, I use speed reading techniques. This one was an exception as I went back, reread it and marked up the really powerful pieces. I have subsequently bought the audio version as well.
I was intrigued that lots of the stuff I had learned on my studies of NLP was contained in this book, albeit under a different label and written 15 years before Richard Bandler met John Grinder (the inventors of the NLP brand). Reframing, chunking, positive language, modelling etc
Scwartz says the main job of a leader is to think. Trade minds with people you want to influence and you want to learn from. Put other people first. Think progress, think improvement.
Take time outs in your busy schedules for thinking time. Make this directed thinking (specific subject) and undirected thinking (unspecified subject)
Goals - there is a great chapter 12, on goal setting. Schwartz describes not having goals, like having life without air. Planning should be at least 10 years ahead, visualising what your life will be like and chunking down how you will get there. Form an image of yourself 10 years ahead (time line?)
Visualise your life in 3 departments. Work, home and social life, what do I want to do, what do I want to be.
Visualise the future and dream big dreams. Be careful who you share your dreams with. Some of your friends and associates will “murder” your dreams and give you “excusitus” to fail. He calls the failure excuse “excusitus”
Schwartz recounts the story of a mother who was diagnosed with cancer when her son was 2 years old. She was determined to see him graduate fro college and set that as her goal. Despite being given only months to live on many occasions, having major operations, she lived for another 20 years and her proudest moment was when he graduated. She died a few months later with her dream fulfilled.
Goals should be broken down from 10 years to 30 days goal quotas of - I will do this - I won’t do that. Take detours, it doesn’t matter if some of the goals don’t happen when you expect them.
Investments - Most people think of investments as stocks, bank deposits, and property. Scwartz reminds the readers that the best investments are self investment. Invest in education which develops and cultivates the mind, improves the way you think. Mind improvement education does not need a certificate at the end of it and you will surround yourself with other people who are going places (modelling)
Desire to get ahead, when harnessed, is power.
Look sharp - feel sharp. Scwartz recommends that the performance of people can be directly affected by their physical appearance. He goes as far as to suggest that people should dress up for exams. Looking good, gives the impression to others of intelligence, prosperity and respectfulness. Badly dressed gives the impression of carelessness, inefficiency and unimportance. He reminds people of the need of Coca Cola to keep spending money on its brand image to continue to be the number one best known name and for us to do the same. But first you need to sell your ideas to yourself by your thinking.
Success comes from managed thinking - the people who put people and things down are average. One of the biggest human failings is self-deprecation, which is energy sapping. Energy creating is nourishment.
Have a thought management bank account. Every mind is a thought factory, bank positive energising thoughts and be careful about withdrawals. We wouldn’t poison our body with poisonous food, so why do we let other people poison us with their negative thoughts.
Finally Scwartz leaves us with the thought that 3 out of 4 hospital beds are occupied by people with emotionally induced illnesses. I wonder if the figure is still the same now from when the book was written.
This might be the best £7.99 you can spend in 2007 (and you might get it on Amazon for half that price)
This book was sent to me as pre course reading for the National Speakers Association retreat in Marco Island University Florida, which I attended in 2007
The first thing that stood out to me was that this book was written in 1959. Schwartz was Professor at Georgia State University and president of a leadership firm specialising in leadership development.
With most books I read, I use speed reading techniques. This one was an exception as I went back, reread it and marked up the really powerful pieces. I have subsequently bought the audio version as well.
I was intrigued that lots of the stuff I had learned on my studies of NLP was contained in this book, albeit under a different label and written 15 years before Richard Bandler met John Grinder (the inventors of the NLP brand). Reframing, chunking, positive language, modelling etc
Scwartz says the main job of a leader is to think. Trade minds with people you want to influence and you want to learn from. Put other people first. Think progress, think improvement.
Take time outs in your busy schedules for thinking time. Make this directed thinking (specific subject) and undirected thinking (unspecified subject)
Goals - there is a great chapter 12, on goal setting. Schwartz describes not having goals, like having life without air. Planning should be at least 10 years ahead, visualising what your life will be like and chunking down how you will get there. Form an image of yourself 10 years ahead (time line?)
Visualise your life in 3 departments. Work, home and social life, what do I want to do, what do I want to be.
Visualise the future and dream big dreams. Be careful who you share your dreams with. Some of your friends and associates will “murder” your dreams and give you “excusitus” to fail. He calls the failure excuse “excusitus”
Schwartz recounts the story of a mother who was diagnosed with cancer when her son was 2 years old. She was determined to see him graduate fro college and set that as her goal. Despite being given only months to live on many occasions, having major operations, she lived for another 20 years and her proudest moment was when he graduated. She died a few months later with her dream fulfilled.
Goals should be broken down from 10 years to 30 days goal quotas of - I will do this - I won’t do that. Take detours, it doesn’t matter if some of the goals don’t happen when you expect them.
Investments - Most people think of investments as stocks, bank deposits, and property. Scwartz reminds the readers that the best investments are self investment. Invest in education which develops and cultivates the mind, improves the way you think. Mind improvement education does not need a certificate at the end of it and you will surround yourself with other people who are going places (modelling)
Desire to get ahead, when harnessed, is power.
Look sharp - feel sharp. Scwartz recommends that the performance of people can be directly affected by their physical appearance. He goes as far as to suggest that people should dress up for exams. Looking good, gives the impression to others of intelligence, prosperity and respectfulness. Badly dressed gives the impression of carelessness, inefficiency and unimportance. He reminds people of the need of Coca Cola to keep spending money on its brand image to continue to be the number one best known name and for us to do the same. But first you need to sell your ideas to yourself by your thinking.
Success comes from managed thinking - the people who put people and things down are average. One of the biggest human failings is self-deprecation, which is energy sapping. Energy creating is nourishment.
Have a thought management bank account. Every mind is a thought factory, bank positive energising thoughts and be careful about withdrawals. We wouldn’t poison our body with poisonous food, so why do we let other people poison us with their negative thoughts.
Finally Scwartz leaves us with the thought that 3 out of 4 hospital beds are occupied by people with emotionally induced illnesses. I wonder if the figure is still the same now from when the book was written.
This might be the best £7.99 you can spend in 2007 (and you might get it on Amazon for half that price)
posted by Derek at 11:24 PM
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