I just finished reading “The Magic of Thinking Big” by David Schwartz and wanted to comment on a few points in the book that I found interesting.
First off, I found this book in the recommended reading section of “The Four-Hour Work Week” by Timothy Ferriss. I enjoyed the 4HWW and trusted his recommendation.
It wasn’t a real page turner like I hoped it would be, but there were some interesting things like how to increase productivity, how to stop making excuses (cure yourself of excusitis) and how to use and set goals. I have read a lot of self help books and this one didn’t stand out as anything different than most other ones.
Some Good Points:
Here are a few of the good points that I marked in the book and some thoughts on them.
- In the first chapter, he talks about believing in yourself and your ability to succeed. As you go into a new project or phase in life or business, you must have the belief that you can succeed. If you enter with the right attitude, there is a chance that you will succeed, whereas if you go into the situation with the attitude that you will not succeed, you certainly will not.
- Action cures fear – I believe that this is one of the problems with most people that are afraid, they do not take action. I am guilty to some degree of being too afraid of something to take action, and this was one of the strong points of the book that I got out of it, Get over the fear because if you don’t, you are no better off than before. Sure you may fail, but you are not going to succeed by sitting around not taking action. Successful people fail more often then non-successful people, they just have the courage and strength to get up and keep moving forward.
- In a chapter about how to build confidence, Dr. Schwartz talks about 5 things to do to increase your confidence:
- Be a front seater
- Practice making eye contact
- Walk 25% faster
- Practice speaking up
- Smile big
- Goals – In every success book that I have read (the good ones anyways) there have been numerous chapters dedicated to goals. Why is that – because they are vitally important to our success. This book is no different. While it didn’t give me any new convictions about goals or any new ideas on how to set or track goals, it gave the typical advice on the importance of goals. We have all heard the saying that a ship without a rudder and a destination can not get to where it wants to go, much less out of the harbor and the same principle applies to our goals. I believe in the setting of goals and the importance of them in our lives and believe that everyone should have worthwhile goals that they are working towards and striving for.
Some Better Things
Here are a few things that I really liked about the book:
- At the end of every chapter there was a recap of the important points that were discussed. I thought this was a great thing because it reminded me of the things that were most important that I just read. I think that instead of reading the whole book again, I would read the chapter summaries instead.
- There were numerous case studies that were referred to throughout the book. I question that they all actually happened or were just used to illustrate the point of the chapter, but it really makes no difference to me. They were cited to illustrate a point and I think Dr, Schwartz did a good job of that. I enjoy reading about how people apply principles in their situations rather then reading about theory that may or may not actually work.
- There is a point towards the end of the book that Dr. Schwartz talks about the importance of spending time in thought. I really believe that this is a useful tool that we all can use to increase our problem solving skills. We live in a society where we have to have constant interaction and connectivity with the outside world, but it does the mind and body good to turn off the radio, internet and cell phones, etc. and allow our minds time to step back, relax and think about ways to solve our problems. Take time out of our schedule and meditate – its a great idea and strategy that we all would be better off utilizing.
Overall, I thought the book was good and well written. Nothing really groundbreaking or new was presented and nothing was really presented in a new way or light. Like many other books, there is some useful and helpful advice about how to think big and get the life you want.
I would give it 3 of 5 stars.
