Moitta 18/05/2017
The Magic of Thinking Big (Schwartz, David J)
Case history after case history proved that the size of bank accounts, the size of happiness accounts, and the size of one’s general satisfaction account is dependent on the size of one’s thinking. There is magic in thinking big.
Minds like the prophet David, who wrote, “As one thinketh in his heart, so is he”; minds such as Emerson, who said, “Great men are those who see that thoughts rule the world”; minds like Milton, who in Paradise Lost wrote, “The mind is its own place and in itself can make a heaven of hell or a hell of heaven.” Amazingly perceptive minds like Shakespeare, who observed, “There is nothing either good or bad except that thinking makes it so.”
In building anything—automobiles, bridges, missiles—we need tools. Many people, in their attempt to build a successful life, forget there are tools to help them.
“It’s nonsense to think you can make a mountain move away just by saying ‘Mountain, move away.’ It’s simply impossible.” People who think this way have belief confused with wishful thinking. And true enough, you can’t wish away a mountain. You can’t wish yourself into an executive suite. Nor can you wish yourself into a five-bedroom, three-bath house or the high-income brackets. You can’t wish yourself into a position of leadership. But you can move a mountain with belief. You can win success by believing you can succeed. There is nothing magical or mystical about the power of belief. Belief works this way. Belief, the “I’m-positive-I-can” attitude, generates the power, skill, and energy needed to do. When you believe I-can-do-it, the how-to-do-it develops.
The how-to-do-it always comes to the person who believes he can do it.
Those who believe they can move mountains, do. Those who believe they can’t, cannot. Belief triggers the power to do.
The “Okay-I’ll-give-it-a-try-but-I-don’t-think-it-will-work” attitude produces failures.
Let the master thought “I will succeed” dominate your thinking process. Thinking success conditions your mind to create plans that produce success.
Any training program—and that’s exactly what this book is—must do three things. It must provide content, the what-to-do. Second, it must supply a method, the how-to-do-it. And third, it must meet the acid test; that is, get results.
Your laboratory consists of human beings. This laboratory supplies you with every possible example of human action. And there is no limit to what you can learn once you see yourself as a scientist in your own lab.
To be sure, it is thrilling to watch what can happen when men cooperate carefully with nature. But it is not one-tenth as fascinating as watching yourself respond to your own carefully administered thought management program. It’s fun to feel yourself growing more confident, more effective, more successful day by day, month by month. Nothing—absolutely nothing—in this life gives you more satisfaction than knowing you’re on the road to success and achievement. And nothing stands as a bigger challenge than making the most of yourself.
And each time the victim makes the excuse, the excuse becomes imbedded deeper within his subconsciousness. Thoughts, positive or negative, grow stronger when fertilized with constant repetition. At first the victim of excusitis knows his alibi is more or less a lie. But the more frequently he repeats it, the more convinced he becomes that it is completely true, that the alibi is the real reason for his not being the success he should be.
We often hear that knowledge is power. But this statement is only a half-truth. Knowledge is only potential power. Knowledge is power only when put to use—and then only when the use made of it is constructive.
Don’t be a wishful thinker. Don’t waste your mental muscles dreaming of an effortless way to win success. We don’t become successful simply through luck. Success comes from doing those things and mastering those principles that produce success.
Most fear today is psychological. Worry, tension, embarrassment, panic all stem from mismanaged, negative imagination. But simply knowing the breeding ground of fear doesn’t cure fear. If a physician discovers you have an infection in some part of your body, he doesn’t stop there. He proceeds with treatment to cure the infection.
First, though, as part of your pretreatment preparation, condition yourself with this fact: all confidence is acquired, developed.
action cures fear. Indecision, postponement, on the other hand, fertilize fear.
Put the action principle to work. Next time you experience big fear or little fear, steady yourself. Then search for an answer to this question: What kind of action can I take to conquer my fear? Isolate your fear. Then take appropriate action.
1. Isolate your fear. Pin it down. Determine exactly what you are afraid of. 2. Then take action. There is some kind of action for any kind of fear. And remember, hesitation only enlarges, magnifies the fear. Take action promptly. Be decisive.
You take a big step forward toward conquering fear when you refuse to remember negative, self-deprecating thoughts.
Philosophers for thousands of years have issued good advice: Know thyself. But most people, it seems, interpret this suggestion to mean Know only thy negative self. Most self-evaluation consists of making long mental lists of one’s faults, shortcomings, inadequacies. It’s well to know our inabilities, for this shows us areas in which we can improve.
Big thinkers are specialists in creating positive, forward-looking, optimistic pictures in their own minds and in the minds of others. To think big, we must use words and phrases that produce big, positive mental images.
How blind can we be? See what can be, not just what is. The schoolteacher who thinks of Jimmy only as he is—an ill-mannered, backward, uncouth brat—certainly will not aid Jimmy’s development. But the teacher who sees Jimmy not as he is now but as he can be, she’ll get results.
The price tag the world puts on us is just about identical to the one we put on ourselves.
This experiment has just one point: When you believe something is impossible, your mind goes to work for you to prove why. But when you believe, really believe, something can be done, your mind goes to work for you and helps you find the ways to do it.
The traditional thinker’s mind is paralyzed. He reasons, “It’s been this way for a hundred years. Therefore, it must be good and must stay this way. Why risk a change?” “Average” people have always resented progress.
In truth, there is no one best way to do anything. There is no one best way to decorate an apartment, landscape a lawn, make a sale, rear a child, or cook a steak. There are as many best ways as there are creative minds.
It isn’t so much what you know when you start that matters. It’s what you learn and put to use after you open your doors that counts most.”
“Believe me,” she went on, “my weekly improvement plan works. Just by conscientiously asking myself, ‘How can I do a better job?’ I find the answers. It’s a rare Monday night that I don’t come up with some plan or technique that makes that profit and loss statement look better.
Capacity is a state of mind. How much we can do depends on how much we think we can do. When you really believe you can do more, your mind thinks creatively and shows you the way.
1. Believe it can be done. When you believe something can be done, your mind will find the ways to do it. Believing a solution paves the way to solution. Eliminate “impossible,” “won’t work,” “can’t do,” “no use trying” from your thinking and speaking vocabularies.
2. Don’t let tradition paralyze your mind. Be receptive to new ideas. Be experimental. Try new approaches. Be progressive in everything you do.
3. Ask yourself daily, “How can I do better?” There is no limit to self-improvement. When you ask yourself, “How can I do better?” sound answers will appear. Try it and see.
4. Ask yourself, “How can I do more?” Capacity is a state of mind. Asking yourself this question puts your mind to work to find intelligent shortcuts. The success combination in business is: Do what you do better (improve the quality of your output), and: Do more of what you do (increase the quantity of your output).
5. Practice asking and listening. Ask and listen, and you’ll obtain raw material for reaching sound decisions. Remember: Big people monopolize the listening; small people monopolize the talking.
6. Stretch your mind. Get stimulated. Associate with people who can help you think of new ideas, new ways of doing things. Mix with people of different occupational and social interests.
Your appearance is the first basis for evaluation other people have. And first impressions last, out of all proportion to the time it takes to form them.
A person who thinks his job is important Receives mental signals on how to do his job better; And a better job means More promotions, more money, more prestige, more happiness.
The way we think toward our jobs determines how our subordinates think toward their jobs. The job attitudes of our subordinates are direct reflections of our own job attitudes. It’s well to remember that our points of superiority—and weakness—show up in the behavior of those who report to us, just as a child reflects the attitudes of his parents.
As you approach your job each day, ask yourself, “Am I worthy in every respect of being imitated? Are all my habits such that I would be glad to see them in my subordinates?”
The body is what the body is fed. By the same token, the mind is what the mind is fed. Mind food, of course, doesn’t come in packages, and you can’t buy it at the store. Mind food is your environment—all the countless things that influence your conscious and subconscious thought. The kind of mind food we consume determines our habits, attitudes, personality. Each of us inherited a certain capacity to develop. But how much of that capacity we have developed and the way we have developed that capacity depends on the kind of mind food we feed it.
People who tell you it cannot be done almost always are unsuccessful people,
Of course, I’ve heard the argument many times “but I can’t afford to go first class.” The simplest answer is: you cannot afford to go any other way. Certainly in the long run, going first class actually costs you less than going second class. Then, too, it’s better to have fewer things and have quality than to have many things and have junk. It’s better, for example, to have one really good pair of shoes than to have three pairs of second-class shoes. People rate you for quality, often subconsciously perhaps. Develop an instinct for quality. It pays. And it costs no more, often costs less, than second class.
MAKE YOUR ENVIRONMENT MAKE YOU SUCCESSFUL 1. Be environment-conscious. Just as body diet makes the body, mind diet makes the mind. 2. Make your environment work for you, not against you. Don’t let suppressive forces—the negative, you-can’t-do-it people—make you think defeat. 3. Don’t let small-thinking people hold you back. Jealous people want to see you stumble. Don’t give them that satisfaction. 4. Get your advice from successful people. Your future is important. Never risk it with freelance advisors who are living failures. 5. Get plenty of psychological sunshine. Circulate in new groups. Discover new and stimulating things to do. 6. Throw thought poison out of your environment. Avoid gossip. Talk about people, but stay on the positive side. 7. Go first class in everything you do. You can’t afford to go any other way.
Attitudes do more than show through. They “sound” through too. A secretary does more than identify an office when she says, “Good morning, Mr. Shoemaker’s office.” In just five words one secretary says, “I like you. I’m glad you’re calling. I think you are important. I like my job.” But another secretary saying exactly the same words tells you, “You bothered me. I wish you hadn’t called. I’m bored with my job, and I don’t like people who bother me.” We read attitudes through expressions and voice tones and inflections.
To activate others, to get them to be enthusiastic, you must first be enthusiastic yourself.
Whenever you leave a person, ask yourself, “Does that person honestly feel better because he has talked with me?”
The desire to be important is man’s strongest, most compelling nonbiological hunger.
The other person, regardless of his status or his income, is important to you and for two giant, dollars-and-cents reasons. First, people do more for you when you make them feel important.
It pays to make “big” people feel even bigger. The big thinker always adds value to people by visualizing them at their best. Because he thinks big about people, he gets their best out of them.
Here’s the second giant reason for making others feel important: When you help others feel important, you help yourself feel important too.
Without exception, every fellow testified the next evening that the mere investment of 50 cents had made his wife happy. Do something special for your family often. It doesn’t have to be something expensive. It’s thoughtfulness that counts. Anything that shows that you put your family’s interests first will do the trick. Get the family on your team. Give them planned attention.
People with a money-first attitude become so money conscious that they forget money can’t be harvested unless they plant the seeds that grow the money. And the seed of money is service. That’s why “put service first” is an attitude that creates wealth. Put service first, and money takes care of itself.
Put service first, and money takes care of itself—always.
F. H. is an example of the breed that is blind to the “how” of making money. His last remark sums up his mistake. In effect, F. H. wanted the company to pay him more and then he would produce more. But this is not how the system works. You don’t get a raise on the promise of better performance; you get a raise only by demonstrating better performance. You can’t harvest money unless you plant the seeds that grow money. And the seed of money is service.
Always give people more than they expect to get. Each little extra something you do for others is a money seed.
1. Grow the “I’m activated” attitude. Results come in proportion to the enthusiasm invested. Three things to do to activate yourself are: Dig into it deeper. When you find yourself uninterested in something, dig in and learn more about it. This sets off enthusiasm. Life up everything about you: your smile, your handshake, your talk, even your walk. Act alive. Broadcast good news. No one ever accomplished anything positive telling bad news.
2. Grow the “You are important” attitude. People do more for you when you make them feel important. Remember to do these things: Show appreciation at every opportunity. Make people feel important. Call people by name.
3. Grow the “Service first” attitude, and watch money take care of itself. Make it a rule in everything you do: give people more than they expect to get.
Granted, I depend on others in order to achieve the success I want, but what must I do to get these people to support me and accept my leadership?” The answer, wrapped up in one phrase, is think right toward people. Think right toward people, and they will like and support you.
Practice liking people until you learn to do so genuinely.
Take the initiative in building friendships—leaders always do. It’s easy and natural for us to tell ourselves, “Let him make the first move.” “Let them call us.” “Let her speak first.” It’s easy, too, virtually to ignore other people. Yes, it’s easy and natural, but it isn’t right thinking toward people. If you follow the rule of letting the other person build the foundation for friendship, you may not have many friends. Actually, it’s a mark of real leadership to take the lead in getting to know people.
Take the initiative. Be like the successful. Go out of your way to meet people. And don’t be timid. Don’t be afraid to be unusual. Find out who the other person is, and be sure he knows who you are.
Recognize the fact that the other fellow has a right to be different. Never play God about anything. Never dislike people because their habits are different from your own or because they prefer different clothes, religion, parties, or automobiles.
Now, if we let our thinking go uncontrolled, we can find much to dislike in almost anyone. By the same token, if we manage our thinking properly, if we think right toward people, we can find many qualities to like and admire in the same person.
When you boil it all down, the big cause of stress is negative feelings toward other people.
Everything we have in this world, from satellites to skyscrapers to baby food, is just an idea acted upon.
A lot of passivationists got that way because they insisted on waiting until everything was 100 percent favorable before they took action. Perfection is highly desirable. But nothing man-made or man-designed is, or can be, absolutely perfect
Want to write a note to a friend? Do it now. Got an idea you think would help your business? Present it now. Live the advice of Benjamin Franklin: “Don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do today.” Remember, thinking in terms of now gets things accomplished. But thinking in terms of someday or sometime usually means failure.
Initiative is a special kind of action. It’s doing something worthwhile without being told to do it. The person with initiative has a standing invitation to join the high income brackets in every business and profession.
It’s natural to want to belong, to be accepted, to have group approval. But ask yourself, “Which group do I want to have accept me: the group that laughs because it is secretly jealous or the group that is making progress by doing things?”
Defeat is only a state of mind, and nothing more.
Decide right now to salvage something from every setback. Next time things seem to go wrong on the job or at home, calm down and find out what caused the trouble. This is the way to avoid making the same error twice. Being licked is valuable if we learn from it.
We human beings are curious creatures. We’re quick to accept full credit for our victories. When we win, we want the world to know about it. It’s natural to want others to look at you and say, “There goes the fellow who did such and such.” But human beings are equally quick to blame someone else for each setback.
“I longed to hear,” she said, “that my voice was really better than the other girl’s, that the verdict was grossly unfair, that I had just lacked the right connections to win.” But Miss Stevens’s teacher didn’t coddle her. Instead she said to Miss Stevens
Early in her career, Miss Stevens lost the Metropolitan Opera “Auditions of the Air.” After losing, Miss Stevens was bitter. “I longed to hear,” she said, “that my voice was really better than the other girl’s, that the verdict was grossly unfair, that I had just lacked the right connections to win.” But Miss Stevens’s teacher didn’t coddle her. Instead she said to Miss Stevens, “My dear, have the courage to face your faults.”
Instead of blaming luck, research those setbacks. If you lose, learn. Lots of folks go through life explaining their mediocrity with “hard luck,” “tough luck,” “sour luck,” “bad luck.” These people are still like children, immature, searching for sympathy. Without realizing it, they fail to see opportunities to grow bigger, stronger, more self-reliant. Stop blaming luck. Blaming luck never got anyone where he wanted to go.
The advice of the literary consultant is good. We must have persistence. But persistence is only one of the ingredients of victory. We can try and try, and try and try and try again, and still fail, unless we combine persistence with experimentation.
Throw away those murder weapons! Remember, the only way to get full power, to develop full go force, is to do what you want to do. Surrender to desire and gain energy, enthusiasm, mental zip, and even better health. And it’s never too late to let desire take over.
The point is this: energy increases, multiplies, when you set a desired goal and resolve to work toward that goal. Many people, millions of them, can find new energy by selecting a goal and giving all they’ve got to accomplish that goal. Goals cure boredom. Goals even cure many chronic ailments.
The most amazing thing about a deeply entrenched goal is that it keeps you on course to reach your target. This isn’t double-talk. What happens is this. When you surrender to your goal, the goal works itself into your subconscious mind. Your subconscious mind is always in balance. Your conscious mind is not, unless it is in tune with what your subconscious mind is thinking. Without full cooperation from the subconscious mind, a person is hesitant, confused, indecisive. Now, with your goal absorbed into your subconscious mind you react the right way automatically. The conscious mind is free for clear, straight thinking.
Because Tom has surrendered to his goal, his goal through his subconscious mind signals to him saying “do this” or “don’t do that; it won’t help get you where you want to go.” The goal constantly speaks, “I am the image you want to make real. Here is what you must do to make me real.”
to accomplish something, we must plan to accomplish something.
Now, as you press forward to success, set goals: deadlines, target dates, self-imposed quotas. You will accomplish only what you plan to accomplish.
If you are driving down a road and you come to a “road closed” situation, you wouldn’t camp there, nor would you go back home. The road closed simply means you can’t go where you want to go on this road. You’d simply find another road to take you where you want to go.
Now in a quick recap, put these success-building principles to work: 1. Get a clear fix on where you want to go. Create an image of yourself ten years from now. 2. Write out your ten-year plan. Your life is too important to be left to chance. Put down on paper what you want to accomplish in your work, your home, and your social departments. 3. Surrender yourself to your desires. Set goals to get more energy. Set goals to get things done. Set goals and discover the real enjoyment of living. 4. Let your major goal be your automatic pilot. When you let your goal absorb you, you’ll find yourself making the right decisions to reach your goal. 5. Achieve your goal one step at a time. Regard each task you perform, regardless of how small it may seem, as a step toward your goal. 6. Build thirty-day goals. Day-by-day effort pays off. 7. Take detours in stride. A detour simply means another route. It should never mean surrendering the goal. 8. Invest in yourself. Purchase those things that build mental power and efficiency. Invest in education. Invest in idea starters.
The point is this: To get others to do what you want them to do, you must see things through their eyes. When you trade minds, the secret of how to influence other people effectively shows up.
“There’s an old maxim I’ve formed and held in my mind,” he began. “Whoever is under a man’s power is under his protection, too. We never should have hired this man in the first place because he’s not cut out for this kind of work. But since we did, the least I could do was help him to relocate.
If employees are doing something wrong or are making a mistake, I am doubly careful not to hurt their feelings and make them feel small or embarrassed. I just use four simple steps: “First, I talk to them privately. “Second, I praise them for what they are doing well. “Third, I point out the one thing at the moment that they could do better and I help them find the way. “Fourth, I praise them again on their good points.
when you take over the leadership of a group, the persons in that group immediately begin to adjust themselves to the standards you set.
Managed solitude pays off.
leadership principles to work
1. 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?”
2. Apply the “Be-Human” rule in your dealings with others. Ask, “What is the human way to handle this?” In everything you do, show that you put other people first. Just give other people the kind of treatment you like to receive. You’ll be rewarded.
3. Think progress, believe in progress, push for progress. Think improvement in everything you do. Think high standards in everything you do. Over a period of time subordinates tend to become carbon copies of their chief. Be sure the master copy is worth duplicating. Make this a personal resolution: “At home, at work, in community life, if it’s progress I’m for it.”
4. Take time out to confer with yourself and tap your supreme thinking power. Managed solitude pays off. Use it to release your creative power.
Think, “I can do better.” The best is not unattainable. There is room for doing everything better. Nothing in this world is being done as well as it could be. And when you think, “I can do better,” ways to do better will appear. Thinking “I can do better” switches on your creative power. Think Big Enough to see that if you put service first, money takes care of itself. In the words of Publilius Syrus: A wise man will be master of his mind, A fool will be its slave.
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