The Magic of Thinking Big - Dr. David J. Schwartz

Success is not determined by the size of ones brain, but that of his thinking. Size of bank account, happiness and success. There is magic in thinking big. All of us are product of thinking around us.

 102 of 2021 is The Magic of Thinking Big by Dr. David J. Schwartz.

Proof comes from people around us. Life is too short to be little. Success, happiness and satisfaction

Build confidence and destroy fear. Think as big as you are, develop 

• Think big
• Add value
• Think about triviality
• Test yourself. 
• Be human
• Think Progress, believe in progress, achieve progress

Success does not need price, but pays dividend at every steps. 'Life is too short to be little.'

Chapter One - Believe You Can Succeed and You Will  'I can' attitude gives the energy and skill. 'How' will follow the belief. They learn and absorb the way and attitudes of successful people. Understand weaknesses and desire to fix it. Those who believe they can move mountains do, those who believe they cannot, will not. 'Ok, I will try, but don't think it will work' - doubt, disbelief is not wanting to succeed is the reason for failure. Believe big and grow big. Initiative. No one will believe in you, unless you believe in yourself. Say 'Today is a fine day' and then it is a good day. You don't want defeat to be around, so boot him out, and use Triumph. Success means winning. It is open wider than ever before. Success - Achievement - Is the goal of life!

How to develop the power of Belief. 

1. Think success - It conditions mind to produce success
2. Remind that you are better than you are - There is nothing mystical about success. Never sell yourself short.
3. Believe Big - Think big goals and achieve big success. 

A person is a product of his own thoughts. Believe Big. Adjust your thermostat forward. Launch your success  offensive with honest, sincere belief that you can succeed. Believe big and grow big. 

Our mind is the 'thought factory'.

Subsequent chapters  are on How and Results/rewards. 

Observe and experiment in your laboratory. Train yourself to absorb yourself and others. Nothing stands as a bigger challenge than making the most of yourself. 

Chapter 02: Cure Yourself of Excusitis, the Failure Disease  Go deep into the study of people. Every failure has cases of excusitis. It gets worse, if not treated properly. They look for alibi's - health, exucation, age, luck, family, wife. Vaccinate yourself against excusitis. The four most common forms are - Heath, Intelligence, Age and Luck. 

Health: Looking for an illness often actually produces illness. Read 'How to live 365 days a year', 3/4th people have emotionally induced illness. (EII), resolve until you die. Right attitude will beat the wrong one. Four things you can do to kick health excusitis or vaccines for it are - Refuse to talk about your health, worry about your health, be genuinely grateful that your health is good, remind yourself often, 'It's better to wear out than rust out', Life is yours to enjoy. don't waste it. One may get sympathy but no respect by being a chronic complainer.

Intelligence:   We underestimate our own brainpower and overestimate the other fellows. The thinking that guides your intelligence is much more important than how much intelligence you may have. Interest, enthusiasm, is the critical factor. Positive, optimistic and cooperative attitude is the key. Stickability is 95% of ability. Intelligent people don't succeed because, they use their mental power to prove why thing won't work rather than directing his mental power to searching for ways to succeed. He creates nothing. Be human engineer, be positive, inspire others, be enthusiastic, like people. Difference in attitude and thought ability make the difference. Knowledge is power- when you use it constructively. Knowledge is only potential power. Use your mind to think and not as a warehouse for facts. Three ways to cure intelligence excusitis are, never underestimate  your own intelligence, and never overestimate the intelligence of others. Don't sell yourself shot. Discover your superior talents. Manage your brains. 2) Remind yourself, your attitudes are more important than my intelligence. 3) Ability to think is of much greater value than the ability to memorize facts. 

Age : It close opportunity, as people don't bother to try saying either they are too old or too young. It can be cured and vaccinated. You are only as old as you feel. How old we are is not important, it's one's attitude toward age that makes it a blessing or a barricade. Have faith. Old age is a failure disease, defeat it by refusing to let it hold you back. Young or old, don't be age conscious. Show respect to others. Youth is a liability only if you think so. 1. Be positive,  practice looking forward and gain the enthusiasm and the feel of youth. 2. Compute how much productive age you have left, life is longer than most people think, 3. Invest future time in doing what you really want to do. Start now.

Luck: What we call accident, is the cause of mechanical failure. Accept the law of cause and effect. Look and you'll discover certain specific reasons. Don't be a wishful thinker. Success comes from mastering principles that promotes success. Develop the qualities that will make you a winner. 

Chapter 03: Build Confidence and Destroy Fear Fear is real, it is success enemy number one, an infection.  We must recognize it exists before we can conquer it. Most fear today is psychological. Worry, tension, embarrassment, panic all stem from mismanaged, negative imagination. Simply knowing the breeding ground of fear doesn't cure fear. We need to proceed with treatment to cure.  Fear, uncertainty, lack of confidence, lead to economic recession.  Action cures fear, indecision, postponement, on the other hand, fertilize fear. All confidence is acquired, developed. Hope is not enough. Take action. When we face tough problems, we stay mired in the mud until we take action. Hope is a start. But hope needs action to win victories.  Some examples of fears that can be overcome are the fear of appearance, losing an important customer, failing an examination, things totally beyond control, physically hurt, what other people may think or say, making an investment, people. To cure fear and win confidence:

1. Isolate your fear. Pin it down. Determine exactly what you are afraid of.
2. Take action. 

Hesitation only enlarges, magnifies the fear. Take action promptly. Be decisive. Much lack of self-confidence can be traced directly to a mismanaged memory.  Deposit and withdraw, only positive thoughts in 'Mind bank'.  Destroy negative thoughts before they become mental monsters. A person can make a mental monster out of almost any unpleasant happening. Count your blessings. It is easy to forget the unpleasant if we simply refuse to recall it. 

If you fear other people, put them into proper perspective. Remember you are as important as other to get things done. 

• Get a balanced view of the other fellow
• Develop an understanding attitude. 

Doing what's right keeps your conscience satisfied, and this builds self-confidence. When we do what is known to be wrong, two negative things happen. First we feel guilt and this guilt eats away confidence. Second, other people sooner or later find out and lose confidence in us. 

Do what's right and keep your confidence. That's thinking yourself to success. 'To think confidently, act confidently.' When you do something contrary to your conscious, you will feel guilty. Be right, think right and act right. 

We can change our attituded by changing our physical actions. Smile, Stand tall, and don't frown. Take other persons hand, look directly at the other person, and say 'I'm very glad to know you'. 

This will banish shyness. Confident action produces confident thinking. 5 confidence building exercises:

1. Be a front seater
2. Practice making eye contact
3. Walk 25% faster
4. Practice speaking up
5. Smile Big

Put these five procedures to work for you. Action cures fear. Isolate your fear and then take constructive action. Inaction - doing nothing about a situation - strengthens fear and destroys confidence. 

The keys are:

• Action cures fear
• Put only positive thoughts in your memory bank
• Put people in proper perspective
• Do what your conscience tells you is right.
• Show and be confident: Be a front seater, make eye contact, walk 25% faster, Speak up.
• Smile Big. - Harness the power of smiling

Chapter 04: How to Think Big 

Success is not a synonymous with security, its based on the size of the thinking. Don't be ultra sensitive of the future Biggest human weakness is self-depreciation, i.e. selling oneself short , good to know weaknesses, but that is not the only thing, you should know. Determine your 5 assets. Education, experience, technical skills, appearance, well-adjusted home, attitude, personality, initiative.
We think in pictures and images, words are raw material for thoughts, only thing that counts about vocabulary is the effect words and phrases have on thinking - Be and say positive, pleasant things. 

Four ways to develop the big thinker's vocabulary:

1. Use big, positive, cheerful words and phrases to describe how you feel. When someone asks, "How do you fee today?" , even if you are not feeling good say "Just wonderful Thanks, and you"? Become known as a person who always feels great. It wins friends. 
2. Use bright, cheerful, favorable words and phrases to describe other people. 
3. Use positive language to encourage others. Compliment people personally at every opportunity, every one you know craves praise. Praise sincerely administered is a success tool. 
4. Use positive words to outline plans to others. 

See what can be, not just what is. 

1. 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 is'nt stuck with the present. 
2. Know how much is a customer worth. 
3. Don't be blind to potential. See what can be, not what is. 
4. What determine how much you're worth?  Here is how you can develop your power to see what can be, not just what is. "Practice adding value" exercises:
1. Practice adding value to things
2. Practice adding value to people
3. Practice adding value to yourself

Only few persons working in large companies have a sincere, unselfish interest in their company. Only a relatively few persons qualify as big thinkers. And these few are the ones eventually rewarded with the most responsible, best-paying jobs. Many, many potentially powerful people let petty, small insignificant things block their way to achievement. Let's look at four examples:

1. What does it take to make a good speech? Knowledge of what he's going to talk about and an intense desire to tell it to other people. They have something to say and they feel a burning desire for other people to hear it. Don't concentrate on petty things. 
2. What causes Quarrels? It starts over petty unimportant things. To eliminate quarrels, eliminate petty thinking. Ask , if it is really important?
3. Small thinking about unimportant things like seeing your name last on the department route sheet or getting late notice of an office memo can hurt you. Think big, and none of these little things can hold you back. 
4. Every stuttering is a detail. Practice these procedures to help yourself think about trivialities:
1. Keep your eyes focused on the big objective. Resolve to keep your eyes on the big ball.
2. Ask "is it really important?" There is no better way to avoid frustration over petty matters. 
3. Don't fall into the triviality trap. Think of things that really matter. Concentrate on important things. 

Petty thinking or Big thinking : The same situation handled in two entirely different ways. The choice is yours. 

Remember, it pays in every way to think  big! Don't sell yourself short. 

1. Don't sell yourself short, you are better than  you think you are, conquer the crime of self-deprecation. Concentrate on your assets. 
2. Use the big thinker's vocabulary. Use big, bright, cheerful words. Use positive words, that promise victory, hope, happiness, pleasure. 
3. Stretch your vision.  See what can be, not just what is. Practice adding value to things, to people and to yourself. 
4. Get the big view of your job. Think, really think your present job is important. The next promotion depends mostly on how you think toward your present job. 
5. Think above trivial things. Focus your attention on big objectives. Before getting involved in a petty matter, ask yourself, "Is it really important?"
6. Grow big by thinking big. 

Chapter 05: How to Think and Dream Creatively 

Creative thinking is simply finding new, improved ways to do anything. The rewards of all types of success - success in the home, at work, in the community - hinge on finding ways to do things better. Eliminate the word impossible from the thoughts.  Man belongs, where man want's to go. 

What can be done to develop creative thinking, use these tools and think creatively: Ask yourself daily:

1. Believe it can be done : When you believe, your mind finds ways to do. Believe and you'll start thinking constructively. Your mind will create a way if you let it. Eliminate the word impossible from your thinking and speaking vocabularies. Any new idea, say, "That's an interesting idea, tell me more about it", has a mind tuned to creativity. 
1. Become receptive to ideas
2. Be an experimental person. Break up fixed routines. 
3. Develop interest in wider areas, to give you breadth and prepare you for larger responsibilities. 

Be progressive, not regressive. 

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. Improve quality, '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. Improve quantity, 'How can I do more? 'Capacity is a state of mind - do more of what you do. 

Do what you do better and more of what you do. (Increase the quality and quantity of your output) 

5. Practice asking and listening.  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. 

Try this three- stage program to strengthen your creativity through asking and listening:

1. Encourage other to talk 
2. Test your own views in the form of questions.
3. Concentrate on what the other person says. Listening is more than just keeping your own mouth shut. 

Use these three ways to harness and develop your ideas:

1. Don't let ideas escape, write them down
2. Review your idea. File ideas in an active file
3. Cultivate and fertilize your ideas.  Shape the idea on a paper. Better if in the form of picture and diagrams. 

There are many ways to get mental stimulation, but here are two that you can incorporate into your patterns of life:

1. Join and meet regularly with at least one professional group that provides stimulation in your own occupational area.
2. Join and participate in at least one group outside your occupational interest.  

Chapter 06: You Are What You Think You Are 

Thinking makes us. Others see in us what we see in ourselves. We receive the kind of treatment we think we deserve. How you act in turn determines, how others react to you. 

1) Self respect is important. Look important - It helps you think important. It cost so little to be neat. Look sharp, it will help you think sharp. Your physical exterior, effects your mental interior. Your appearance talks to you, but it also talks to others.  The better you are packaged, the more public acceptance you will receive. Look your best. 

2)Think your work is important. Job thinking tells a lot about a person and his potential for larger responsibility. The way you think toward your work says things about you to your superiors, associates and subordinates in fact, to everyone with whom you come in contact.  Think, I am important. I do have what it takes, I am a first-class performer. My work is important. Think this way, and you're headed straight to success. 

3) Think enthusiasm, and you will get first class performance.  A person who thinks their job is important, receives mental signals on how to do their job better; and a better job means more promotions, more money, more prestige, more happiness.

• Always show positive attitude towards your job, the way we think toward our jobs determines how our subordinates think towards their job.
• Ask, are my habits worthy of being imitated

4) Give yourself a pep talk several times daily. To be on top, you need to feel on top. Think Positive, inject 'I've got something those people need to hear and I want to say.' Think more of yourself, and there is more of you. 

Sell Yourself to yourself.  Always be a winner. Success - rewarding technique:

• Select your assets, your positive qualities, Ask, what are your best qualities. 
• Write your commercials to you. Be direct. 
• Practice your commercial loud.
•  Read your commercial silently several times everyday, when you feel let down.

Upgrade your thinking. Think like important people think. Look important. Ask yourself " is this the way an important person thinks?" Then obey the answer. 

Chapter 07: Manage Your Environment: Go First Class 

Environment shapes us, makes us think the way we do. The size of thinking, your goals, your attitudes, your very personality is formed by your environment. A person you will be will depend entirely on your future environment. Recondition yourself for success. Most people can be classified into three groups:

• Those who surrendered completely - Convinced deep down, that success if for people who are lucky and not them
• Those who surrendered partially - Work, plan, but resistance builds up. 
• Those who never surrender - 2 or 3 % doesn't let pessimism dictate. They find life stimulating, rewarding. Fight Suppressive influences of our environment. 

People who tell you it cannot be done almost always are unsuccessful people, are strictly average mediocre at best in terms of accomplishment. Don't let negative thinking people - negators - destroy your plan to think yourself to success. Be extra careful, they are selfish people. 

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

Make it a rule to seek advice from people who know. More successful people are the most humble and ready to help. Go first class when you have questions. Here are a few simple 'do's' to help make your social environment first class:

1. Do circulate in new groups
2. Make new friends, join new organizations, enlarge your social orbit. 
3. Do select friends who have views different from your own. 

Guard your psychological environment. Don't let petty thinkers around. Conversations is a big part of our psychological environment. Some conversation is healthy. It encourages you and makes you feel like winner. Talk positive and not gossip.  Go first class. Go for quality. 

 

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. 
3. Don't let small-thinking people hold you back. Jealous people want to see your 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. Be positive.
7. Go first class in everything you do. You can't afford to go any other way. 

Chapter 08: Make Your Attitudes Your Allies 

Do you read minds? You read minds of other people and they read your mind. Right attitude pave the way to effective relationships. It makes you effective in dealing with people, enable you to develop as a leader. Right attitude win for you in every situation. Grow these three attitudes. Make them your allies in everything you do. 

1. Grow the attitude of I'm activated.
2. Grow the attitude of You are important
3. Grow the attitude of Service first.

To activate others, you must first activate yourself. To get them to be enthusiastic, you must first be enthusiastic yourself. 

1. Dig into it deeper
2. In everything you do, life it up - your talks, thoughts, with sincere feelings. 
3. Broadcast good news

Grow the 'You-Are-Important' Attitude

• People do more for you when you make them feel important 
• It pays to make 'little' people feel like big people
• It pays to make 'big' people feel even bigger

When you help others feel important, you help yourself feel important too. 

People who do not have a deep-down feeling of self-importance are slated for mediocrity. Again and again this point must be driven home: You must feel important to succeed. Helping others to feel important rewards you because it makes you feel more important. Try it and see. Here's how to do it:

1. Practice appreciation
2. Practice calling people by their names
3. Don't hog glory, invest it instead.

Praise is power. Invest the praise you receive from your superior. Pass praise on down to your subordinates, where it will encourage still greater performance. When you share praise, your subordinates know you sincerely appreciate their values. 

Want to make money? Then get The put-Service-first attitude. 

Chapter 09: Think Right Toward People 

Success depend on the support of other people. Successful people follow a plan for liking people. Likeability factor is given far more weight than the technical factors. Ten rules by President Johnson

1. Learn to remember names. Inefficiency at this point may indicate that your interest is not sufficiently outgoing
2. Be a comfortable person so there is no strain in being with you. Be an old-shoe kind of individual
3. Acquire the quality of relaxed easy-going so that things do not ruffle you. 
4. Don't be egotistical. Guard against the impression that you know it all.
5. Cultivate the quality of being interesting so people will get something of value from their association with you.
6. Study to get the 'scratchy' element out of your personality, even those of which you may be unconscious. 
7. Sincerely attempt to heal, on an honest basis, every misunderstanding you have had or now have. Drain off your grievances. 
8. Practice liking people until you learn to do so genuinely. 
9. Never miss an opportunity to say a word of congratulation upon anyone's achievement, or express sympathy in sorry or disappointment
10. Give spiritual strength to people and they will give genuine affection to you. 

Take the initiative in building friendship, introduce yourself to others. How to win friends with little initiative:

1. Introduce yourself to others
2. Let them get your name right
3. Understand the other persons name right
4. Spell other persons name, get name and phone number
5. Drop a personal note or make a phone call to new friends
6. Say pleasant things to strangers

To overcome weakness recognise:

1. No person is perfect: Know that the perfect person just does not exist, and we will dislike all. 
2. Every person has a right to be different: You don't have to approve of what other fellow does, but you must not dislike him for doing it. 
3. Don't be a reformer: Put a little more 'live and let live', into your philosophy. Most people intensely dislike being told 'you're wrong,' you have a right to your own opinion, but sometimes it's better to keep it to yourself. 

Refuse to let others prejudice your thinking. Your mind is a mental broadcasting station. 

You can't fool people, your mannerism talk, you need to genuinely like people. 

The person who does the most talking and the person who is the most successful are rarely the same person. Almost without exception, the more successful the person, the more he practices conversation generosity, that is, he encourages the other person to talk about himself. Conversation generosity paves the way to greater success in two important ways:

1. Conversation generosity wins friends
2. Conversation generosity helps you learn more about people
3. Don't be a conversation hog. Listen, win friends, and learn. 

How you think when you lose determines how long it will be until you win. 

Courtesy is the final tranquilizer . Thinking right about other people, there will be less stress, and you see how wonderful the world is. 

When things go wrong. Just do two things:

1. Ask yourself, "What can I do to make myself more deserving of the next opportunity?"
2. Don't waste time and energy being discouraged. Don't berate yourself. Plan to win next time. 

Put these principles to work:

1. Make yourself lighter to lift. Be likeable
2. Take initiative in building friendships
3. Accept human differences and limitations
4. Tune in Channel P, The good thought station. 
5. Practice conversation generosity. Be like successful people
6. Practice courtesy all the time. 
7. Don't blame others when you receive a setback.

Chapter 10: Get the Action Habit 

Ability to get things done, to get result.  Every big job requires a person who thinks action. Do the job, follow through, self-starter, get results and not just a talker.  Everything in the world is idea acted upon. 

Successful are active, activationists, doer. Average, Mediocre or unsuccessful are passive, passivationists, don'ter.. 

The test of a successful person is not an ability to eliminate problem before they arise, but to meet and work out difficulties when they do arise. Where there is a will there is always a way. 

1. Expect future obstacles and difficulties
2. Meet problems and obstacles as they arise. 

We can't buy an insurance policy against all problems. 

Make up your mind to do something about your idea.  Idea are of value only when acted upon. Acting will give mind tranquility.  Use action to cure fear and gain confidence. Saddest words are, 'It might have been.'

Build confidence. Destroy fear through action. 

Start your Mental Engine - Mechanically. Initiative is a special kind of action. It's doing something worthwhile without being told to do. 'Now' is the magic word for success.  Here are two special exercises for developing the initiative habit:

1. Be a crusader. When you see something that you believe ought to be done, pick up the ball and run. 
2. Be a volunteer. Each of us has been in situations in which we wanted to volunteer for some activity but didn't. Why? Because of fear. 

Grow the Action Habit - Practice these key points:

1. Be an activationists. Be someone who does things. Be a doer, not a don't-er
2. Don't wait until conditions are perfect. They never will be. Expect future obstacles are difficulties and solve them as they arise. 
3. Remember, ideas alone won't bring success. Ideas have value only when you act upon them. 
4. Use action to cure fear and gain confidence. Do what you fear, and fear disappears. Just try it an see. 
5. Start your mental engine mechanically. Don't wait  for the spirit to move you. Take action, dig in, and you move the spirit.
6. Think in terms of now. Tomorrow, next week, later and similar words often are synonymous with the failure word, never. Be an 'I'm starting right now', kind of person.
7. Get down to business - Pronto. Don't waste time getting ready to act. Start acting instead. 
8. Seize the initiative. Be a crusader. Pick up the ball and run. Be a volunteer. Show that you have the ability and ambition to do. 
9. Get in gear and go!

Chapter 11: How to turn defeat into victory 

Mr. Success when knocked down, bounces up, learns the lesson, forgets the beating and move upward. To put up things, all it takes is a persistent man who never thought he was defeated. It's not a brilliant man, a wealthy man or a lucky man. Salvage something form every setback. When a setback hits us personally, our fist impulse is often to become so emotionally upset that we fail to learn the lessons. A student's reaction to a failing grade provides a clue to his success potential. We can turn setbacks into victories. Find the lesson, apply it, and then look back on defeat and smile. Defeat is only a state of mind, and nothing more. Be constructively self-critical, it will help you grow. Stop blaming luck. Have persistence.  Two qualities when blended with persistence, gets results:

1. Tell yourself, "There is a way". All thoughts are magnetic
2. Back off and start afresh. 

The ball, the way it's thrown, and the surface on which it falls, will determine how the ball will bounce. 

In quick review:

                        The difference between success and failure is found in one's attitudes towards setbacks, handicaps, discouragements and other disappointing situation.  5 guideposts to help turn defeat into victory are:

1. Study setbacks to pave your way to success. When you lose, learn, and then go on to win next time. 
2. Have the courage to be your own constructive critic. Seek out your faults and weaknesses and then correct them. This makes you a professional. 
3. Stop blaming luck. Research each setback. Find out what went wrong. Remember, blaming luck never got anyone where they wanted to go.
4. Blend persistence with experimentation. Stay with your goal but don't beat your head against a stone wall. Try new approaches. Experiment.
5. Remember, there is a good side in every situation. Find it. See the good ide and whip discouragement. 

Chapter 12: Use goals to help you grow 

Keep asking, "will this help me where I want to do.?" A goal is an objective, a purpose. It's more than a dream' it's a dream being acted upon. A goal is clear "This is what I'm working toward." Goals are as essential to success as air is to life. The important thing is not where you were or where you are but where you want to get.  Business is interested in competency. Here are two steps that will help forward planning:

1. Visualize your future in terms of three departments: Work, home and social. Dividing your life this way keeps you from becoming confused, prevents conflicts, helps you look at the whole picture 
2. Demand of yourself clear, precise answers to these questions: What do I want to accomplish with my life? What do I want to be? What does it take to satisfy me?
3. Write out your 10 year plan - in your work, home and social department. 
4. Build 30 day goals. Keep building 30 day goals: Suggestions -
• Break these habits: 
• Putting off things
• Negative language
• Watching TV more than 60 minutes per day
• Gossip
• Acquire these habits:
• A rigid morning examination of the smartness my appearance
• Plan each day's work the night before
• Compliment people sincerely at every possible opportunity
• Increase value to my employer in these ways:
• Do a better job of developing my subordinates
• Learn more about my company, what it does, and the customers it serves
• Make three specific suggestions to help my company become more efficient. 
• Increase value to home in these ways 
• Show more appreciation for the little thing my partner does that I've been taking for granted.
• Once each week, do something special with whole family
• Give one hour each day of my undivided attention to my family
• Sharpen mind in these ways:
• Invest two house each week in reading professional magazines
• Read one self-help book
• Make four new friends.
• Spend 30 minutes daily in quiet, undisturbed thinking
5. Invest in yourself - build mental power and efficiency. Education, idea starter. 
6. Surrender yourself to your desire. Set goals to get more energy, to get things done, discover the real enjoyment of living. 
7. 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.
8. Achieve your goal one step at a time.
9. Take detours when needed. Prepare to take it in your stride. 

All of us have desires and dreams. But very few 'do' what is needed to make them come true, we murder the desire. Weapons used to destroy success that needs to be destroyed are:

1. Self-deprecation
2. Security-itis
3. Competition
4. Parental dictation
5. Family Responsibility

Successful people have their eyes focused on goals and this provides energy, they are not worried of the number of hours they spend on achieving their goals. 

A person who lacks goal, lack the automatic instrumentation to guide him. He is easily confused. His actions reflect no personal policy. He wavers, shifts, guesses at what to do. Lacking consistency of purpose, he flounders on the rutty road to mediocrity. 

Observe how the life of a highly successful person is integrated around a purpose. Surrender to that goal. Really surrender. Let it obsess you and give you the automatic instrumentation you need to reach that goal. 

To accomplish something, we must plan to accomplish something. Set goals to get things done. A goal, a burning desire to do something, can help people overcome deadly disease like cancer. We do not make a big jump to success. We get there one step at a time. 

Chapter 13: How to think like a leader 

You are not pulled to high level of success.  You are lifted there by those working beside and below you.  Achieving high level success need support and cooperation of others. 4 leadership rules or principles are:

• Trade minds with the people you want to influence - Put yourself in their shoes
• Think what is the human way to handle this - Let your actions show that you put people first. 
• Think progress, believe in progress , push for progress
• Take time out to confer with yourself and develop your supreme thinking power

Check the example you set, use this as a guide:

What kind of world

would this world be,

If everyone in it

Were just like me?

Over a period of time, subordinates tend to become carbon copies of their chief. The simplest way to get high-level performance is to be sure the master copy is worth duplicating.

The successful person in any field takes time out to confer with himself or herself. Leaders use solitude to put the pieces of a problem together, to work out solutions, to plan, and in one phase, to do their super thinking. 

How to Use the Magic of Thinking Big in Life’s Most Crucial Situations 

A. When little people try to drive you down, Think Big. 

1. You win when you refuse to fight petty people. Fighting little people reduces you to their size. Stay Big.
2. Expect to be sniped at. It's proof that you're growing
3. Remind yourself that snipers are psychologically sick. Be Big. Feel sorry for them.
4. Think Big enough to be immune to the attacks of petty people. 

B. When that "I haven't got what it takes' feeling creeps up on you, Think Big.

1. Look important, think important.  How you look outside, you will feel inside.
2. Concentrate on your assets. Build a sell-yourself to yourself commercial and use it. 
3. Put other people in proper perspective
4. Think Big Enough to see how good your really are. 

C. When an argument or quarrel seems inevitable, Think Big.

Successfully resist the temptation to argue and quarrel by:

1. Asking yourself, "Honestly now, is this thing really important enough to argue about".
2. Reminding yourself, you never gain anything from an argument but you always lose something
3. Think Big Enough to see that quarrels, arguments, these will never help you get where you want to go.

D. When you Feel defeated, Think Big.

Defeat is a state of mind. 

1. Regard the setback as a lesson. Learn from it. 

2. Blend persistence with experimentation. 

E. When romance Starts to slip, Think Big. 

1. Concentrate on the biggest qualities in the person you want to love you
2. Do something special for your mate - and do it often
3. Think Big enough to find the secret to marital joys. 

F. When you Feel your Progress on the job is slowing down, Think Big. 

Increase the quality and quantity of your output.  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.