The Magic of Thinking Big by David J. Schwartz: A Review

Think success, don’t think failure. The mantra of believe in yourself is the premise of this book. The copy I have read was first published in 1960. This was one of the books I found in my grandfather’s bookcase and one which I kept after he died. This is second time I have read this book with many years between the readings. I know the book has been re-published many times since and is available. The reason I selected this book to write a review is that maybe a newer generation might find it an interesting book to read, and they might not have heard about it before.

The book is really a tutorial of how to respond positively to events with mini stories describing how other people have handled both negative and positive events in their lives. This gives the reader a clear understanding of how to approach similar situations with good advice. Of course “you can’t move mountains” but believe in yourself and your abilities and you will climb a mountain of doubt. Because, if you do not believe in yourself you are more likely will not succeed.

I have always believed that to succeed in anything you have to have confidence in yourself. It sounds so simple, doesn’t it? But, it’s true. The more confidence you have within you the more other people will believe in you. Don’t suffer from fear is another mantra the author discusses which is I believe is a common feeling we all have when it comes to our ability to try new things. We fear failure more, partly because of the unknown and what other people might think about us. I have written about this subject because I feel we are all capable of achieving what we want. Sometimes we just need to understand that fear is only temporary when we start to take action. When we confront our fear head-on the more likely we will gain confidence in ourselves to tackle similar situations in the future.

What I would say which I feel the author doesn’t express is that as humans we have the tendency to set our expectations to high and when things don’t pan out the way we expected them to we can get disillusioned and often depressed. I am not saying you should not aim high or set your goals high, but sometimes things are not always in our control. So we have to learn to aim high, but always remember that not everything is going to go our way.

My analogy of this would be the climbing of Mount Everest, sometimes events and conditions are against you, but for those who keep trying they often reach the summit of their goal. What we all must accept is that failure is part of success. Those that keep trying will find success, as long as they are prepared to evaluate their performance after each attempt and improve.

It’s natural and part of our makeup that as individuals we don’t like coming second, but in a race sometimes there is only one winner. We have to learn that success is more subjective and teach ourselves that taking part is a success. This will make us more confident as individuals with the right attitude to be a better person in this world.

This book is worth keeping and re-reading. David J. Schwartz says “Got a good idea? Then do something about it.”

-- Originally posted on Goodreads