The Magic of Thinking Big

Highlights

The only wise thing to do is fire Mr. Defeat. You don’t need him. You don’t want him around telling you that you can’t, you’re not up to it, you’ll fail, and so on. Mr. Defeat won’t help you get where you want to go, so boot him out. Use Mr. Triumph 100 percent of the time. When any thought enters your mind, ask Mr. Triumph to go to work for you. He’ll show you how you can succeed.

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Believe Big. The size of your success is determined by the size of your belief. Think little goals and expect little achievements. Think big goals and win big success. Remember this, too! Big ideas and big plans are often easier—certainly no more difficult—than small ideas and small plans.

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Like any disease, excusitis gets worse if it isn’t treated properly. A victim of this thought disease goes through this mental process: “I’m not doing as well as I should. What can I use as an alibi that will help me save face? Let’s see: poor health? lack of education? too old? too young? bad luck? personal misfortune? wife? the way my family brought me up?” Once the victim of this failure disease has selected a “good” excuse, he sticks with it. Then he relies on the excuse to explain to himself and others why he is not going forward.

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Remind yourself often, “It’s better to wear out than rust out.” Life is yours to enjoy. Don’t waste it. Don’t pass up living by thinking yourself into a hospital bed.

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Once I was retained by an insurance company to learn why the top 25 percent of the agents were selling over 75 percent of the insurance while the bottom 25 percent of the agents sold only 5 percent of total volume. Thousands of personnel files were carefully checked. The search proved beyond any question that no significant difference existed in native intelligence. What’s more, differences in education did not explain the difference in selling success. The difference in the very successful and the very unsuccessful finally reduced to differences in attitudes, or difference in thought management. The top group worried less, was more enthusiastic, had a sincere liking for people.

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The story is told that the great scientist Einstein was once asked how many feet are in a mile. Einstein’s reply was “I don’t know. Why should I fill my brain with facts I can find in two minutes in any standard reference book?” Einstein taught us a big lesson. He felt it was more important to use your mind to think than to use it as a warehouse for facts.

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“What I want around me,” he continued, “are people who can solve problems, who can think up ideas. People who can dream and then develop the dream into a practical application; an idea man can make money with me; a fact man can’t.”

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a deeper sense, it was a sad sight. The fear those young men displayed was real. Yet all that stood between them and the defeat of that fear was one drop into the water below. On more than one occasion I saw young men “accidentally” pushed off the board. The result: fear defeated. This incident, familiar to thousands of former Navy men, illustrates just one point: action cures fear. Indecision, postponement, on the other hand, fertilize fear. Jot that down in your success rule book right now. Action cures fear.

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Use this two-step procedure to cure fear and win confidence: 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.

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Here is an excellent plan. Just before you go to sleep, deposit good thoughts in your memory bank. Count your blessings. Recall the many good things you have to be thankful for: your wife or husband, your children, your friends, your health. Recall the good things you saw people do today. Recall your little victories and accomplishments. Go over the reasons why you are glad to be alive.

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1. Get a balanced view of the other fellow. Keep these two points in mind when dealing with people: first, the other fellow is important. Emphatically, he is important. Every human being is. But remember this, also: You are important, too. So when you meet another person, make it a policy to think, “We’re just two important people sitting down to discuss something of mutual interest and benefit.”▶ 4:47

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Walking toward the elevators, I caught myself repeating aloud, “Underneath he’s probably a very nice guy. Most folks are.” Remember those two short sentences next time someone declares war on you. Hold your fire. The way to win in situations like this is to let the other fellow blow his stack and then forget it.

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I walked over to my bookshelf, took down my personal copy of Fifty Years with the Golden Rule, and said, “Paul, read this book and return it. See how, in J. C. Penney’s own words, just doing what’s right made him one of America’s richest men.”

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The great psychologist Dr. George W. Crane said in his famous book Applied Psychology, “Remember, motions are the precursors of emotions. You can’t control the latter directly but only through your choice of motions or actions. . . . To avoid this all too common tragedy (marital difficulties and misunderstandings) become aware of the true psychological facts. Go through the proper motions each day and you’ll soon begin to feel the corresponding emotions! Just be sure you and your mate go through those motions of dates and kisses, the phrasing of sincere daily compliments, plus the many other little courtesies, and you need not worry about the emotion of love. You can’t act devoted for very long without feeling devoted.”

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It is easy to prove that managed motions can change emotions. People who are shy in introducing themselves can replace this timidity with confidence just by taking three simple actions simultaneously: First, reach for the other person’s hand and clasp it warmly. Second, look directly at the other person. And third, say, “I’m very glad to know you.” These three simple actions automatically and instantaneously banish shyness. Confident action produces confident thinking. So, to think confidently, act confidently. Act the way you want to feel. Below are five confidence-building exercises. Read these guides carefully. Then make a conscious effort to practice them and build your confidence.

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You say nothing good about yourself when you avoid making eye contact. You say, “I’m afraid. I lack confidence.” Conquer this fear by making yourself look the other person in the eyes. Looking the other person in the eye tells him, “I’m honest and aboveboard. I believe in what I’m telling you. I’m not afraid. I’m confident.” Make your eyes work for you. Aim them right at the other person’s eyes. It not only gives you confidence, it wins you confidence, too.

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Make this little test. Try to feel defeated and smile big at the same time. You can’t. A big smile gives you confidence. A big smile beats fear, rolls away worry, defeats despondency. And a real smile does more than cure just your ill feeling. A real smile melts away the opposition of others—and instantly, too. Another person simply can’t be angry with you if you give him a big, sincere smile.

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1. Action cures fear. Isolate your fear and then take constructive action. Inaction—doing nothing about a situation—strengthens fear and destroys confidence.▶ 8:18

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1. Make a supreme effort to put only positive thoughts in your memory bank. Don’t let negative, self-deprecatory thoughts grow into mental monsters. Simply refuse to recall unpleasant events or situations.▶ 8:50

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1. Put people in proper perspective. Remember, people are more alike, much more alike, than they are different. Get a balanced view of the other fellow. He is just another human being. And develop an understanding attitude. Many people will bark, but it’s a rare one who bites.▶ 9:36

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1. Practice doing what your conscience tells you is right. This prevents a poisonous guilt complex from developing. Doing what’s right is a very practical rule for success.▶ 10:25

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1. Make everything about you say, “I’m confident, really confident.” Practice these little techniques in your day-to-day activities: Be a front seater. Make eye contact. Walk 25 percent faster. Speak up. Smile big.▶ 11:04

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Look at it this way. When you speak or write, you are, in a sense, a projector showing movies in the minds of others. And the pictures you create determine how you and others react. Suppose you tell a group of people, “I’m sorry to report we’ve failed.” What do these people see? They see defeat and all the disappointment and grief the word “failed” conveys. Now suppose you said instead, “Here’s a new approach that I think will work.” They would feel encouraged, ready to try again.

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When you and someone else are discussing an absent third party, be sure you compliment him with big words and phrases like “He’s really a fine fellow.” “They tell me he’s working out wonderfully well.” Be extremely careful to avoid the petty cut-him-down language. Sooner or later third parties hear what’s been said, and then such talk only cuts you down.

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Use positive language to encourage others. Compliment people personally at every opportunity. Everyone you know craves praise. Have a special good word for your wife or husband every day. Notice and compliment the people who work with you. Praise, sincerely administered, is a success tool. Use it! Use it again and again and again. Compliment people on their appearance, their work, their achievements, their families.

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When people hear something like this: “Here is some good news. We face a genuine opportunity . . .” their minds start to sparkle. But when they hear something like “Whether we like it or not, we’ve got a job to do,” the mind movie is dull and boring, and they react accordingly. Promise victory and watch eyes light up. Promise victory and win support. Build castles, don’t dig graves!

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The moral is this: 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 isn’t stuck with the present.

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The point made by the retailing executive applies to any kind of business. It’s repeat business that makes the profit. Often, there’s no profit at all on the first several sales. Look at the potential expenditures of the customers, not just what they buy today.

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Practice adding value to people. As you move higher and higher in the world of success, more and more of your job becomes “people development.” Ask, “What can I do to ‘add value’ to my subordinates? What can I do to help them to become more effective?” Remember, to bring out the best in a person, you must first visualize his best.

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Practice adding value to things. Remember the real estate example. Ask yourself, “What can I do to ‘add value’ to this room or this house or this business?” Look for ideas to make things worth more. A thing—whether it be a vacant lot, a house, or a business—has value in proportion to the ideas for using it.

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He’s a flop because he concentrated on the petty, trivial, relatively unimportant qualities of a good speaker and failed to concentrate on the big things that make a good speaker: knowledge of what he’s going to talk about and an intense desire to tell it to other people.

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Think of something special you’ve been wanting to do but felt you couldn’t. Now make a list of reasons why you can do it. Many of us whip and defeat our desires simply because we concentrate on why we can’t when the only thing worthy of our mental concentration is why we can.

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That’s an example of traditional thinking. 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?”

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Successful people, like successful businesses, live with these questions: “How can I improve the quality of my performance? How can I do better?” Absolute perfection in all human undertakings from building missiles to rearing children is unattainable. This means there is endless room for improvement. Successful people know this, and they are always searching for a better way. (Note: The successful person doesn’t ask, “Can I do it better?” He knows he can. So he phrases the question: “How can I do it better?”)

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In an office recently I noticed a sign that said, “To sell John Brown what John Brown buys, you’ve got to see things through John Brown’s eyes.” And the way to get John Brown’s vision is to listen to what John Brown has to say. Your ears are your intake valves. They feed your mind raw materials that can be converted into creative power. We learn nothing from telling. But there is no limit to what we can learn by asking and listening.

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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.

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But the answer is really a simple one: Pay twice as much and buy half as many. Commit this answer to memory. Then practice it. Apply it to hats, suits, shoes, socks, coats—everything you wear. Insofar as appearance is concerned, quality is far more important than quantity.

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“The persons in group B talk mainly about security, company retirement plans, sick leave policy, extra time off, what we’re doing to improve the insurance program, and if they will be asked to work overtime next March as they were last March. They also talk a lot about disagreeable features of their job, things they don’t like in fellow workers, and so on. People in group B—and they include close to 80 percent of all nonproduction personnel—view their jobs as a sort of necessary evil. “The group A fellow sees his job through different glasses. He is concerned about his future and wants concrete suggestions on what he can do to make faster progress. He doesn’t expect us to give him anything except a chance. The group A people think on a broader scale. They make suggestions for improving the business. They regard these interviews in my office as constructive. But the group B people often feel our personnel audit system is just a brainwashing affair, and they’re glad to get it over with.

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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?”

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Look important; it helps you think important. Your appearance talks to you. Be sure it lifts your spirits and builds your confidence. Your appearance talks to others. Make certain it says, “Here is an important person: intelligent, prosperous, and dependable.”

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Think your work is important. Think this way, and you will receive mental signals on how to do your job better. Think your work is important, and your subordinates will think their work is important too.

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In all of life’s situations, ask yourself, “Is this the way an important person thinks?” Then obey the answer.

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Remember: People who tell you it cannot be done almost always are unsuccessful people, are strictly average or mediocre at best in terms of accomplishment. The opinions of these people can be poison. Develop a defense against people who want to convince you that you can’t do it. Accept negative advice only as a challenge to prove that you can do it.

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There’s a lot of incorrect thinking that successful people are inaccessible. The plain truth is that they are not. As a rule, it’s the more successful people who are the most humble and ready to help. Since they are sincerely interested in their work and success, they are eager to see that the work lives on and that somebody capable succeeds them when they retire. It’s the “would-be-big” people who are most often the most abrupt and hard to get to know.

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We go to any extreme to avoid body poison. And it’s good that we do. But there’s another type of poison perhaps a little more insidious—thought poison—commonly called “gossip.” Thought poison differs from body poison in two ways. It affects the mind, not the body, and is more subtle. The person being poisoned usually doesn’t know it. Thought poison is subtle, but it accomplishes “big” things. It reduces the size of our thinking by forcing us to concentrate on petty, unimportant things. It warps and twists our thinking about people because it is based on a distortion of facts, and it creates a guilt feeling in us that shows through when we meet the person we’ve gossiped about. Thought poison is 0 percent right thinking: it is 100 percent wrong thinking.

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Taking an ax and chopping your neighbor’s furniture to pieces won’t make your furniture look one bit better; and using verbal axes and grenades on another person doesn’t do one thing to make you a better you or me a better me.

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To activate others, to get them to be enthusiastic, you must first be enthusiastic yourself. Over the years I’ve tested this principle in hundreds of different situations. It always holds true. A man who lacks enthusiasm never develops it in another. But a person who is enthusiastic soon has enthusiastic followers. The enthusiastic salesman need never worry about unenthusiastic buyers. The enthusiastic teacher need never worry about disinterested students. The activated minister need never be distressed by a sleepy congregation.

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Chances are you are quite unenthusiastic about bumblebees. But if you study bumblebees, find out what good they do, how they relate to other bees, how they reproduce, where they live in winter—if you find out all you can about bumblebees, you will soon find yourself really interested in bumblebees.

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Today millions of Americans invest in corporate securities. But there are many millions more who have no interest at all in the stock market. That’s because they are people who have not familiarized themselves with what the securities market is, how it operates, the day-to-day romance of American business. To get enthusiasm about anything—people, places, things—dig into it deeper. Dig into it deeper, and you’ll develop enthusiasm. Put this principle to work next time you must do something you don’t want to do. Put this principle to work next time you find yourself becoming bored. Just dig in deeper and you dig up interest.

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This is a fact of paramount significance: Each human being, whether he lives in India or Indianapolis, whether he’s ignorant or brilliant, civilized or uncivilized, young or old, has this desire: He wants to feel important. Ponder on that. Everyone, yes, everyone—your neighbor, you, your wife, your boss—has a natural desire to feel he is “somebody.” The desire to be important is man’s strongest, most compelling nonbiological hunger. Successful advertisers know that people crave prestige, distinction, recognition. Headlines that produce sales read like this: “For Smart Young Homemakers”; “Persons with Distinctive Tastes Use —”; “You Want Only the Best”; “Be the Envy of Everyone”; “For Women Who Want to Be Envied by Women and Admired by Men.” These

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Two special things you must remember. Pronounce the name correctly, and spell it correctly. If you mispronounce or misspell someone’s name, that person feels that you feel he is unimportant. And here’s one special reminder: When talking with people you don’t know well, add the appropriate title—Miss, Mister, or Mrs. The office boy prefers Mr. Jones to just Jones. So does your junior assistant. So do people at every level. These little titles help tremendously to make people feel important.

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Here is a simple but powerful rule that will help you to develop the put-service-first attitude: Always give people more than they expect to get. Each little extra something you do for others is a money seed. Volunteering to work late and get the department out of a tight spot is a money seed; giving customers extra service is a money seed because it brings customers back; advancing a new idea that will increase efficiency is a money seed. Money seeds, of course, grow money. Plant service and harvest money. Spend some time each day answering this question: “How can I give more than is expected of me?” Then apply the answers. Put service first, and money takes care of itself. In quick

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Now, talking to strangers may not be very urbane, but most people like it nevertheless. And here is the big payoff: When you make a pleasant remark to a stranger, you make him feel one degree better. This makes you feel better and helps you relax. Every time you say something pleasant to another person, you compensate yourself. It’s like warming up your automobile on a cold morning.

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And last but not least, say pleasant things to strangers. It warms you up and gets you ready for the task ahead.

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Hundreds of my own little experiments have revealed this: 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, his views, his accomplishments, his family, his job, his problems. 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.

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Excellent ideas are not enough. An only fair idea acted upon, and developed, is 100 percent better than a terrific idea that dies because it isn’t followed up. The great self-made merchant John Wanamaker often said, “Nothing comes merely by thinking about it.” Think of it. Everything we have in this world, from satellites to skyscrapers to baby food, is just an idea acted upon.

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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. So to wait for the perfect set of conditions is to wait forever.

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The test of a successful person is not an ability to eliminate all problems before they arise, but to meet and work out difficulties when they do arise. We must be willing to make an intelligent compromise with perfection lest we wait forever before taking action. It’s still good advice to cross bridges as we come to them.

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Expect future obstacles and difficulties. Every venture presents risks, problems, and uncertainties. Let’s suppose you wanted to drive your car from Chicago to Los Angeles, but you insisted on waiting until you had absolute assurance that there would be no detours, no motor trouble, no bad weather, no drunken drivers, no risk of any kind. When would you start? Never! In planning your trip to Los Angeles it makes sense to map your route, check your car, in other ways to eliminate as much risk as possible before you start. But you can’t eliminate all risks.

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“What we want more than anything else in our business,” an executive in a machine tool company said in an address to a group of sales executives, “is more people who get sound ideas and then push them through. There’s not one job in our production and marketing setup that can’t be done better, a lot better. I don’t want to infer that we’re not doing a good job now. We are. But like all progressive companies, we need new products, new markets, new and more efficient ways of doing things. We depend on people with initiative. They’re the ball carriers on our team.” 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. The director

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Ten times out of ten they’re activationists, people who do things. The fellow who stands on the sidelines, who holds off, who is passive, does not lead. But the doer, the fellow who thinks action, finds others want to follow him. People place confidence in the fellow who acts. They naturally assume he knows what he is doing. I’ve never heard anyone complimented and praised because “he doesn’t disturb anyone,” “he doesn’t take action,” or “he waits until he’s told what to do.” Have you? GROW THE ACTION HABIT Practice these key points: 1.

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Don’t wait until conditions are perfect. They never will be. Expect future obstacles and difficulties and solve them as they arise.

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Remember, ideas alone won’t bring success. Ideas have value only when you act upon them.

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Use action to cure fear and gain confidence. Do what you fear, and fear disappears. Just try it and see.

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Tell yourself, “There IS a way.” All thoughts are magnetic. As soon as you tell yourself, “I’m beaten. There’s no way to conquer this problem,” negative thoughts are attracted, and each of these helps convince you that you are right, that you are whipped. Believe instead, “There is a way to solve this problem,” and positive thoughts rush into your mind to help you find a solution. It’s believing there is a way that is important. Marriage counselors report no success in saving marriages until one and preferably both partners see that it is possible to win back happiness.

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President Eisenhower once was asked at a news conference why he took so many weekend vacations. His answer is good advice for everybody who wants to maximize his creative ability. Mr. Eisenhower said, “I do not believe that any individual, whether he is running General Motors or the United States of America, can do the best job just by sitting at a desk and putting his face in a bunch of papers. Actually, the president ought to be trying to keep his mind free of inconsequential details and doing his own thinking on the basic principles and factors . . . so that he can make clear and better judgments.” A former business associate

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beside a tree holding a water hose on the grass.” President Eisenhower once was asked at a news conference why he

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A goal is an objective, a purpose. A goal is more than a dream; it’s a dream being acted upon. A goal is more than a hazy “Oh, I wish I could.” A goal is a clear “This is what I’m working toward.”

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F. B., obviously studying the question, finally said, “Well, I guess I want what just about everyone else wants: a good job that pays well and a nice home. Really, though,” he continued, “I haven’t given it too much thought.” This, I assured him, was quite natural. I went on to explain that his approach to selecting a career was like going to an airline ticket counter and saying “Give me a ticket.” The people selling the tickets just can’t help you unless you give them a destination. So I said, “And I can’t help you find a job until I know what your destination is, and only you can tell me that.” This jarred F. B. into thinking. We spent the next two hours not talking about the merits of different kinds of jobs, but rather discussing how to set goals. F. B. learned, I believe, the most important lesson in career planning: Before you start out, know where you want to go.

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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.

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According to Dr. George E. Burch of the Tulane University School of Medicine, an expert in the study of human longevity, many things determine how long you will live: weight, heredity, diet, psychic tension, personal habits. But Dr. Burch says, “The quickest way to the end is to retire and do nothing. Every human being must keep an interest in life just to keep living.”

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Ralph J. Cordiner, chairman of General Electric, expressed the attitude of top business management toward education this way: “Two of our most outstanding presidents, Mr. Wilson and Mr. Coffin, never had an opportunity to attend college. Although some of our present officers have doctor’s degrees, twelve out of forty-one have no college degrees. We are interested in competency, not diplomas.” A diploma or degree may help you get a job, but it will not guarantee your progress on the job. “Business is interested in competency, not diplomas.”

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People use different approaches to leadership situations. One approach is to assume the position of a dictator. The dictator makes all decisions without consulting those affected. He refuses to hear his subordinates’ side of a question because, down deep perhaps, he’s afraid the subordinate might be right and this would cause him to lose face. Dictators don’t last long. Employees may fake loyalty for a while, but unrest soon develops. Some of the best employees leave, and those remaining get together and plot against the tyrant. The result is that the organization ceases to function smoothly. This puts the dictator in a bad light with his superior.

This dismissal procedure intrigued me, so I asked John to explain his thinking behind it. He explained it this way: “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. “Anybody,” John continued, “can hire a man. But the test of leadership is how one handles the dismissal. By helping that employee relocate before he left us built up a feeling of job security in everyone in my department. I let them know by example that no one gets dumped on the street as long as I’m here.”

Remember Bob W.’s formula for helping others correct their mistakes. Avoid sarcasm. Avoid being cynical. Avoid taking people down a peg or two. Avoid putting others in their place. Ask, “What is the human way to deal with people?” It always pays—sometimes sooner, sometimes later, but it always pays. A second way to profit from the be-human rule is to let your action show you put people first. Show interest in your subordinates’ off-the-job accomplishments. Treat everyone with dignity. Remind yourself that the primary purpose in life is to enjoy it. As a general rule, the more interest you show in a person, the more he will produce for you. And his production is what carries you forward to greater and greater success. Praise your subordinates to your supervisor by putting in plugs for them at every opportunity. It’s an old American custom to admire the fellow who’s on the side of the little man. Your subordinates will appreciate your plugs, and their loyalty to you will grow.

Praise your subordinates personally at every opportunity. Praise them for their cooperation. Praise them for every extra effort they put forth. Praise is the greatest single incentive you can give people, and it costs you nothing. Besides, a write-in vote has often overthrown a powerful, known candidate. You never know when your subordinates can do you a turn by coming to your defense. Practice praising people. Rub people the right way. Be human.

Think, talk, act, live the way you want your subordinates to think, talk, act, live—and they will. 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.

To be sure, there are some people who want you to lose, to experience misfortune, to be reprimanded. But these people can’t hurt you if you’ll remember three things: 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 you’re growing. 3. Remind yourself that snipers are psychologically sick. Be Big. Feel sorry for them. Think Big Enough to be immune to the attacks of petty people.