I got a chance to read the book titled "The Magic of Thinking big" by David J. Schwartz. I started to read on 21 April 2016 and finished on 20 May 2016. I find this book helpful as it guides - how should we develop/improve our innate to the best. This book supports each claim with real-world examples. I believe it is impossible to contradict the author. While reading, I tried to note down some anecdotes and here I pen down the same for my revision. Each bullet heading refers to a different chapter title and sub-bullets are the anecdotes found in the respective chapter

  • Belief
    • Believe in yourself that you can grow/improve with time if you put an effort
    • Believe you are going to make a difference in this world if you would like
  • Cure yourself on Excusists
    • Thinking guides Intelligence -  Think always. Take some time out of your busy schedule and think what you are doing, how you can improve the things, are you really doing something meaningful or it is wastage of time
    • Avoid excusitis: Types - Health, Intelligence, age, luck. Don't give excuses of any of the mentioned types. Any of these excuses is just like a disease which starts because of small issue but it covers your entire body/life till death. Better avoid giving any excuse. Accept your fault at first hand. 
  •  Build Confidence and Destroy Fear 
    • Action cures fear. Indecision and postponement fertilise fear
    • Hope is a start. It needs action to win victories
    • Destroy negative thoughts before they become mental monsters
    • Recall only best moments of your life
    • Don’t do things that result in guilt. Guilt has serious repercussions
    • Motions/actions are the precursors of emotions
  • How to think Big  
    • Know thyself/yourself
    • Never sell yourself short
    • Conquer the crime of self-deprecation. Concentrate on your assets
    • To think big, use words that produce big positive mental images
    • See Image as - Bright, hope, success, fun, and victory
    • Use big, positive, cheerful words and phrases to describe how you feel
    • Use bright, cheerful, favourable words and phrases to describe other people
    • Use positive language to encourage others
    • Use positive language to outline plans to others
    • Visualisation adds value to everything. A big thinker always visualizes what can be done in the future. He isn’t stuck with the present
    • Practice adding value to things, to people, and to yourself
    • Keep your eyes focused on big objective
    • Ask, “Is it really important”
    • Don’t fall into the triviality trap
  • How to think and dream creatively
    • When you believe in something, your mind automatically finds ways to get it 
    • Where there is a will, there is a way
    • Develop weekly improvement programme
    • Devote 10 minutes every day before work: What better I can do today? What best I can achieve today?
    • Capacity is a state of mind! How much we can do, depends on  how much we think we can do
    • Don’t let traditions paralyze your mind. Be experimental!
    • Ask yourself, “How can I do more?”
    • Practice asking and listening. 
    • Stretch your mind. Associate with people who can help you think of new ideas
  • You are what you think you are 
    • Dress properly. It defines you to others and most importantly to your innate. It gives you respect and defines your identity. Your appearance talks to others
    • Look important and think your work is important
    • The way we think about our jobs determines how our subordinates think toward their jobs
    • Always give a pep-talk [confidence building]
    • Practice uplifting self-praise. Don’t  practise belittling self-punishment
    • Sell yourself on yourself. Create a Commercial of yourself and repeat this commercial every day number of times
    • Always ask yourself, “Is this the way an important person thinks?”
  • Manage your environment 
    • You are a product of your environment
    • Always associate with positive people, and indulge with diverse groups. This gives a first-hand experience and increases your horizon
    • Never get involved in gossips. It is a thought poison
  • Make your attitudes your allies 
    • Build enthusiasm. Possible means: (i) Dig Deeper, (ii) Broadcast good news
    • Practice Appreciation: No matters what, to whom, always appreciate
    • Practice calling people by their names
    • Ask everyday yourself, “ What can I do today to make the day better, add-on scientific career”  
  • Get the Action Habit 
    • Don’t wait for perfect actions. Got an idea - work over it as soon as possible
    • To fight fear, act. To increase fear - wait, postpone, put-off
    • Action cures fear
    • Take pencil and paper; and start writing, figuring your ideas on paper
    • Benjamin Franklin: Don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do today
  • How to turn defeat into action 
    • Persistence does not guarantee victory, but adding experimentation make things happen. Possible approach: Apply, fail and, re-learn 
    • Study your setbacks to make your future bright
    • Stop blaming luck. Blaming luck will never help you to reach your full potential
    • Find the good side of each situation
  • Use goals to Help you Grow 
    • Goal should be clear and crisp, what you are going to do
    • Without setting goals, people work on hazy things without knowing where they spend time
    • Goals are essential to success as air is to life
    • Success requires heart and soul effort and you can put both of them into what you really desire. So, always work on the things which you like, no matters what other people think
    • Energy increases and even multiplies when you set a desired goal  and resolve to work towards that goal.
    • Use goals to live longer
    • Achieve your goals one at a time. Build 30-day goals
    • Invest in yourself. Purchase things that build your mental power and efficiency.
  • How to think like a leader 
    • Think progress, believe in progress and push for progress
    • Over time, we learn different ways to do things from experiences and from colleagues. Copy only high standards in your daily routine. Be sure that the master carbon copy is worth duplicating
    • Take time from every day/every weekend to confer with yourself, to introspect and to tap  your supreme thinking. Spend some time alone  every day just for thinking.

The book concludes with the following lines: A wise man will be a master of his mind. A fool will be its slave.