The Magic of Thinking Big: Difference between revisions
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''The Magic of Thinking Big'' is a self-help book by American |
📘 '''''The Magic of Thinking Big''''' is a self-help book by American marketing professor David J. Schwartz, first published by Prentice-Hall in 1959 and later reissued as a Simon & Schuster Fireside paperback in 1987.<ref name="SSAuthor">{{cite web |title=David Schwartz |url=https://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/David-Schwartz/2190 |website=Simon & Schuster |publisher=Simon & Schuster |access-date=4 November 2025}}</ref><ref name="OCLC729571" /><ref name="Goog1987" /> It teaches readers to set ambitious goals and to replace “excusitis,” fear and hesitation with deliberate action; its 13 chapters include “Believe You Can Succeed and You Will,” “Cure Yourself of Excusitis,” and “Get the Action Habit.”<ref name="Goog1987" /><ref name="OCLC15549409">{{cite web |title=The magic of thinking big |url=https://search.worldcat.org/th/title/The-magic-of-thinking-big/oclc/15549409 |website=WorldCat |publisher=OCLC |access-date=4 November 2025}}</ref> Schwartz writes in a practical, how-to register, promising “tools to change your life” around confidence, creative thinking, and leadership habits.<ref name="PRH2019" /> The work has remained in print internationally—including a 2019 Vermilion Life Essentials edition—and Simon & Schuster reports more than six million copies sold worldwide.<ref name="PRH2019" /><ref name="SSA2015" /> It is frequently cited among influential self-help titles; for example, Forbes highlighted it in 2014 as one of the “greatest self-help books” of recent decades.<ref name="Forbes2014">{{cite news |last=Caprino |first=Kathy |title=What The Greatest Self-Help Books Of The Last Decades Can Teach You In 7 Minutes |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathycaprino/2014/03/21/what-the-greatest-self-help-books-of-the-last-decades-can-teach-you-in-7-minutes/ |work=Forbes |date=21 March 2014 |access-date=4 November 2025}}</ref> |
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== Chapter summary == |
== Chapter summary == |
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🧑✈️ '''13 – How to Think like a Leader.''' |
🧑✈️ '''13 – How to Think like a Leader.''' |
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== Background & reception == |
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🖋️ '''Author & writing'''. David J. Schwartz was a professor of marketing at Georgia State University and president of Creative Educational Services, a leadership-development consultancy.<ref name="SSAuthor" /> He died in 1987, the same year Simon & Schuster issued the widely distributed Fireside paperback edition.<ref name="SSAuthor" /><ref name="Goog1987" /> The book’s method is organized as practical how-to chapters on belief, curing “excusitis,” building confidence, creative thinking, goal-setting, and leadership.<ref name="Goog1987" /><ref name="OCLC15549409" /> Publisher catalog copy describes the register as motivating and tool-focused rather than academic.<ref name="PRH2019" /> An unabridged audiobook from Simon & Schuster Audio broadened access to the title in 2015.<ref name="SSA2015" /> |
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📈 '''Commercial reception'''. Simon & Schuster reports that the book has sold more than six million copies worldwide.<ref name="SSA2015" /> The title has stayed in print across markets, including a 2019 UK Vermilion Life Essentials reissue.<ref name="PRH2019" /> Major outlets continue to place it on business reading lists—for example, Forbes’s “30 must-read business books for 2021” and Business Insider’s recommendations from rising industry figures in 2020.<ref name="Forbes2020Cook">{{cite news |last=Cook |first=Jodie |title=30 Must-Read Business Books For Upping Your Game In 2021 |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/jodiecook/2020/12/16/30-must-read-business-books-for-upping-your-game-in-2021/ |work=Forbes |date=16 December 2020 |access-date=4 November 2025}}</ref><ref name="BI2020">{{cite news |title=The Best Real-Estate Career Books, According to Rising Stars |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/rising-stars-real-estate-commercial-residential-books-advice-success-2020-12 |work=Business Insider |date=15 December 2020 |access-date=4 November 2025}}</ref> |
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👍 '''Praise'''. Forbes included the book in a 2014 roundup of the “greatest self-help books,” highlighting its emphasis on respectful, people-first success.<ref name="Forbes2014" /> A 2017 Forbes column recommended it as a concise, practical reminder that “success comes from thinking big.”<ref name="Forbes2017">{{cite news |last=Denning |first=Stephanie |title=The Best Books I Read Last Month |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/stephaniedenning/2017/07/31/the-best-books-i-read-last-month/ |work=Forbes |date=31 July 2017 |access-date=4 November 2025}}</ref> The Times of India has repeatedly featured the title in lists of inspirational or positive-thinking books for general readers, underscoring its enduring popular appeal.<ref name="TOI2022">{{cite news |title=7 inspirational books that will change your life for the better |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/books/features/7-inspirational-books-that-will-change-your-life-for-the-better/photostory/89246510.cms |work=The Times of India |date=31 January 2022 |access-date=4 November 2025}}</ref> |
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👎 '''Criticism'''. Critics of positive-thinking manuals—often grouping Schwartz’s book with that tradition—argue that unqualified optimism can oversimplify causality and hinder realism; The Guardian’s Tim Lott contends that accepting reality may be more helpful than “positive thinking.”<ref name="Guardian2019">{{cite news |last=Lott |first=Tim |title=The best form of self-help is … a healthy dose of unhappiness |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/mar/19/best-self-help-books-unhappiness-reality |work=The Guardian |date=19 March 2019 |access-date=4 November 2025}}</ref> Experimental research by Gabriele Oettingen and colleagues finds that indulging in positive fantasies can reduce effort and achievement, complicating straightforward “think big” prescriptions.<ref name="Oettingen2011">{{cite journal |last=Kappes |first=Heather Barry |author2=Gabriele Oettingen |date=2011 |title=Positive fantasies about idealized futures sap energy |journal=Journal of Experimental Social Psychology |volume=47 |issue=4 |pages=719–729 |doi=10.1016/j.jesp.2011.02.003 |url=https://eprints.lse.ac.uk/46284/ |access-date=4 November 2025}}</ref> Barbara Ehrenreich’s book-length critique of the “cult of positive thinking” likewise warns of harms when optimism substitutes for evidence-based action.<ref name="Guardian2010Ellmann">{{cite news |last=Ellmann |first=Lucy |title=Smile or Die: How Positive Thinking Fooled America and the World – review |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/jan/09/barbara-ehrenreich-smile-lucy-ellmann |work=The Guardian |date=8 January 2010 |access-date=4 November 2025}}</ref> |
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🌍 '''Impact & adoption'''. The book continues to surface in executive and entrepreneurship circles: Forbes Councils members list it among recommended titles for building a business, and Forbes has featured it in annual business-book roundups.<ref name="Forbes2020Cook" /><ref name="ForbesCouncils2020">{{cite web |title=Top 48 Business Books Forbes Councils Members Recommend on Building a Business |url=https://councils.forbes.com/blog/top-48-books-forbes-councils-members-recommend-on-building-a-business |website=Forbes Councils |publisher=Forbes Councils |date=27 August 2020 |access-date=4 November 2025}}</ref> Forbes has also reported that entrepreneur Tim Ferriss keeps a copy on his shelf as a formative text that helps him reset his thinking, illustrating its continued influence among high-profile practitioners.<ref name="Forbes2020Glazer">{{cite news |last=Glazer |first=Robert |title=This New Book Has A Tip That Will Change Your Life |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertglazer/2020/06/16/this-new-book-has-a-tip-that-will-change-your-life/ |work=Forbes |date=16 June 2020 |access-date=4 November 2025}}</ref> Business Insider has likewise documented contemporary business leaders recommending the book as part of their core reading.<ref name="BI2020" /> |
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== Related content & more == |
== Related content & more == |
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Revision as of 04:00, 4 November 2025
{{#invoke:random|list
| sep=newline | limit=1|
"Action cures fear."
— {{safesubst:#invoke:Separated entries|comma}}
"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."
— {{safesubst:#invoke:Separated entries|comma}}
"Attitudes are mirrors of the mind. They reflect thinking."
— {{safesubst:#invoke:Separated entries|comma}}
"You are what you think you are. Think more of yourself and there is more of you."
— {{safesubst:#invoke:Separated entries|comma}}
"Belief releases creative powers. Disbelief puts the brakes on."
— {{safesubst:#invoke:Separated entries|comma}}
"Look important; it helps you think important."
— {{safesubst:#invoke:Separated entries|comma}}
"Remember: Big people monopolize the listening; small people monopolize the talking."
— {{safesubst:#invoke:Separated entries|comma}}
"Don't wait until conditions are perfect. They never will be."
— {{safesubst:#invoke:Separated entries|comma}}
"Success depends on the support of other people. The only hurdle between you and what you want to be is the support of others."
— {{safesubst:#invoke:Separated entries|comma}}
"Visualization adds value to everything. A big thinker always visualizes what can be done in the future."
— {{safesubst:#invoke:Separated entries|comma}}
}}
Introduction
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📘 The Magic of Thinking Big is a self-help book by American marketing professor David J. Schwartz, first published by Prentice-Hall in 1959 and later reissued as a Simon & Schuster Fireside paperback in 1987.[1][2][3] It teaches readers to set ambitious goals and to replace “excusitis,” fear and hesitation with deliberate action; its 13 chapters include “Believe You Can Succeed and You Will,” “Cure Yourself of Excusitis,” and “Get the Action Habit.”[3][4] Schwartz writes in a practical, how-to register, promising “tools to change your life” around confidence, creative thinking, and leadership habits.[5] The work has remained in print internationally—including a 2019 Vermilion Life Essentials edition—and Simon & Schuster reports more than six million copies sold worldwide.[5][6] It is frequently cited among influential self-help titles; for example, Forbes highlighted it in 2014 as one of the “greatest self-help books” of recent decades.[7]
Chapter summary
This outline follows the Simon & Schuster Fireside paperback edition (2 April 1987; ISBN 978-0-671-64678-3).[3]
🌟 1 – Believe You Can Succeed and You Will.
🚫 2 – Cure Yourself of Excusitis the Failure Disease.
🛡️ 3 – Build Confidence and Destroy Fear.
🧠 4 – How to Think Big.
🎨 5 – How to Think and Dream Creatively.
🪞 6 – You Are What You Think You Are.
✈️ 7 – Manage Your Environment: Go First Class.
😊 8 – Make Your Attitudes Your Allies.
🤝 9 – Think Right Toward People.
⚡ 10 – Get the Action Habit.
🔄 11 – How to Turn Defeat into Victory.
🎯 12 – Use Goals to Help You Grow.
🧑✈️ 13 – How to Think like a Leader.
Background & reception
🖋️ Author & writing. David J. Schwartz was a professor of marketing at Georgia State University and president of Creative Educational Services, a leadership-development consultancy.[1] He died in 1987, the same year Simon & Schuster issued the widely distributed Fireside paperback edition.[1][3] The book’s method is organized as practical how-to chapters on belief, curing “excusitis,” building confidence, creative thinking, goal-setting, and leadership.[3][4] Publisher catalog copy describes the register as motivating and tool-focused rather than academic.[5] An unabridged audiobook from Simon & Schuster Audio broadened access to the title in 2015.[6]
📈 Commercial reception. Simon & Schuster reports that the book has sold more than six million copies worldwide.[6] The title has stayed in print across markets, including a 2019 UK Vermilion Life Essentials reissue.[5] Major outlets continue to place it on business reading lists—for example, Forbes’s “30 must-read business books for 2021” and Business Insider’s recommendations from rising industry figures in 2020.[8][9]
👍 Praise. Forbes included the book in a 2014 roundup of the “greatest self-help books,” highlighting its emphasis on respectful, people-first success.[7] A 2017 Forbes column recommended it as a concise, practical reminder that “success comes from thinking big.”[10] The Times of India has repeatedly featured the title in lists of inspirational or positive-thinking books for general readers, underscoring its enduring popular appeal.[11]
👎 Criticism. Critics of positive-thinking manuals—often grouping Schwartz’s book with that tradition—argue that unqualified optimism can oversimplify causality and hinder realism; The Guardian’s Tim Lott contends that accepting reality may be more helpful than “positive thinking.”[12] Experimental research by Gabriele Oettingen and colleagues finds that indulging in positive fantasies can reduce effort and achievement, complicating straightforward “think big” prescriptions.[13] Barbara Ehrenreich’s book-length critique of the “cult of positive thinking” likewise warns of harms when optimism substitutes for evidence-based action.[14]
🌍 Impact & adoption. The book continues to surface in executive and entrepreneurship circles: Forbes Councils members list it among recommended titles for building a business, and Forbes has featured it in annual business-book roundups.[8][15] Forbes has also reported that entrepreneur Tim Ferriss keeps a copy on his shelf as a formative text that helps him reset his thinking, illustrating its continued influence among high-profile practitioners.[16] Business Insider has likewise documented contemporary business leaders recommending the book as part of their core reading.[9]
Related content & more
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References
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