The Magic of Thinking Big

First published in 1959, David J. Schwartz’s “The Magic of Thinking Big” argues that the size of a person’s success is largely determined by the size of their thinking. Writing primarily for salespeople and business professionals, the Georgia State University professor organized the book around the idea that beliefs, not intelligence or circumstance, set the ceiling on achievement. Schwartz introduces several named frameworks. “Think success, don’t think failure” and “remind yourself regularly that you are better than you think you are” open the book. He urges readers to “cure” the habit of excusing failure by blaming luck, fate, or others. His concept of “thinking yourself to success” includes the practice of “vocabulary engineering”—replacing self-limiting phrases with affirmative ones—and “putting service first,” the claim that financial rewards follow contribution rather than the pursuit of money. Other chapters address “environmental control”: Schwartz advises associating with “success-minded” people and avoiding “negative thinkers,” whom he calls “people who are failures and won’t try.” He also warns against “excusitis,” the tendency to rationalize inaction through health, age, or background. His “think big” prescriptions extend to leadership, urging readers to build confidence in others through “sincere appreciation” and to treat every person as important. Schwartz illustrates his points with anecdotes drawn from his consulting work and from figures such as workers who advanced through attitude change, rather than controlled experiments; the book is motivational rather than empirical. Its recurring argument is that action follows belief, so enlarging one’s self-concept is the first step toward larger results. Widely used in corporate training for decades, the book remains a foundational text in the “positive thinking” tradition of self-improvement.