The Magic of Thinking Big
David Schwartz
Summary
A fantastic book that I would highly recommend to everyone. Similar to ‘Think and Grow Rich’, this book teaches you how the thoughts you tell yourself everyday manifest themselves in your life. Tons of great lessons in here.
Rating: 5/5
Notes
Success is determined not so much by the size of one’s brain as it is by the size of one’s thinking
Life is too short to be little
You can win success by believing you can succeed
Think doubt and fail. Think victory and succeed
Remind yourself regularly that you are better than you think you are
Believe big. The size of your success is determined by the size of your belief
Your laboratory consists of human beings and there’s no limit to what you can learn once you see yourself as a scientist in your own lab
The more successful the individual, the less indirect he is to make excuses
The right attitude and one arm will beat the wrong attitude and two arms every time
The thinking that guides your intelligence is much more important than how much intelligence you may have
Henry Ford knew that the ability to know how to get information is more important than using the mind as a gauge for facts
Never underestimate your own intelligence and never overestimate the intelligence of others
The ability to think is far more important than the ability to memorize facts
Invest future time in doing what you really want to do
Fear is success enemy number one
All confidence is acquired and developed
Action cures fear. Indecision and postponement fertilize fear
Just before you go to sleep, deposit good thoughts in your memory bank
If the other fellow is just like me, there’s no reason to be afraid of him
Underneath he’s probably a very nice guy. Most folks are
To think confidently, act confidently
Speak up, it’s a confidence building vitamin
Smile big, even in bad situations when you may be wrong
Be a front seater. Make eye contact. Walk 25% faster. Speak up
Determine your five chief assets and under each one, write down people who have achieved large success but who don’t have this asset as to a great degree as you
Never, never, never sell yourself short
We do not think in words and phrases. We think only in pictures and/or images
When you speak or write, you are a projector showing movies in the minds of others and the pictures you create determine how others react
Compliment people personally at every opportunity
Look at things not as they are, but as they can be
There’s often no profit on the first few sales. It’s repeat business that makes the profit
Before you think about getting into conflicts, ask yourself ‘is it really important?’
When you believe, really believe, something can be done, you’re mind goes to work for you and helps you find ways to do it
Always think ‘how can I do a better job today?’
Capacity is a state of mind. Believe you can do more and you will
Big people monopolize listening. Small people monopolize talking
Join and meet regularly with at least one professional group in your occupational area. Join forces with a group outside your occupational area.
Don’t let the ideas escape. Write them down
Dress right. It always pays. Look important because it helps you think important
Pay twice as much and buy half as much
A person who thinks their job is important receives neutral signals on how to do their job better
Practice uplifting self praise. Don’t practice belittling self-punishment
People who tell you it cannot be done almost always are unsuccessful people, are strictly average or mediocre at best in terms of accomplishment
Study negators. Don’t let them destroy your plans for success
Be sure you’re in the flock that thinks right
Do circulate in new groups
Be environment conscious. Make it work for you, not against you
Don’t let small thinking people hold you back. Get advice from successful people
Attitudes are mirrors of the mind; they reflect thinking
To activate others, you must first activate yourself
Broadcast good news
It pays to make ‘little’ people feel like people. It pays to make ‘big’ people feel even bigger
Helping others feel important rewards you because it makes you feel important
Practice calling people by their name
Do something special for your family often
Put service first and the money takes care of itself always
Always give people more than they expect to get
In most cases, the ‘likability’ factor is given more weight than the technical factor
6 ways to win friends:
- Introduce yourself to others at every opportunity
- Be sure the other person gets your name straight
- Pronounce the other person’s name correctly
- Write down the other person’s name
- Drop a personal note to the friends you want to know better
- Say pleasant things to strangers
Take the initiative. Go out of your way to meet people
Conversation generosity wins friends. Conversation generosity helps you learn about people
When starting anything, expect future obstacles and difficulties
Use action to cure fear and gain confidence
Action must precede action
Be a crusader. When you see something that ought to be done, pick up and run
Salvage something from every set back, find the lesson, apply it and then look back on defeat and smile
Be constructively self-critical
Persistence blended with experimentation creates success
The important thing is not where you are or where you were but where you want to go
The biggest and most rewarding investment is self-investment, purchasing things that build mental power and proficiency
4 leadership rules:
- Trade minds with the people you want to influence
- Think progress, believe in progress, push for progress
- Think: what is the human way to handle this
- Take time to confer with yourself and develop your supreme thinking power
Speak to someone privately, appraise them for their good qualities, point out how they can be better/what they’re doing wrong, appraise them again
Let your action show you put people first
Think improvement in everything you do. Think high standards in everything yu do
The successful person in any field takes time out to confer with himself
Expect to be sniped at. It’s proof you’re growing
‘A wise man will be the master of his mind. A fool will be its slave.’ – Pubilius Syrus
***
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How the World Works
Noam Chomsky
Summary
A combination of books Chomsky wrote in the 80s and 90s about America and it's role in the world. Fascinating read and insight into one of the great thinkers of the 21st century
Rating: 5/5
Notes
The US invaded Greece in 1947 and supported a horrendous war which led to 160k Greek deaths. This was the model for Vietnam and allowed American business to gain and thrive
US policies in the 3rd world consistently opposed democracies if they couldn’t be controlled as real democracies believe government should respond to the needs of their own population rather than those of US investors
US-run contra forces in the 3rd world isn’t ordering killing - it’s brutal sadistic torture (Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala)
From the Bolshevik revolution in 1917 till the collapse of the communist governments in eastern europe in the 80s, it was possible to justify every US attack as defense against the Soviets
If you want a global system that’s subordinated to the needs of US investors, you can’t let pieces of it wander off. It’s clearly stated in the documents of record
The US wants ‘stability’ meaning security for the upper classes and large foreign businesses
Solid case for impeaching every American president since World War 2 either outright as war criminals or involved in serious war crimes
El Salvador and Nicaragua were not covered by the US media in the 70s when US-supported brutal torture and murder were taking place
In the early 80s, America’s friends slaughtered 10s of thousands of Guatemalans with countless others tortured and raped
After Vietnam, the major US policy goal has been to maximize repression and suffering of countries demonstrated by their violence - blocked other countries from seeking aid
The US regularly carries out or supports aggression
For most of the 20th century, the US was the dominant economic power and used economic warfare as a weapon ranging from illegal embargoes to enforcement of weak IMF rules with their military becoming pre-eminent
The US tries to avoid negotiations with countries as the US fears it will lose and other countries will be better off
When a state has huge debts, it must divert the population from what’s happening and they do this by inspiring fear of our enemies (Russia in Europe)
The real enemy of the US has always been ‘the poor who seek to plunder the rich’. In America, it’s the opposite and has been for generations
‘The war on drugs’ was a manufactured media blitz by the US leadership to distract the population, increase repression in inner cities and build support for attack on civil liberties
The US government blocks international effort to seek peace (Russia and Ukraine)
Major media are large companies owned and interlinked with even larger conglomerates. The market is the advertisers and the product is audiences
The power in the US lies in the hands of people who determine investment decisions as they determine production, distribution and staff the government. They want a passive, quiescent population
The struggle of freedom is never over and requires active and sustained efforts
One important consequence of globalization is it extends the third world model to industrial nations where the average person has their jobs shipped away while the rich and elite continue to amass massive amounts of wealth
We’ve moved to an international state with the IMF, World Bank, G7 & EU, WEF where the general population doesn’t know what’s happening and it doesn’t know it doesn’t know
If the borrowing the US has done was used for constructive purposes like investment or infrastructure, the US would be better off, but it was used to enrich the rich - for consumption, financial manipulation and speculation which are all harmful
The class warfare of the last few decades has successfully weakened popular organizations leaving people to feel isolated
The US is so deeply in debt to the international financial community because of debt that they have a lock on US policy
Many of the large number of security council resolutions vetoed by the US have to do with Israeli aggression or atrocities
Invaders typically use local collaborators to run things for them by playing upon existing rivalries to get onne group to work for them against another
European wars were wars of extermination. If we were to be honest about history, we would simply describe it as barbarian invasion
There has always been racism but it developed as a leading principle of thought in the context of colonialism.
A standard technique of belief formation goes along with oppression
In the US, you’re not allowed to talk about the class differences, which is the real issue
When the US establishment talks about jobs, it means profits for its corporations
The elite are masters and they follow what Adam Smith said about ‘the vile maxim’ - all for ourselves and nothing for anyone else
People who aren’t owners and investors have nothing much to say in the US
Jefferson warned against banking institutions and corporations and said if they grow, aristocrats would’ve won and the revolution would’ve been lost
The ‘Free market’ is for the poor. We have a dual system - protection for the rich and market discipline for everyone else
There’s been a considerable increase in inequality and has the American society moving towards a third world model, thereby seeing increased crime and signs of social disintegration
A huge area of the media is dedicated to diverting people and making them more stupid and passive
There’s nothing individualistic about corporations who are totalitarian in nature
Free trade agreements result in reduced wages for local employees while predominantly benefiting the rich consumer while also destroying unions
Operation Paper Clip imported large number of known Nazi criminals
The American army’s counter-insurgency literature begins with an analysis of the German experience in Europe written with the co-operation of Naxi officials (instruments of statecraft - book)
US involvement in Chile with the coup in 1973 to reduce social democracy
The threat of a good empire is what the US worried about with reforms on uncontrolled capitalism
The US killed a few million people and destoryed 3 countries during the Vietnam war
A huge amount of business propaganda is to create wants
The answers to solve all these issues is to organize. Being alone you can’t do anything but if you join with other people, you can make changes
Under capitalism, investment is supposed to be as risk free as possible. No competition wants free markets - what they want is power
The government subsidizes corporations’ costs, protects them from market risks and lets them keep the profits
There’s never been much difference between the 2 business parties and the differences are disappearing
The CIA has been involved in drug running for generations (the politics of heroin book)
You need something to frighten people with, to prevent them from paying attention to what’s really happening to them. You have to engender fear and hatred
The first world lives in a highly indoctrinated society
Neoliberalism is nothing more than the imperial formula: free markets for you and plenty of protection for me. The rich would never accept it but they’re happy to impose it on the poor
The UN does mostly what US business wants
‘Politics is the shadow cast on society by big business’ - John Devery
If people dedicate themselves to organizing and activism, we’ll gain access to broader audiences
If you extrapolate to the future, it’s very ugly but the point is it’s not inevitable. It can be changed but we can’t change things till we understand them.
***
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