The Magic of Thinking Big: Difference between revisions
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| pages = 192
| isbn = 978-0-671-64678-3
| goodreads_rating = 4.26
| goodreads_rating_date = 5 November 2025
| website = [https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Magic-of-Thinking-Big/David-Schwartz/9781442390911 simonandschuster.com]
}}
📘 '''''{{Tooltip|The Magic of Thinking Big}}''''' is a self-help book by American marketing professor {{Tooltip|David J. Schwartz}}, first published by {{Tooltip|Prentice-Hall}} in 1959 and later reissued as a {{Tooltip|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=
== Chapter summary ==
''This outline follows the {{Tooltip|Simon & Schuster Fireside}} paperback edition (2 April 1987; ISBN 978-0-671-64678-3).''<ref name="GB1987">{{cite web |title=Magic Of Thinking Big (Fireside ed.) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dCiKwV5CNHMC |website=Google Books |publisher=Simon & Schuster |date=2 April 1987 |access-date=5 November 2025}}</ref><ref name="Boulder1987">{{cite web |title=The magic of thinking big — 1st Fireside ed. |url=https://boulder.marmot.org/Record/.b23794185 |website=Boulder Public Library Catalog |publisher=Boulder Public Library |access-date=5 November 2025}}</ref><ref name="NDL1987">{{cite web |title=The magic of thinking big. 1st Fireside ed. |url=https://ndlsearch.ndl.go.jp/en/books/R100000136-I1970304959908369442 |website=NDL Search |publisher=National Diet Library (Japan) |access-date=5 November 2025}}</ref>
🌟 '''1 – Believe You Can Succeed and You Will.''' In {{Tooltip|Detroit}} for a Monday job interview, a tool-and-die worker from {{Tooltip|Cleveland}} spent the previous evening in his hotel room listing five better-paid acquaintances and realized the gap was initiative and self-belief rather than brains or schooling. He entered the interview and, instead of timidly asking for a small bump, requested $3,500 more than his current pay—and received it; within two years he was known as a top business-getter and was awarded stock when the company reorganized. Belief is presented as a “thought factory” run by two internal foremen: {{Tooltip|Mr. Triumph}}, who manufactures reasons you can, and {{Tooltip|Mr. Defeat}}, who manufactures reasons you can’t; the practical counsel is to sack the latter and put the former on full-time duty. Framing the day as promising and the task as doable shifts posture, tone, and energy, changing how others respond and how persistently you work. Three concrete guides deepen belief: think success rather than failure when difficulties arise, remind yourself you are better than you think, and set big goals because big plans are often no harder than small ones. Expanding opportunities and demand for leaders reward those who cultivate belief and act, not those who wait for perfect conditions. Expectancy drives behavior: confidence raises initiative, broadens the search for solutions, and attracts cooperation, creating a self-reinforcing loop. Thinking big also changes the size of your attempts—asking for larger roles and proposing bolder ideas—so the expected value of your choices rises even if the risk does not.
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== Background & reception ==
🖋️ '''Author & writing'''. {{Tooltip|David J. Schwartz}} was a professor of marketing at {{Tooltip|Georgia State University}} and president of {{Tooltip|Creative Educational Services}}, a leadership-development consultancy.<ref name="SSAuthor" /> He died in 1987, the same year {{Tooltip|Simon & Schuster}} issued the widely distributed Fireside paperback edition.<ref name="SSAuthor" /> 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="OCLC15549409" /> Publisher catalog copy describes the register as motivating and tool-focused rather than academic. An unabridged audiobook from {{Tooltip|Simon & Schuster Audio}} broadened access to the title in 2015.<ref name="SSA2015" />
📈 '''Commercial reception'''. {{Tooltip|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 {{Tooltip|Vermilion Life Essentials}} reissue. Major outlets continue to place it on business reading lists—for example, {{Tooltip|Forbes}}’s “30 must-read business books for 2021” and ''{{Tooltip|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=
👍 '''Praise'''. {{Tooltip|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=
👎 '''Criticism'''. Critics of positive-thinking manuals—often grouping Schwartz’s book with that tradition—argue that unqualified optimism can oversimplify causality and hinder realism; ''{{Tooltip|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=
🌍 '''Impact & adoption'''. The book continues to surface in executive and entrepreneurship circles: {{Tooltip|Forbes Councils}} members list it among recommended titles for building a business, and {{Tooltip|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=
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