Pinoy Tech

This is the third discussion in a book review series on The Magic of Thinking Big by David J. Schwartz, which focuses on setting goals high and achieving success.

This section of book, The Magic of Thinking Big starts off by defining Excusitis - A disease that causes failure.

Every failure has this disease in its advanced form

We often hear the saying, if there’s a will, there’s a way. It is arguably true that successful people give less excuses than the person barely getting by. A loser usually has a long list of good excuses that he tells himself every time there is a new challenge or opportunity in front of him. Every time he uses his excuses he brainwashes himself that he cannot do anything in his situation to achieve anything. Once he has fully brainwashed himself, the excuse becomes a reality.

How do you cure and vaccinate yourself against excusitis?

Instead of attempting to walk through every little bit of this section, I have tried to pull out four ideas that will work for most people.

Never underestimate your own intelligence, and never overestimate the intelligence of others. You are worth more than you think. Most people think negatively about themselves and it is realized in most things that put their hands on. Believe that you are the best in what you do, work hard, and you will eventually be the best at what you do.

Remember that the ability to think is much greater than the ability to memorize facts.Ever wonder why most valedictorians do not achieve success? Instead, we see very successful college dropouts like Albert Einstein, Steve Jobs and many others. It is because of their ability to creatively think of solutions and not merely memorizing information on books. They have the winning attitude and they put their minds to work and find ways to win.

Look at your present age positively.Most people at the age of 40 or more look at themselves as too old and think that they have started too late and they cannot possibly achieve anything of significance. Most people below the age of 30 look at themselves as too young to achieve anything of importance.

In reality, success isn’t based on age. A good example is my boss. He was 26 years of age when he became the General Manager and a Director of my present company.

Accept the law of cause and effect. There’s no such thing as bad luck. Cause and effect has a scientific basis. Everything we do and think has an equal reaction. Work hard and you’ll reap the benefits.

The next discussion, will cover the third section of The Magic of Thinking Big (Build Confidence and Destroy Fear).