The Magic of Thinking Big: Build Confidence and Destroy Fear

Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.

This is a brief overview of Chapter 3 in The Magic Of Thinking Big: Build Confidence and Destroy Fear by David J. Schwartz.

This chapter of The Magic of Thinking Big starts out by talking about Fear. The author, David J Schwartz says “most fear is psychological.” He goes on to say that “worry, tension, embarrassment, panic all stem from mismanaged, negative imagination.” The old adage “it’s only in your mind” seems to be saying that fear isn’t real, but fear is real and it can do a lot of damage.

Fear: Success enemy #1:

This chapter is all about how you can build your confidence and destroy fear before fear robs you of potential for success in your life.  After all, fear can:

1. stop people from capitalizing on opportunity
2. wear down physical vitality
3. make people sick
4. shorten the life span
5. close your mouth when you want to speak

Fear is a powerful force and really prevents many people from getting what they want and deserve out of life unless they do what is needed to overcome it.  Think about it, what have you missed out on because of your Fear?

So How Do You Destroy Fear?

You build and develop your confidence!  The rest of Chapter 3 in The Magic Of Thinking Big explains how you can destroy fear in your life by developing your confidence.  If you have not read this book, then you are not aware of the great stories Schwartz uses in each of his chapters so emphasize what he is talking about.  In this chapter he talks about how the navy, during World War II, made sure all of its recruits knew how to swim or learned how.  Non-swimming recruits were placed in swimming classes where they were put through difference exercises.  One exercise in particular  required these recruits to jump off a diving board into 8 feet of water.  In some cases, the recruits were pushed off the diving board.  “The result: fear defeated.  Action cures fear.”

The author goes on to tell another story about a troubled executive that you can read for yourself.  Basically, the story shows that when we face tough problems, we tend to stay stuck in the mud until we take some type of action.  He challenges the reader to put this principle to work the next time you face a big or little fear.

How to Build Confidence:

This particular chapter of The Magic of Thinking Big ends with Schwartz giving specific things that can be done to build your confidence.

1. Deposit only positive thoughts in your memory bank. In our daily lives most of us face  a lot of unpleasant, embarrassing, and discouraging situations but instead of taking them to heart and dwelling on them, we should do what confident people do: not give it another thought.  Confident people put good thoughts in their memory bank.  One easy way to do this is to Count Your Blessings.  At night when you go to bed, recall all the good things that you have to be thankful for in your life.  Think about why you are glad to be alive!
2. Withdraw only positive thoughts from your memory bank. Refuse to build mental monsters in your mind. When you recall and think about situation of any kind, think about the good part of the experience, forget the bad. Simple shut down your mind if you can only think about the negative thing about a situation.  Only allow your mind to recall the positive thoughts from your memory bank.
3. Do what is right. Doing the right thing keeps the conscience satisfied and this builds self confidence.  When we do something that we know is wrong, two things happen.  We feel guilty and it eats away our confidence and when others find out, they lose confidence in us.

“To Think Confidently, Act Confidently”

In order to feel confident, act the way you want to feel.  Here are five confidence building exercises given in The Magic of Thinking Big.

1. Be a front seater.  Notice how most people fill up the back of the church, classroom, etc?  Sitting up front builds confidence so practice it.
2. Practice making eye contact. The eyes say a lot about us and we can’t help but wonder about someone that won’t look you in the eye.
3. Walk 25 percent faster. Average people have the “average” walk. The super confident walk faster than average and it tells the world “I’ve got someplace important to go, something important to do and I will succeed at what I will do fifteen minutes from now.”
4. Practice speaking up. The more you speak up the more you add to your confidence. Speak up at meetings, conference, etc and don’t worry about looking foolish.
5. Smile Big. Try this little test. Smile big and try to feel defeated at the same time. You won’t be able to do it. A real smile not only cures your own ill feeling, it melts away the opposition of others.

So there you have it, a brief overview of The Magic of Thinking Big, Chapter 3: Build Confidence and Destroy Fear.

To Your Success,

ps.  I really encourage you to read this book for yourself.  There is so much more covered in each chapter than I can review here.  If you enjoyed this post, please “like” it and share it with others.  Thanks much!