TITLE : MAGIC OF THINKING BIG, THE.

Why this book? Why a full-scale discussion of The Magic of Think Big? Tens of thousands more books will be published this year. Why one more?

Permit me to give you just a little background.

Several years ago I witnessed an exceptionally impressive sales conference. The director in charge of the company's sales was tremendously excited. He wanted to drive home a point. He had at his side the leading sales representative in the organization, a very ordinary-looking fellow who, nevertheless, had earned for himself in the year just ended, a little under $25,000. The earnings of the other representatives averaged around the $5,000-a-year mark.

The director challenged the meeting. This is what he said. "I want you to take a good look at Harry, and ask yourselves what it is that Harry possesses and you lack. Harry has earned five times more than the average, but is Harry five times smarter than you? No, not according to our personnel tests, which I've checked. They show he's about average in that department.

"And did Harry work five times harder than you? No, not according to the reports I have. Indeed, he took more time off than most of you.

"Has Harry a better territory? Again the answer is no. The accounts averaged about the same. Did Harry have more education? Better health? No. Harry is about as average as any average man could be - except for one thing.

"The difference between Harry and the rest of you, is that Harry THOUGHT five times BIGGER."

The director then proceeded to show that success is determined not so much by the size of one's brain as by thc size of one's thinking.

This was an intriguing thought, and it stayed with me. The more people I talked with, the more clearly I delved into what is really behind success, the clearer became the answer. Case history after case history proved that the size of one's bank account, the size of one's personal happiness account, and the size of one's general satisfaction account, is determined by the size of one's thinking. There is magic in thinking big.

"If Thinking Big accomplishes so much, why doesn't everyone think that way?" That is a question I have been asked many times. Here, I believe, is the answer. All of us, more than we recognize, are products of the thinking around us. And much of this thinking is little, not big. All around us is an environment that is trying to drag you down to mediocrity. You are told almost daily that there is plenty of room for the worker, but little chance to make the boss-grade. So why strive for openings that are not there?

This petty environment says other things, too. It tells you "whatever will be will be," that your destiny is outside your control, that "fate" is in complete charge. So forget those dreams, forget that fine house, forget that special education you planned for the children, forget the better life. Be resigned. Lie down and wait for what comes to you.

And who hasn't heard the statement that "Success is never worth the price you have to pay for it," as if you had to sacrifice everything- your soul, your family life, your conscience, your values to reach the top. In truth, success demands no price at all: every step forward pays a dividend.

Nor is it true that there is too little room at the top, that the competition for good jobs is too high. A personnel selection officer told me that he receives anything from fifty to two-hundred-and-fifty times as many applications for the mediocre jobs in a year than for the jobs that carry really attractive salaries. There are always countless vacancies waiting for those people like you who dare think big.

The basic principles and concepts supporting The Magic of Thinking Big come from the highest pedigree sources, the very finest and biggest thinking minds yet to live on this Earth. Minds like the prophet David who wrote, "As one thinketh in his heart, so is he"; minds such as Emerson who said "Great men are those who see that thoughts rule the world"; minds like Milton who in Paradise Loist wrote, "The mind is its own place and in itself can make a heaven of hell or a hell of heaven." Amazingly perceptive minds like Shakespeare who observed "There is nothing either good or bad except that thinking makes it so."

But from where does the proof come? How do we know the master thinkers were right? Fair questions. The proof comes from the lives of the select people around us who, through winning success, achievement and happiness, prove that thinking big does work magic.

The simple steps we have set down here are not untested theories. They are not one man's guesses and opinions. They are proven approaches to life's situations, and they are universally applicable steps that work and work like magic.

That you are reading this page proves you are interested in larger success. You want to fulfil your desires. You want to enjoy a good standard of living. You want this life to deliver to you all the good things you and your family deserves. Being interested in success is a wonderful quality.

You have another admirable quality. The fact that you are holding this book in your hands shows that you have the intelligence to look for the means that will help take you where you want to go. In building anything - motor cars, bridges, rockets - we need tools. Many people in their attempt to build a successful life forget there are tools to help them. You have not forgotten. You have, then, the two basic qualities needed to realize real profit fromthis book: a desire for greater success, and the intelligence to select the means, the tool, to help you realize that desire.

Think Big and you'll live big. You'll live big in happiness. You'll live big in accomplishment. Big in income. Big in friends. Big in respect.

Enough for the promise.

Start now, this very minute, to discover how to make your thinking weave magic for you. Start out with this thought of the great philosopher, Disraeli, "Life is too short to be little."