- 2 days ago
In this episode, we break down David Schwartz’s classic masterpiece, exploring why success is a direct result of the size of your thinking rather than raw intelligence. We analyze the human audit of high achievers and reveal why there is plenty of room at the top while competition remains fiercest at the bottom. Discover how your mind functions like a thought factory managed by two foremen: Mr. Triumph and Mr. Defeat. Learn why belief acts as a thermostat for your accomplishments, triggering your brain to find solutions. It is time to stop being realistic and start thinking bigger starting today.
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00Success is not determined by your IQ score or your level of education.
00:04It is dictated entirely by the size of your thinking.
00:08Hello, friends, dreamers, and builders.
00:11Welcome back to the show.
00:13Today, we are going to do something a little different.
00:16We are going to step into a time machine, go back to 1959,
00:22and pull off the shelf a book that, I'm not exaggerating here,
00:25might just be the skeleton key to every locked door you've ever encountered in your
00:31professional and personal life.
00:33We are diving deep, and I mean really deep, into the first section of David J.
00:39Schwartz's absolute classic, Asterisk.
00:42The magic of thinking big.
00:45Asterisk.
00:46Now I know what some of you might be thinking.
00:491959?
00:50That's ancient history.
00:52The world has changed.
00:54We have the internet, AI, globalization.
00:57And you're right, the tools have changed.
01:00But human nature?
01:02The architecture of the human mind?
01:05That hasn't changed one bit.
01:07If anything, the noise of the modern world has made the lessons in this book even more critical.
01:13We are going to spend the next hour or so dissecting the first 66 pages of this masterpiece,
01:19and by the time we're done.
01:21I want you to look at your own ambitions and ask yourself a terrifying but necessary question.
01:26Am I the reason I'm not winning?
01:29Let's start with the premise.
01:31It's a premise that Schwartz lays out with the subtlety of a sledgehammer.
01:36He asks a question that haunts the halls of every HR department, and every boardroom in the world.
01:41Why do some people shoot to the top while others?
01:45Who seem just as qualified, just as nice, just as hardworking, scraped by a mediocrity?
01:51We have been sold a lie, my friends.
01:55We've been told since kindergarten that success is a mixture of high IQ, elite education, and a sprinkle of luck.
02:01We think it's about raw processing power.
02:05But Schwartz stops us right there.
02:07He says,
02:08No.
02:09Success is not an IQ score.
02:12Success is a mindset.
02:14He tells this story, and I love this story because it's so mundane yet so revealing, about a salesman named
02:21Harry.
02:22Now, picture a standard sales meeting.
02:25You've got a vice president of marketing standing at the front of the room, and he points out Harry.
02:31Harry isn't flashy.
02:33Harry isn't a genius.
02:35But Harry made $60,000 last year.
02:38Now, remember, this is the 1950s, so $60,000 is an absolute fortune.
02:45It's CO money.
02:47Then the VP points to the rest of the room.
02:49The average guy in that room made $12,000.
02:53So, Harry is earning five times what his peers are earning.
02:57The VP decides to do a
02:59Human audit.
03:00He looks at Harry's stats.
03:03Is Harry five times smarter?
03:05No.
03:06Personnel tests showed he was average.
03:09Did Harry work five times harder?
03:11No.
03:13In fact, Harry took more vacation time than anyone else.
03:17Was he healthier?
03:19Did he have a better territory?
03:21No and no.
03:23So, what is the variable?
03:25If you control for intelligence, health, and work ethic, what is left?
03:30The VP concluded that the only difference, the literal only difference, was the size of
03:36Harry's thinking.
03:37Harry expected to sell five times more.
03:40He viewed himself as a $60,000 man, so he operated at a $60,000 frequency.
03:47The other guys viewed themselves as $12,000 men, so they subconsciously capped their effort
03:53and their creativity at the $12,000 mark.
03:57Why does this matter to you?
03:59It matters because it destroys the excuse that you aren't smart enough, or talented enough.
04:06It suggests that your output is directly correlated to your self-conception.
04:10If you think small, you will get small results.
04:14It is a law of physics in the psychological realm.
04:18Schwartz then moves to a concept that I think is even more relevant today than it was back
04:22then, the myth of the crowded top.
04:26We live in a society that constantly tells us to be realistic.
04:30Don't aim too high, you'll just get disappointed.
04:34There are too many chiefs and not enough Indians.
04:37We hear that all the time, right?
04:39Schwartz says this is absolute nonsense.
04:42He quotes an HR executive who breaks down the job market in a way that will blow your mind.
04:48This executive says,
04:50Look, if I post a job for a $10,000 a year salary,
04:55which is an entry-level average wage back then,
04:59I will get 50 to 250 applicants.
05:02I'll be drowning in resumes.
05:05It's a bloodbath of competition.
05:07But then he says,
05:09If I post a job for a $50,000 a year salary, a leadership role,
05:16a high-stakes position,
05:17I practically have to go out and beg people to apply.
05:21Think about the logic there.
05:23The competition is fiercest at the bottom.
05:26The bottom is where everyone is fighting for scraps because everyone assumes they belong at the bottom.
05:32But the top?
05:33The.
05:34C-suite.
05:35The world-class level?
05:37It's practically empty.
05:39There is plenty of room at the top because so few people dare to think big enough to place themselves
05:45there.
05:46We are terrified of the altitude, so we stay in the valley where it's crowded and miserable.
05:51Schwartz is telling us,
05:53Go to the top.
05:54The traffic is lighter.
05:56So, we've established that thinking big is the differentiator.
06:00But how does it actually work?
06:03Is it magic?
06:04Is it just wishing upon a star?
06:07No.
06:08Schwartz gets into the mechanics of belief, and he describes belief as a thermostat.
06:13This is a crucial distinction.
06:16Belief is not.
06:17Wishful thinking.
06:18You can't stand at the base of a mountain and, wish, it to move.
06:23That's a fantasy.
06:25But if you believe you can move it, if you truly, deeply believe it is possible, your mind goes to
06:31work.
06:32Belief flips a switch in your brain.
06:34When you believe,
06:35I can do this,
06:37your reticular activating system, your subconscious, starts scanning the environment for the
06:42How?
06:44He gives this incredible example of a young woman who wanted to start a mobile home sales company.
06:50She had $3,000 in savings.
06:53That's it.
06:54Now, the experts, and notice how the experts are usually the people who haven't done the thing,
07:00told her she needed at least $20.
07:04Zero, zero, zero, and that the market was too competitive.
07:07A realist would have quit right there.
07:10But she had the belief.
07:13She didn't have the money, but she had the belief.
07:16Because she believed she could do it, she didn't accept the lack of capital as a stop sign.
07:21She saw it as a puzzle.
07:23She went out and pitched her belief to investors.
07:27She got the money.
07:28She pitched her belief to a manufacturer.
07:31She got the inventory on credit.
07:34In her first year, she did $1 million in sales.
07:38Here is the
07:39Why it matters
07:40Moment
07:41The
07:42How to
07:43Always comes after the belief.
07:45Most of us wait for the plan before we believe.
07:48We say
07:49Show me the road map, and then I'll believe I can make the trip.
07:54Schwartz says
07:55No
07:56Believe you can make the trip, and your mind will draw the map.
08:00If you don't believe, your mind shuts down.
08:03It doesn't look for solutions.
08:05It looks for excuses.
08:07And speaking of minds looking for excuses, let's talk about the
08:11Thought Factory
08:13This is one of my favorite analogies in the entire book.
08:17Schwartz visualizes the human mind as a factory with two foremen in charge of production.
08:23On one side you have Mr. Triumph.
08:26On the other side you have Mr. Defeat.
08:28These two guys are obedient workers.
08:31They will do exactly what you tell them to do.
08:34If you wake up in the morning and say
08:36Today is going to be a rough day, I'm not ready for this presentation.
08:41You are snapping your fingers at Mr.
08:44Defeat.
08:45He jumps into action.
08:47He starts manufacturing thoughts to prove you right.
08:51He reminds you of the time you stuttered in a meeting three years ago.
08:55He points out that it's raining.
08:57He makes your stomach hurt.
08:59He produces a full inventory of reasons why you will fail.
09:03But if you wake up and say
09:05I'm going to crush this
09:07You signal Mr. Triumph
09:09And Mr.
09:11Triumph starts pulling files from the archives of your brain that show your wins.
09:16He reminds you of your preparation.
09:18He generates creative solutions.
09:21The terrifying part is that most of us are giving 90% of the workload to Mr. Defeat.
09:26We are literally manufacturing our own failure.
09:30We are the architects of our own insecurity.
09:33Schwartz argues that you have to fire Mr. Defeat.
09:36Or at least stop giving him shifts.
09:39This leads us directly into the second major chunk of the book.
09:43And this is where Schwartz puts on his doctor's coat.
09:47He diagnoses the entire human population with a disease.
09:50He calls it
09:52Excusitis
09:53The disease of failure.
09:55He says that if you look at successful people and unsuccessful people, the difference isn't just their bank account.
10:03It's their relationship with excuses.
10:05The more successful the person, the fewer excuses they make.
10:09The mediocre person, however, has a rolodex of reasons why they can't, why they didn't, and why they won't.
10:18Excusitis is insidious because it starts as a shield.
10:21We use it to save face.
10:23I didn't get the promotion because I didn't play office politics.
10:27Or
10:28I didn't start the business because my health isn't great.
10:32It makes us feel better in the moment.
10:34But here is the danger.
10:36If you tell a lie enough times, you start to believe it.
10:39The excuse hardens.
10:41It becomes your reality.
10:44Schwartz breaks Excusitis down into four main strains.
10:47But in this first section of the book, he focuses heavily on health, intelligence, and age.
10:54Let's break these down.
10:55Because I guarantee you, you are suffering from at least one of these right now.
10:59Now, first, health Excusitis.
11:02I'm not feeling well.
11:04I have a bad back.
11:06I have low energy.
11:08Now, obviously, genuine medical emergencies exist.
11:12Schwartz isn't telling you to ignore a heart attack.
11:15But he is talking about the
11:17chronic complainer.
11:19He tells a story about a guy he met who had a
11:22heart condition.
11:24This guy was 30 years old.
11:25He quit working, sat around, and waited to die.
11:30But here's the kicker.
11:32Four different doctors told him there was nothing physically wrong with his heart.
11:36It was all psychosomatic.
11:38But because he believed he was sick, he lived a sick life.
11:43Schwartz contrasts this with a guy he met on a plane.
11:46This man had an artificial heart valve.
11:49He had been through a life-threatening surgery.
11:52You could literally hear the valve ticking in his chest.
11:55Tick, tick, tick.
11:57But this man was vibrant.
11:59He was planning to go to law school.
12:01He was traveling.
12:03He told Schwartz.
12:05I'm just glad to be alive.
12:07Here is the contrast.
12:09The healthy man who felt sick was paralyzed.
12:12The sick man who felt capable was unstoppable.
12:16Schwartz gives us a prescription for health Excusitis,
12:19and it's harsh medicine.
12:21He says, stop talking about your health.
12:24Just stop.
12:25Every time you complain about your headache, or your bad knee,
12:29you are fertilizing a negative seed.
12:32You are boring the people around you,
12:34and you are convincing yourself that you are weak.
12:37He says, refuse to worry about your health.
12:41Worry creates stress.
12:42Stress creates illness.
12:44It's a self-fulfilling prophecy.
12:46He brings up the story of John, the one-armed golfer.
12:50John lost an arm in World War II.
12:53Now, losing an arm is a pretty valid excuse to never play sports again.
12:57But John became a champion golfer.
13:00When asked how he did it,
13:02he said something that should be tattooed on the inside of our eyelids.
13:06A positive attitude with one arm is better than a negative attitude with two.
13:11Think about that.
13:13How many of us have two arms, two legs, a working brain,
13:17and we are doing less than John?
13:19It's not the equipment, folks.
13:21It's the operator.
13:23Now, let's move to the second strain,
13:26Intelligence Excusitis.
13:28This is the
13:29I'm not smart enough
13:30excuse.
13:32We are obsessed with IQ in our culture.
13:35We think the guy with the 160 IQ is destined to rule the world.
13:40Schwartz says,
13:42Dead wrong.
13:43In fact, he argues that high intelligence can sometimes be a liability if it's accompanied
13:48by a negative attitude.
13:50A high IQ person who sees all the ways a project can fail will never start.
13:55A moderate IQ person who believes they can succeed will figure it out along the way.
14:00Anyway, he uses the phrase,
14:02Stickability is 95% of ability.
14:06I love that.
14:08Stickability.
14:09Schwartz challenges us to rethink what
14:11thinking
14:12actually is.
14:14He says there are two ways to use your brain.
14:17You can use it as a recording device,
14:19or you can use it as a creative instrument.
14:22The person who suffers from Intelligence Excusitis usually views the brain as a recording device.
14:28They pride themselves on knowing facts.
14:31They are walking encyclopedias.
14:34But they don't create anything.
14:36They just store data.
14:38The creative thinker,
14:39the big thinker,
14:40uses their brain to solve problems.
14:43They ask,
14:44How can I make this better?
14:46Rather than,
14:47What is the definition of this?
14:50Schwartz poses a question.
14:52Am I using my brain to make history,
14:54or just to record history made by others?
14:57That hits hard, doesn't it?
15:00Are you a creator or an archivist of other people's success?
15:04The cure for Intelligence Excusitis is simple.
15:06Never underestimate your own intelligence,
15:09and never overestimate the intelligence of others.
15:13You don't need to be a genius.
15:15You just need to be interested,
15:17enthusiastic,
15:18and willing to think.
15:20Finally,
15:21let's tackle the third strain,
15:22Age Excusitis.
15:24I'm too old.
15:25Or, conversely,
15:27I'm too young.
15:28Let's look at the too old argument first.
15:32Schwartz tells the story of Cecil.
15:35Cecil is forty years old.
15:37He wants to switch careers,
15:38maybe start a business,
15:40but he sighs and says,
15:41I'm forty.
15:43I'm washed up.
15:45It's too late to start over.
15:47Schwartz pulls out the math.
15:49And the math is undeniable.
15:51He says,
15:52Look,
15:53a productive working life usually spans from age twenty to age seventy.
15:57That's a fifty-year window.
15:59If Cecil is forty,
16:01he has worked for twenty years.
16:03That means he has used up forty percent of his productive life.
16:07But he still has thirty years left.
16:10That is sixty percent.
16:12Imagine you have a cake.
16:14You've eaten forty percent of it.
16:16Would you look at the remaining sixty percent,
16:19the bigger piece,
16:20and throw it in the trash saying,
16:22Well,
16:23the cake is basically gone.
16:25No.
16:26That's insanity.
16:28But that is exactly what we do with our lives.
16:31We let the past twenty years dictate the future thirty years.
16:35Schwartz says,
16:36Look at the future,
16:38not the past.
16:39If you are forty,
16:41or fifty,
16:41you have decades of potential left.
16:44Don't let the calendar lie to you.
16:46And on the flip side,
16:47the
16:48Too yum.
16:49Excuse.
16:50I can't be a leader.
16:52I'm only twenty-three.
16:54Schwartz points to history.
16:56Alexander the Great.
16:58Napoleon.
16:59Modern tech founders.
17:01Age has no bearing on ability unless you convince yourself that it does.
17:06If you act mature,
17:07if you act confident,
17:09people will treat you as a leader regardless of the date on your birth certificate.
17:13So,
17:14we have the premise,
17:15success is a choice,
17:17not a trait.
17:18We have the mechanism,
17:20belief is the thermostat.
17:22We have the enemy,
17:23excusitous,
17:24the health,
17:25intelligence,
17:26and age traps that keep us small.
17:29But how do we put this all together?
17:31What is the practical application?
17:34Schwartz introduces the concept of the
17:36Self-Development Laboratory.
17:39He tells us to view the world as a lab.
17:42Every interaction you have is an experiment.
17:45He wants us to observe people.
17:47Next time you are at work,
17:49or at a family gathering,
17:51look at the successful people and look at the unsuccessful people.
17:55Don't just judge them,
17:56study them.
17:57Listen to how the successful person talks.
18:00Do they talk about ideas?
18:02Do they talk about the future?
18:05Do they talk about
18:06how we can do this?
18:08Now listen to the unsuccessful person.
18:10Do they talk about people?
18:12Do they talk about the past?
18:15Do they complain about their health?
18:17Do they explain why things can't be done?
18:20Schwartz says that if you simply observe,
18:22you will see the principles of this book playing out in real time.
18:26You will see that the people at the top aren't superhumans.
18:30They are just ordinary people who have developed the habit of thinking big.
18:34And the people at the bottom aren't curse.
18:36They are just suffering from a bad case of excusitous.
18:40He wraps up this first section with a quote from Disraeli that is just hauntingly beautiful.
18:46Asterisk.
18:46Life is too short to be little.
18:50Asterisk.
18:51Think about that for a second.
18:53We are on this spinning rock for a blink of an eye in cosmic time.
18:57Why on earth would you spend that brief flicker of time being
19:00little?
19:01Why would you spend it worrying about what could go wrong?
19:04Why would you spend it making excuses for why you aren't living the life you want?
19:09The tragedy of the
19:10little
19:10life isn't that you fail.
19:13The tragedy is that you never really start.
19:15You let Mr. Defeat run the factory.
19:18You let the invisible heart condition keep you in the chair.
19:22You let the calendar tell you it's too late.
19:25Schwartz is handing us a permission slip.
19:28He is telling us that we have the power to fire the negative foreman.
19:32We have the power to rip up the excuses.
19:35We have the power to set the thermostat to whatever temperature we want.
19:39But here is the catch.
19:41And there is always a catch.
19:43You have to go first.
19:45The world will not treat you like a giant until you see yourself as a giant.
19:50The $50,000 job won't come to you if you think like a $10,000 applicant.
19:56The bridge contract won't go to the firm that thinks it's
19:59too small.
20:00You have to believe it in the dark before the spotlight hits you.
20:05So, here is my challenge to you for this week, based on these first 66 pages.
20:11I want you to catch yourself.
20:13Catch yourself when you say,
20:15I can't because.
20:17Catch yourself when you start listing your symptoms.
20:20Catch yourself when you say,
20:23I'm not smart enough for that.
20:25And when you catch yourself,
20:26I want you to flip the switch.
20:28Call in Mr. Triumph.
20:31Ask yourself,
20:32How would a person who makes ten times more than me handle this situation?
20:37Because remember, there is plenty of room at the top.
20:40The view is better, the pay is better,
20:42and the crowd is smaller.
20:44All you have to do is decide that you belong there.
20:48The magic of thinking big
20:50isn't about magic tricks.
20:52It's about the magic of the human will.
20:55It's about the realization that you are the thinker of your thoughts,
20:58and your thoughts create your world.
21:01So, stop recording history.
21:03Go out there and create it.
21:05Life is too short to be little.
21:08Thank you for listening.
21:10Now go think big.
Comments