David. J. Schwartz

It is well to respect the leader. Learn from him. Observe him. Study him. But don't worship him. Believe you can surpass. Believe you can go beyond. Those who harbor the second-best attitude are invariably second-best doers.

Knowledge is power only when put to use - and then only when the use made of it is constructive.

Your mind is a "thought factory". It's a busy factory, producing countless thoughts in one day.

Look at things . . . as they can be.

Production in your thought factory is under the charge of two foremen, one of whom we will call Mr. Triumph and the other Mr. Defeat. Mr. Triumph is in charge of manufacturing positive thoughts. He specialises in producing reasons why you can, why you're qualified, why you will. The other foreman, Mr. Defeat, produces negative, depreciating reasons why you can't, why you're weak, why you're inadequate. His specialty is the "why-you-will-fail" chain of thoughts.

But there's another type of poison perhaps a little more insidious - thought poison - commonly called "gossip." Thought poison differs from body poison in two ways. It affects the mind, not the body, and it is more subtle. The person being poisoned usually doesn't know it. Thought-poison is subtle but it accomplishes "big" things. It reduces the size of our thinking by forcing us to concentrate on petty, unimportant things. It warps and twists our thinking about people because it is based on a distortion of facts, and it creates a guilt feeling in us that shows through when we meet the person we've gossiped about. Thought-poison is 0 percent right thinking: it is 100 percent wrong thinking. And contrary to lots of opinion, women have no exclusive franchise on gossip. Every day many men, too, live in a partially poisoned environment.

Don't sell yourself short. Conquer the crime of self-depreciation. Concentrate on your assets. You're better than you think you are.

Get the big view of your job. Think, really think your present job is important. That next promotion depends mostly on how you think toward your present job.

Stretch your vision. See what can be, not just what is. Practice adding value to things, to people and to yourself.

Think above trivial things. Focus your attention on big objectives. Before getting involved in a petty matter, ask yourself "Is it really important?"