Nova: Have you ever looked at a top performer in your field—someone earning five, ten times more than everyone else—and wondered, what's their secret? You assume they must be a genius, or work 100-hour weeks, or maybe they just got lucky. But what if the only real difference… was the of their thinking?

Rohit : That’s a powerful question. It’s easy to attribute massive success to factors that feel out of our own control.

Nova: Exactly. And that's the core question from David Schwartz's timeless classic, 'The Magic of Thinking Big.' It argues that success is determined less by raw intelligence and more by the scale of our thoughts. Today, we're going to unpack that with Rohit, a software engineer and analytical thinker who's passionate about understanding the code behind success. Welcome, Rohit!

Rohit : Thanks for having me, Nova. I love this idea of treating mindset as a kind of personal operating system that you can upgrade.

Nova: That's the perfect way to put it. So today we'll dive deep into this from three perspectives. First, we'll diagnose and cure the 'failure disease' the book calls 'Excusitis'. Then, we'll discuss how to install the 'action habit' and stop procrastinating. And finally, we'll explore the single most important principle for thinking like a leader. Ready to get started?

Rohit : Absolutely. Let's do it.

Nova: So, Rohit, before we can even think big, Schwartz says we have to eliminate the thought patterns that keep us small. He has this brilliant name for it: 'Excusitis,' the failure disease. What does that term bring to mind for you in the tech world?

Rohit : It immediately makes me think of imposter syndrome, but also its opposite. It's the tendency to find reasons why something can't be done, or why you're not the person to do it. "I don't have enough experience," "The market isn't ready," "I'm not a 'real' engineer because I don't have a computer science degree." It's a bug in your thinking that stops you before you even start.

Nova: A bug in your thinking—I love that. Schwartz says the more successful the individual, the less inclined they are to make excuses. He identifies four common types: excuses about health, age, luck, and the one I find most fascinating for smart people, intelligence.

Rohit : Intelligence excusitis? Tell me more about that. It sounds counterintuitive.

Nova: It really is. It’s the belief that you lack the brainpower to succeed, or, more subtly, overestimating the other person's intelligence and underestimating your own. Schwartz tells this incredible story about a man with a Ph. D. from a top university who was inducted into the army.

Rohit : You’d think he’d be an officer, or in some strategic role.

Nova: You would! But he was filled with so much negativity. He thought his fellow soldiers were idiots, he resented the discipline, he looked down on everyone. And because his attitude was so poor, no one could see his intelligence. For three years, this brilliant man drove a truck. His vast knowledge was completely buried under a bad attitude. He thought he was too smart for the system, and it made him useless within it.

Rohit : That's fascinating, Nova. It sounds a lot like a brilliant engineer who refuses to collaborate or listen to feedback. Their code might be elegant on its own, but if it doesn't solve the user's problem or integrate with the team's work, it's effectively useless. We see people who think they're 'too smart' for things like writing documentation or attending planning meetings, and they often get sidelined. Your story proves it’s not about how much intelligence you have, but how you it.

Nova: That’s the key. The book says, "The thinking that guides your intelligence is much more important than how much intelligence you have." But that brings up a tough question, Rohit. How do you tell the difference between a genuine limitation and an excuse you're telling yourself?

Rohit : That's the million-dollar question. I think it comes down to whether the 'reason' is a dead end or a problem to be solved. An excuse is a full stop. "I don't have the money, so I can't start the business." A reason is a starting point. "I don't have the money, so Can I find an investor? Can I start smaller? Can I bootstrap?" An excuse closes doors; a reason prompts you to look for a key.

Nova: That is a fantastic distinction. An excuse is a period, a reason is a question mark. And that's the perfect mindset to move from just thinking, to actually doing.

Nova: Exactly. It's all about application. And that leads perfectly to our second point. Once you've stopped making excuses, you have to. Schwartz says the world is full of 'passivationists'—people who postpone action. He argues we need to become 'activationists.'

Rohit : Passivationists and activationists. I can already picture the two types of people on my team. The ones who talk about what they're to do, and the ones who just... do it.

Nova: Precisely. And the passivationists often wait for the 'spirit to move them.' They wait for inspiration. But Schwartz shares this great story about a successful writer who had a technique he called 'mind force.' When he felt uninspired, he wouldn't just wait. He'd force himself to sit at his desk, pick up a pencil, and just start making marks on the paper. He said the physical motion, the mechanical act of starting, was what kickstarted his brain. He didn't wait for the spirit to move him; he moved the spirit.

Rohit : That is the core of the 'Agile' methodology in software development! It's uncanny. You don't wait to design and build the whole perfect application, which could take years. You build the smallest possible working version—what we call a 'Minimum Viable Product' or MVP—and you get it out there. You act, you get feedback, and you iterate. It's all about breaking the inertia.

Nova: So you're not waiting for the perfect idea, you're acting to find it.

Rohit : Exactly. The book's idea of 'starting mechanically' is like writing that first 'Hello, World!' program when you're learning to code. It's the simplest possible program. It just prints "Hello, World!" to the screen. It's not a revolutionary app, but it's an action. It proves you can compile code, run it, and see a result. It breaks that initial fear and gets you moving. From there, you can build anything.

Nova: I love that parallel between a 1950s book and modern Agile development. It shows how timeless these principles are. It's not about waiting for perfect conditions; it's about taking that first, imperfect step. And that action is what builds confidence and, as the book argues, ultimately leads to making more money. Value is created through action, not ideas.

Rohit : One hundred percent. An idea for an app is worth nothing. A buggy, barely-working app that's actually in the app store is worth infinitely more, because it's real. It's an action.

Nova: And that brings us to our final, and maybe most important, idea. If you want to lead—whether it's a team, a project, or a marketing campaign—you need the support of other people. And to get that support, Schwartz says you must master the principle of 'trading minds with the people you want to influence.'

Rohit : It sounds like empathy, but with a more strategic goal.

Nova: It is. It's about seeing the world from their point of view. He tells this cautionary tale about a young woman named Joan. She was bright, well-educated, and got a job as an assistant buyer for a department store. The problem was, the store served low-to-middle-income families.

Rohit : And let me guess, she bought clothes that she liked?

Nova: You got it. She bought what would wear—sophisticated, more expensive styles. Her boss, the head buyer, warned her, 'Joan, our customers won't buy this. It's not their style, it's not their budget.' But Joan insisted, 'Oh, they'll love it! It's what's in fashion!' Of course, the clothes just sat on the racks. She couldn't see the world through her customers' eyes, and she was out of a job in eight months.

Rohit : Wow. That is UX/UI design 101. The number one rule we have is 'You are not the user.' We have that phrase plastered everywhere. As an engineer, I might think a feature is brilliant or a design is clever, but if the user can't figure it out in five seconds, it's a failure.

Nova: So how do you 'trade minds' with your users? You can't just ask them, right?

Rohit : Right. People often don't know what they want. So we do user testing, where we watch them interact with the product. We create detailed 'user personas'—fictional characters that represent our target audience. We analyze click data, heat maps, and support tickets. We are constantly trying to gather clues to help us 'trade minds' with our users. It's the only way to build a product that people will actually use, and ultimately, pay for. Joan failed because she was designing for herself, not her customer.

Nova: And that failure is so expensive. It's not just a soft skill; it's a hard requirement for success. Whether you're selling shoes, writing code, or leading a team, if you can't see the situation from their perspective, you're flying blind.

Nova: So, when we put it all together, it really does feel like a blueprint. A three-step process for upgrading how we think.

Rohit : It really does. First, you have to debug your own thinking by identifying and curing your personal brand of 'Excusitis.' Stop the thought patterns that are holding you back.

Nova: Then, you have to execute. You install that 'action habit' and move from being a 'passivationist' to an 'activationist.' You start mechanically if you have to, but you start.

Rohit : And finally, to get anywhere meaningful, you need others. You have to lead with empathy by constantly 'trading minds' with the people you want to influence, whether they're your customers, your colleagues, or your team.

Nova: It’s a powerful framework. Rohit, if you were to give our listeners one single, actionable thing to do this week based on our conversation, what would it be?

Rohit : I think the challenge for all of us is to pick one of these and just focus on it. But if I had to choose, I'd start with the first step. Maybe this week, just notice when you make an excuse—about your health, your age, your intelligence, anything. And when you catch it, just ask yourself that question I mentioned: 'Is this a fact that's a dead end, or is it a problem to be solved?' That self-awareness alone is a huge first step to thinking bigger.

Nova: I love that. Don't try to fix everything at once. Just start by noticing. That's a perfect, actionable piece of advice. Rohit, thank you so much for helping us unpack these big ideas today.

Rohit : It was my pleasure, Nova. It's given me a lot to think about.