Dr. Norman Vincent Peale is a renowned author best known for The Power of Positive Thinking, his bestseller which has sold over 5 million copies. The Power of Positive Thinking is a classic that pioneered the idea of positive thinking and the power of the mind.

In this book, Dr. Norman teaches you how to get a hold of your life by believing in yourself, change your attitudes and adopt positive thinking and faith for all successes. Here is The Power of Positive Thinking summary that highlights his teachings chapter after chapter.

Believe in Yourself – “Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble yet reasonable confidence in your own powers, you cannot be successful or happy. But with self-confidence, you can succeed. A sense of inadequacy interferes with the attainment of your hopes, but self-confidence leads to self-realization and achievement.”


A Peaceful Mind Generates Power – to draw power from your mind you need to have a peaceful mind. You can do this by practicing silence and passing calm and positive thoughts through your mind. “Saturate your thoughts with peaceful experiences, peaceful words, and ideas, and ultimately you will have a storehouse of peace-producing experiences to which you may turn for refreshment and renewal of your spirit. It will be a vast source of power.”

How to Have Constant Energy – the thoughts that you feed your mind become what your body is really experiencing physically. If your mind tells you that you are tired, your body accepts that fact, and you feel tired. To be in a state of constant energy, you need to supply attitudes of faith to the mind.

Try Prayer Power – You should also adopt prayer in your life, so you are able to open your mind to God. You can use any method that allows you to be free and open up your mind to God. Dr. Norman states that “You are dealing with the most tremendous power in the world when you pray.”

How to Create Your Own Happiness – You are the only one who decides whether you will be happy or not and your happiness is determined by your thoughts.
“Many of us manufacture our own unhappiness. Of course, not all unhappiness is self-created, for social conditions are responsible for not a few of our woes. Yet, to a large extent, by our thoughts and attitudes, we distill out of the ingredients of life either happiness or unhappiness for ourselves. Anyone who desires it, who wills it and who learns and applies the right formula may become a happy person.”

Expect the Best and Get It – “When you expect the best, you release a magnetic force in your mind which by a law of attraction tends to bring the best to you.” However, Dr. Norman states that this doesn’t mean that everything you will necessarily get everything that you want. It means that when you believe you can get everything you want, it comes to the realm of possibility for you.

I Don’t Believe in Defeat – most of the obstacles that stand in your way are mental obstacles. You can be able to get through all of the problems that life throws at you with ease if you free your mind to remove the mental hurdles. You, therefore, do not have to think about defeat, instead, think of the different possibilities you have to overcome a problem. Then with God, you will achieve what you want.

How to Break the Worry Habit – worry is a negative habit that develops but you were not born with. It is, therefore, possible to eliminate worry from your mind if you learn to empty your mind daily.

“The process of mind drainage is important in overcoming worry, for fear thoughts, unless drained off, can clog the mind and impede the flow of mental and spiritual power. But such thoughts can be emptied from the mind and will not accumulate if they are eliminated daily.”

Power to Solve Personal Problems – if you want to be able to solve personal problems effectively, then you need to remember the fact that God is always with us.