There are a lot of books out there that talk about goals. Many, many pages are devoted to describing the value of goals and how to set goals. This is definitely very important. Goals are the basis of achievement. As they say "How can you hit a target if you don't know where it is?"
Much less time is spent talking about plans. Part of the reason is that its much easier to talk about goals, because it can be applied to anyone. Plans on the other hand are very specific to the goal, so its much harder to write about plans in a way that targets the reader.
But this creates the mis-perception that all you need to do is set goals, and the rest will take care of itself. I have read many books that describe people setting seemingly impossible goals and achieving them thanks to the glory of goal setting. Of course, without a plan to achieve the goal, you can't get very far.
As Napoleon Hill says:
"Your achievement can be no greater than your PLANS are sound."
But to be fair, setting goals is quite easy. Making plans to achieve the goal, on the other hand, is hard work. But equally as important.
Tuesday 18 September 2007
Monday 17 September 2007
Imagination
I want to talk again about Young Gunsaulus, the clergyman, who found $1 million within 36 hours of deciding in his own mind to get it.
In the modern economy, power and money is no longer tied up to land and factories but to minds and ideas. This means that the key to success is within the reach of everybody. And I am more and more convinced that our own thoughts are the obstacle we have to overcome in order to find success. What do I mean? I mean that, we do not believe in our own minds that we can make things happen.
Too many of us, have had it drummed into our heads, that there is a set way to make money. Go to school, get a job, work hard. But this is WRONG. That used to be the best way to make money (its arguable if it was ever the best way), but now, the limits of achievement have been broken. People with no tangible assets, can create wealth like never before in human history. The story from the first chapter, of Edwin Barnes arriving at Edison's doorstep with nothing, and becoming rich within 5 years are more likely to happen now than ever before. Except, nowadays, you could do it in much less than 5 years.
The fact is, success is within the reach of all of us, but what we need is the principles that Napoleon Hill espouses, and the belief that we can achieve it. The decision followed by belief is crucial. If we only had the guts to back ourselves, with the appropriate advice, we can create wealth out of "thin air". There are billions of dollars circulating through the world economy every day. It is not beyond possibility for you to claim your share of it...if you are ready.
In the modern economy, power and money is no longer tied up to land and factories but to minds and ideas. This means that the key to success is within the reach of everybody. And I am more and more convinced that our own thoughts are the obstacle we have to overcome in order to find success. What do I mean? I mean that, we do not believe in our own minds that we can make things happen.
Too many of us, have had it drummed into our heads, that there is a set way to make money. Go to school, get a job, work hard. But this is WRONG. That used to be the best way to make money (its arguable if it was ever the best way), but now, the limits of achievement have been broken. People with no tangible assets, can create wealth like never before in human history. The story from the first chapter, of Edwin Barnes arriving at Edison's doorstep with nothing, and becoming rich within 5 years are more likely to happen now than ever before. Except, nowadays, you could do it in much less than 5 years.
The fact is, success is within the reach of all of us, but what we need is the principles that Napoleon Hill espouses, and the belief that we can achieve it. The decision followed by belief is crucial. If we only had the guts to back ourselves, with the appropriate advice, we can create wealth out of "thin air". There are billions of dollars circulating through the world economy every day. It is not beyond possibility for you to claim your share of it...if you are ready.
Friday 14 September 2007
Specialized Knowledge
Part of this chapter talks about the value of ideas. Ideas are the key to our future. Everything that we create in this world, begins in thought, as an idea. You will only improve your life, to the extent that you come up with or find new ideas, for how to do things differently.
There are many sources of new ideas. I think, one of the best is using the minds of others. Getting the thoughts of others, be it through a brainstorming session with your mastermind group or even just casual conversation with someone at a party, may give you an idea, that sets you off on a new career path, a new pastime or a new strategy for achieving success. Its that simple. And I've seen it happen so often and had it happen to me so often, that I am convinced this is true.
You need to maximise the chance of getting these inspirations, by making a resolution to increase the number of people you talk to, and concentrate on topics which can result in great ideas. Most people tend to talk about the latest tragedy or bad news that they read in the paper or saw on the evening news. This isn't the key to progress. What you pay attention to grows. If you focus on success and achievement, it will increase in your life.
Networking groups, either in your field, or of a generic business nature, are an ideal environment to get new ideas. These groups tend to attract highly motivated, innovative and successful people. These are the kinds of people you want to be around.
There are many sources of new ideas. I think, one of the best is using the minds of others. Getting the thoughts of others, be it through a brainstorming session with your mastermind group or even just casual conversation with someone at a party, may give you an idea, that sets you off on a new career path, a new pastime or a new strategy for achieving success. Its that simple. And I've seen it happen so often and had it happen to me so often, that I am convinced this is true.
You need to maximise the chance of getting these inspirations, by making a resolution to increase the number of people you talk to, and concentrate on topics which can result in great ideas. Most people tend to talk about the latest tragedy or bad news that they read in the paper or saw on the evening news. This isn't the key to progress. What you pay attention to grows. If you focus on success and achievement, it will increase in your life.
Networking groups, either in your field, or of a generic business nature, are an ideal environment to get new ideas. These groups tend to attract highly motivated, innovative and successful people. These are the kinds of people you want to be around.
Wednesday 12 September 2007
Auto-suggestion
In a previous post I talked about remembering to practice auto-suggestion (click here to read that post).
To me this, is the key. But you may find that before you get to the point where you are practicing your affirmations every day, you need to be convinced that its worth doing it in the first place.
This is where I urge you to follow Napoleon Hill's advice. Read out the chapter on auto-suggestion, OUT LOUD, once a day. Napoleon Hill says to keep doing it till you're convinced, but I think, just do it for 2 weeks to begin with. If you make it open-ended, it will seem like too much of a commitment, and your mind will not want to persist. If you know its only for 2 weeks, then that makes it easier to commit.
Set it up, so that you give yourself a reward for doing the 2 week reading. Make sure its a good reward too, something that will motivate you. And most important of all, be prepared to deprive yourself of the reward if you dont achieve your goal. I know lots of people, who give themselves the reward whether they achieve their goal or not. Obviously, if you get the reward either way, theres no motivation to do the task.
To me this, is the key. But you may find that before you get to the point where you are practicing your affirmations every day, you need to be convinced that its worth doing it in the first place.
This is where I urge you to follow Napoleon Hill's advice. Read out the chapter on auto-suggestion, OUT LOUD, once a day. Napoleon Hill says to keep doing it till you're convinced, but I think, just do it for 2 weeks to begin with. If you make it open-ended, it will seem like too much of a commitment, and your mind will not want to persist. If you know its only for 2 weeks, then that makes it easier to commit.
Set it up, so that you give yourself a reward for doing the 2 week reading. Make sure its a good reward too, something that will motivate you. And most important of all, be prepared to deprive yourself of the reward if you dont achieve your goal. I know lots of people, who give themselves the reward whether they achieve their goal or not. Obviously, if you get the reward either way, theres no motivation to do the task.
Monday 10 September 2007
Faith
The second step to riches is Faith.
"Repitition of affirmation of orders to your subconscious mind is the only known method of voluntary development of the emotion of faith"
But what is faith?
I look at faith as encompassing two equally vital aspects:
1. A belief that you are the sort of person who can achieve your goal
2. A belief that the achievement of your major definite purpose is inevitable / unstoppable.
Believing you are the kind of person who can achieve a goal works into the self-confidence formula which we have talked about before. So, how can you achieve confidence in your abilities?
I want to mention one way today. William James the Harvard psychologist from the last century described it as the "act as if" phenomenon.
So you dont think you're the kind of person who can earn $100,000 a year? Maybe you're not. But what if you listed all the attributes of someone that can earn $100,000. You could use examples of people you know. First of all, in doing this, you would probably realise, that there is nothing magical about earning $100,000 or even $1,000,000. Those people are the same as everyone else, but have one or two qualities that others dont have to the same degree. One of these is invariably vision, and the other is invariably persistence. They may have other qualities too, but these are the big ones.
So, lets say you think you are lacking in persistence. In applying the "act as if" principle, you live your life as if you already have persistence. By pretending that you have a quality, you fast track your way to actually developing that quality. Sounds easy, but its not. So thats why I'm a great believer in starting off slow.
e.g. You can't find a car park in front of the store you want to go to.
Normal response: give up and park it 5 miles away.
New response: keep trying once more, twice more, three more laps. Show yourself that you are persistent even in this minor act of finding a park.
OK, not very environmentally friendly, but you see what I mean.
In little acts, convince yourself, you are the type of person who doesn't give up. Keep trying it every day, and build it up over time. You will become a persistent person, even though you only started by "acting as if".
"Repitition of affirmation of orders to your subconscious mind is the only known method of voluntary development of the emotion of faith"
But what is faith?
I look at faith as encompassing two equally vital aspects:
1. A belief that you are the sort of person who can achieve your goal
2. A belief that the achievement of your major definite purpose is inevitable / unstoppable.
Believing you are the kind of person who can achieve a goal works into the self-confidence formula which we have talked about before. So, how can you achieve confidence in your abilities?
I want to mention one way today. William James the Harvard psychologist from the last century described it as the "act as if" phenomenon.
So you dont think you're the kind of person who can earn $100,000 a year? Maybe you're not. But what if you listed all the attributes of someone that can earn $100,000. You could use examples of people you know. First of all, in doing this, you would probably realise, that there is nothing magical about earning $100,000 or even $1,000,000. Those people are the same as everyone else, but have one or two qualities that others dont have to the same degree. One of these is invariably vision, and the other is invariably persistence. They may have other qualities too, but these are the big ones.
So, lets say you think you are lacking in persistence. In applying the "act as if" principle, you live your life as if you already have persistence. By pretending that you have a quality, you fast track your way to actually developing that quality. Sounds easy, but its not. So thats why I'm a great believer in starting off slow.
e.g. You can't find a car park in front of the store you want to go to.
Normal response: give up and park it 5 miles away.
New response: keep trying once more, twice more, three more laps. Show yourself that you are persistent even in this minor act of finding a park.
OK, not very environmentally friendly, but you see what I mean.
In little acts, convince yourself, you are the type of person who doesn't give up. Keep trying it every day, and build it up over time. You will become a persistent person, even though you only started by "acting as if".
Friday 7 September 2007
Desire
Desire drives all achievement. People can spend their lives vaguely hoping for things, but this is not desire.
"I'd like to be rich some day" is not desire. It is fantasy.
But as I said in the previous post on Desire, it does not have to strike like a bolt out of the blue. It also does not have to be something you were born liking or enjoying. Some desires develop over time. They need to be nurtured. The story of Young Gunsaulus from the chapter on Imagination is a prime example. His thought of starting a new college, began as an idea. It took 2 years of mulling over it, for it to become an obsession.
The conventional wisdom is "if you desire something, you will think about it a lot". But did you know that the converse is also true: "if you think about something a lot, you will desire it". This astounds some people.
Try this over the next few days. Think of something you sort of like, but are not completely obsessed with. It maybe a new car, or a house or a gadget (like the i-phone). Now, spend the next few days, trying to think about it as much as possible. Look up every website you can find about it. Read every magazine, talk with all your friends about it. You will undoubtedly find, that after a few days, you will really want it. And it works the same way with your goals.
"I'd like to be rich some day" is not desire. It is fantasy.
But as I said in the previous post on Desire, it does not have to strike like a bolt out of the blue. It also does not have to be something you were born liking or enjoying. Some desires develop over time. They need to be nurtured. The story of Young Gunsaulus from the chapter on Imagination is a prime example. His thought of starting a new college, began as an idea. It took 2 years of mulling over it, for it to become an obsession.
The conventional wisdom is "if you desire something, you will think about it a lot". But did you know that the converse is also true: "if you think about something a lot, you will desire it". This astounds some people.
Try this over the next few days. Think of something you sort of like, but are not completely obsessed with. It maybe a new car, or a house or a gadget (like the i-phone). Now, spend the next few days, trying to think about it as much as possible. Look up every website you can find about it. Read every magazine, talk with all your friends about it. You will undoubtedly find, that after a few days, you will really want it. And it works the same way with your goals.
Tuesday 4 September 2007
Introduction (Thoughts are Things)
Having completed one full reading of TAGR, its time to return to the first chapter again.
RU Darby, the man who gave up digging for gold, three feet away from success, but then learned the value of "stickability" in selling insurance provides a lesson in persistence. As Napoleon Hill says in a later chapter, without persistence you will lose, with persistence you will win. Persistence really is the difference.
A lot of books talk about the value of persistence, but its all very well saying "you should be persistent". Its a different matter actually doing it.
There are a few ways to develop persistence. I want to share one with you today: Practice persistence.
Persistence is a habit like everything else in life is. You develop the habit slowly by repeated behaviours. These behaviours must be repeated consistently and over a short period of time. (Think whether running a mile every month for 30 months, is the same as running a mile every day for a month).
Persistence can be practiced in all areas of life. I can give three very different examples:
1. Working for 1/2 hour after you feel like stopping at the end of the day
2. Persisting with the crossword even after you think you have gone as far as you can
3. Looking for a car park outside where you want to go, for a bit longer than you otherwise would.
These examples may not apply to you, but you get the gist. Its about exercising that muscle of persistence. You will find that in each of those examples, it may not happen every time, but I would predict, that most times, you will gain something from the persistence. Its uncanny how sticking in there just past the point where you think you can't go on an further tends to yield such great benefits. Try it and see.
RU Darby, the man who gave up digging for gold, three feet away from success, but then learned the value of "stickability" in selling insurance provides a lesson in persistence. As Napoleon Hill says in a later chapter, without persistence you will lose, with persistence you will win. Persistence really is the difference.
A lot of books talk about the value of persistence, but its all very well saying "you should be persistent". Its a different matter actually doing it.
There are a few ways to develop persistence. I want to share one with you today: Practice persistence.
Persistence is a habit like everything else in life is. You develop the habit slowly by repeated behaviours. These behaviours must be repeated consistently and over a short period of time. (Think whether running a mile every month for 30 months, is the same as running a mile every day for a month).
Persistence can be practiced in all areas of life. I can give three very different examples:
1. Working for 1/2 hour after you feel like stopping at the end of the day
2. Persisting with the crossword even after you think you have gone as far as you can
3. Looking for a car park outside where you want to go, for a bit longer than you otherwise would.
These examples may not apply to you, but you get the gist. Its about exercising that muscle of persistence. You will find that in each of those examples, it may not happen every time, but I would predict, that most times, you will gain something from the persistence. Its uncanny how sticking in there just past the point where you think you can't go on an further tends to yield such great benefits. Try it and see.
Saturday 1 September 2007
Incremental Affirmations
In place of fears, today, I want to talk a bit about incremental affirmations.
Most people have heard of affirmations. Its the repeating of a statement to yourself with the intention of changing a belief.
The theory behind affirmations is that we all "self-talk". That is, we are all talking to ourselves every second of every day that we are awake. Some of these things are good, like "I can really do this" and some of these things are bad, such as "This is never going to work out. I am not capable of this". Furthermore, repeated self-talk can actually influence the way you think about yourself, your beliefs, and eventually your behaviour. Affirmations are a way of replacing your random, misdirected self talk with deliberate statements designed to replace existing beliefs.
All of the books that I have read about affirmations talk about making statements that reflect the new desire. For instance:
If you wanted to earn $100,000 a year, but didnt feel it was possible, your normal self-talk would be "I can't do this. I'm not good enough. No one will pay me that much" etc.
To use affirmations you would replace this with a statement about how you will earn the money. e.g "I will earn $100,000 a year".
Some people even suggest making the statement as if you already earned $100,000 a year.
Now, I'm sure that affirmations work, because they are used by so many people with great success. But for me, the whole idea of telling myself something that I really dont believe, prompts a "whatever" response from my mind. An affirmation of earning $100,000 a year, when you are only earning $25,000, seems too extreme, too out of reach to be effective. Even for someone earning $75,000 a year, they may feel that $100,000 is out of reach.
The main solution provided to this situation is for people to scale down their aim. e.g. aim to earn $40,000 a year. This is certainly one way of doing it, but a smaller target, does not fire up the desire in the same way a big target does. And as Napoleon Hill says, desire is key.
But, sticking with a big target, if you feel it is truly out of your range, then contrary to what the books say, repeatedly stating something like that, does not eventually replace doubt with belief. For me, I continue to feel that it is too unrealistic to be credible.
And thats when I came up with the idea of the Incremental Affirmation. Keep the big target, but vary the certainty with which you feel you can achieve it. You dont have to beleive it will happen to begin with. Thats too much for your mind to cope with. But if you were to say to your mind it is possible, that it could happen, then the mind reacts to this better. "yes, it is possible, after all, anything's possible". And thats exactly the attitude to take. Anything is possible. It is remotely possible that a person earning $25,000 a year, can earn $100,000 a year, within 12 months. Its not likely, but it is possible. And thats all that matters. If you convince your mind that it is possible that somewhere it could happen, you have taken the first step. Then if you can convince yourself, that it is possible it could happen to you (Anything's possible), you have taken the next step. The next step after this is convincing yourself, that on the back of the remote possibility that you could earn $100,000 a year, it is possible for you to do things that increase the possiblity of it happening (getting more training, networking etc). Remember, each step is much easier, if you truly believe the preceding step. And honestly you havent said anything that is completely whacky or impossible. It is possible that anybody could earn $100,000 a year, and it is true, that they can do things that increase the chance of this occurring. Once you believe this, you can start ramping it up, by increasing the certainty with which you think this will happen, until it becomes absolute fact. And all this while you are doing the things that increase the chance of it happening (don't forget that!). By taking it in small steps, you have "tricked" your mind into believing something that it would never have believed if given to it in its final form.
Here is an example of the steps used in achieveing belief that you can earn $100,000 a year. (or $1 million a year if you want)
1 "It is possible that someone, somewhere has increased their income to $100,000 a year"
2. "It is possible, (its happened to others, so it can happen to me)that my income can be increased to $100,000 a year"
3. It is possible for me to increase my income to $100,000 a year (Note the shift from passive to active. First the increase was happening to you, now you are making it happen)
4. If it is possible for me to increase my income, then it stands true that "I can earn $100,000 a year"
4. "I will earn $100,000 a year" (An increase in certainty)
5. "I earn $100,000 a year by January 1st 2009" (The positive tense increases the urgecy, and the certainty)
I have to emphasise again, that I dont think affirmations by themselves will achieve your goal. Despite claims to the contrary, I dont think positive thinking alone will guarantee success. Of course believing that you can achieve something is a prerequisite to achievement, but this has to be backed up by action. And to get back to Napoleon Hill, the action should be based on sound plans. Action is essential.
If you have tried affirmations before, and found the "yeah right, whatever" phenomenon was a problem, try it again using Incremental Affirmations. But, remember, that you need to be patient. Affirmations, even incremental ones, take time. And you need to be able to practice them every day. If this is a problem use my 10 tips to help you remember to practice autosuggestion from an earlier post. Click here to read that post.
Most people have heard of affirmations. Its the repeating of a statement to yourself with the intention of changing a belief.
The theory behind affirmations is that we all "self-talk". That is, we are all talking to ourselves every second of every day that we are awake. Some of these things are good, like "I can really do this" and some of these things are bad, such as "This is never going to work out. I am not capable of this". Furthermore, repeated self-talk can actually influence the way you think about yourself, your beliefs, and eventually your behaviour. Affirmations are a way of replacing your random, misdirected self talk with deliberate statements designed to replace existing beliefs.
All of the books that I have read about affirmations talk about making statements that reflect the new desire. For instance:
If you wanted to earn $100,000 a year, but didnt feel it was possible, your normal self-talk would be "I can't do this. I'm not good enough. No one will pay me that much" etc.
To use affirmations you would replace this with a statement about how you will earn the money. e.g "I will earn $100,000 a year".
Some people even suggest making the statement as if you already earned $100,000 a year.
Now, I'm sure that affirmations work, because they are used by so many people with great success. But for me, the whole idea of telling myself something that I really dont believe, prompts a "whatever" response from my mind. An affirmation of earning $100,000 a year, when you are only earning $25,000, seems too extreme, too out of reach to be effective. Even for someone earning $75,000 a year, they may feel that $100,000 is out of reach.
The main solution provided to this situation is for people to scale down their aim. e.g. aim to earn $40,000 a year. This is certainly one way of doing it, but a smaller target, does not fire up the desire in the same way a big target does. And as Napoleon Hill says, desire is key.
But, sticking with a big target, if you feel it is truly out of your range, then contrary to what the books say, repeatedly stating something like that, does not eventually replace doubt with belief. For me, I continue to feel that it is too unrealistic to be credible.
And thats when I came up with the idea of the Incremental Affirmation. Keep the big target, but vary the certainty with which you feel you can achieve it. You dont have to beleive it will happen to begin with. Thats too much for your mind to cope with. But if you were to say to your mind it is possible, that it could happen, then the mind reacts to this better. "yes, it is possible, after all, anything's possible". And thats exactly the attitude to take. Anything is possible. It is remotely possible that a person earning $25,000 a year, can earn $100,000 a year, within 12 months. Its not likely, but it is possible. And thats all that matters. If you convince your mind that it is possible that somewhere it could happen, you have taken the first step. Then if you can convince yourself, that it is possible it could happen to you (Anything's possible), you have taken the next step. The next step after this is convincing yourself, that on the back of the remote possibility that you could earn $100,000 a year, it is possible for you to do things that increase the possiblity of it happening (getting more training, networking etc). Remember, each step is much easier, if you truly believe the preceding step. And honestly you havent said anything that is completely whacky or impossible. It is possible that anybody could earn $100,000 a year, and it is true, that they can do things that increase the chance of this occurring. Once you believe this, you can start ramping it up, by increasing the certainty with which you think this will happen, until it becomes absolute fact. And all this while you are doing the things that increase the chance of it happening (don't forget that!). By taking it in small steps, you have "tricked" your mind into believing something that it would never have believed if given to it in its final form.
Here is an example of the steps used in achieveing belief that you can earn $100,000 a year. (or $1 million a year if you want)
1 "It is possible that someone, somewhere has increased their income to $100,000 a year"
2. "It is possible, (its happened to others, so it can happen to me)that my income can be increased to $100,000 a year"
3. It is possible for me to increase my income to $100,000 a year (Note the shift from passive to active. First the increase was happening to you, now you are making it happen)
4. If it is possible for me to increase my income, then it stands true that "I can earn $100,000 a year"
4. "I will earn $100,000 a year" (An increase in certainty)
5. "I earn $100,000 a year by January 1st 2009" (The positive tense increases the urgecy, and the certainty)
I have to emphasise again, that I dont think affirmations by themselves will achieve your goal. Despite claims to the contrary, I dont think positive thinking alone will guarantee success. Of course believing that you can achieve something is a prerequisite to achievement, but this has to be backed up by action. And to get back to Napoleon Hill, the action should be based on sound plans. Action is essential.
If you have tried affirmations before, and found the "yeah right, whatever" phenomenon was a problem, try it again using Incremental Affirmations. But, remember, that you need to be patient. Affirmations, even incremental ones, take time. And you need to be able to practice them every day. If this is a problem use my 10 tips to help you remember to practice autosuggestion from an earlier post. Click here to read that post.
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