“Our life is what our thoughts make it.”
– Marcus Aurelius
The key to winning in life is to build the right mindset for success.
Your Mindset is the most powerful tool you have.
Yes, it's a cliche to be positive or success minded.
But what is the alternative?
The alternative is negativity, misery, victim-hood, and poverty.
Guess what?
Both take the same amount of energy to produce.
The only difference is that negativity is in so much abundance that you don't need much work to get a lot of it.
The fact that negative energy is so abundant tells you that it has no value.
You can use the same amount of energy and start to become success minded.
There is a lot of positive energy around but for some reason, people choose to ignore it or think that it's not real.
They think its childish or foolish to dream big or focus on success.
These people will give you a problem for every solution that you give them.
Napoleon Hill the author of think and grow rich famously said:
“Success comes to those who become success conscious. Failure comes to those who indifferently allow themselves to become failure conscious.”
Success in my mind is related to wealth or getting rich.
We can build success in all areas of life but financial success is very important.
Wealth and getting rich is related to positivity and creativity.
The road to success starts on a foundation of becoming conscious of wealth.
The word riches mean any form of wealth like money, happiness, healthy relationships, or business success.
Your Thoughts Are Things.
“One thought leads to heaven, one thought leads to hell.”
-Buddha
“What we are today comes from our thoughts of yesterday, and our present thoughts build our life of tomorrow: Our life is the creation of our mind.”
-Buddha
“Our life is what our thoughts make it.”
-James Allen
“Change your thoughts and you change your world.”
– Norman Vincent Peale
“The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts.”
-Marcus Aurelius
Thoughts are things. This means that your ideas can be transmuted or transformed into physical reality.
This concept sounds like it might be full of shit but if you think about the great things that have happened through history then its obvious that this is how success happens.
Think about how the Wright brothers created the airplane,Henry Ford created the first V8 engine, the first 4-minute mile by Rodger Bannister and putting the first man on the moon.
All these incredible achievements was first an idea in someone's mind and then they turned it into reality.
All these accomplishments started with a single thought.
The individual then has the choice to be positive or negative to this thought.
If he is negative about it then the though gets surpassed and ridiculed.
Eventually, the idea dies.
If you choose the opposite and take the same idea and turn it into a positive thought.
You protect and expand the thought.
You modify and make it better.
You write it down and dream about it.
You start giving it momentum by thinking how positive an impact this idea is going to have on your future.
Then after taking action on that idea, you turn it into a physical reality with a combination of thinking and action.
When you both think and act positively consistently then there are very few things that can stop you.
A Powerful Realization About The Mindset Behind Success
One powerful realization that most people never have is that we have control over our thoughts.
Of course, we only have control if we choose to take control.
Again I must Quote the great Napolean Hill:
“Study the record of any man who achieves noteworthy success, and you will observe that he has control over his own mind, moreover, that he exercises that control and directs it toward the attainment of definite objectives. Without this control, success is not possible.”
When you go and sit down and really think about what great opportunity this is to take control of your life and destiny then you have no choice but to get excited.You must realise that the mindset behind success is what will change the game.
How To Change Your Mindset For Success: What Is It What You Desire?
“The most practical of all methods for controlling the mind is the habit of keeping it busy with a definite purpose.”
-Napoleon Hill
You have to figure out what your one major purpose for the future is.
Go sit down in a quiet room with a pen and paper and write down what it is that you want to create for your future.
If you don't have a destination then you end up nowhere.
Doesn't matter if it sounds stupid or crazy, write it down.
It's your vision for the future.
It is what you desire.
For example:
“I want to become financially independent.”
“I want to become a doctor.”
“I want to design a car.”
“I want to date a supermodel.”
The focus is very important.
We live in a world where we get bombarded with too many choices and options.
So have a dream and protect that dream until you reach it.
Once you have accomplished it then move on to the next one. But don't get distracted and pulled in different directions.
Be Very Specific.
Don't be abstract in what you want.
If you are not specific you will lose power and get pulled off your purpose.
So be very clear about what you want.
For example:
“I want to make $100 0000 by December 2019.”
“I want to by a house in Barcelona Spain on the beach.”
The Unknown Will Play It's Part If We Believe It Will.
Yes, I get it!
The obvious part is that we must take a lot of action to get what we want.
But there is a part that seems woo-woo and this is the part that gets a lot of people to not take this whole thing seriously.
This is the part where we feed our subconscious mind, the force, god or whatever you believe in to give us the nudge we need to push forward and get us what we want.
In order for this to work, we need to have one major purpose and be able to clearly define what we want like mentioned above.
Your Mind Is Probably Out Of Control.
Like most people, your mind and thoughts are probably out of control.
Today more than any other time in history the mind is being bombarded with information, messages, TV and just a general overdose of data.
These messages that are hitting your brain are constantly creating a stream of thoughts.
The type of thoughts that you allow into your mind most of the time dominates your mind.
Think about the mind being a river.
If the river is clean then it's mostly water.
If the river is polluted then its also filled with chemicals and other trash.
The river can survive as long the water stays the majority of the river.
Let's say the river will function well if 90% is water.
The other 10 percent of trash can be managed and eventually cleaned out.
Your mind is the same.
If the river of thoughts become polluted with negativity and your mind starts flowing with garbage then your drowning in negativity.
You can change this if you start managing what is flowing into your river.
Take Control Of Your Mind and Your Thoughts.
“You have ABSOLUTE CONTROL over but one thing, and that is your thoughts. This is the most significant and inspiring of all facts known to man! It reflects man’s Divine nature. This Divine prerogative is the sole means by which you may control your own destiny. If you fail to control your own mind, you may be sure you will control nothing else.”
-Napoleon Hill
The logic is that thoughts become things.
Think about it, everything you have ever done was first a thought then you turned that thought into reality.
Most of these things are relatively easy.
For example, you want to go on a vacation to Italy.
First its an idea.
Then you start doing research and the idea grow in your mind.
Every night you start getting more excited as you look at pictures about Italy.
The thoughts start dominating your mind.
Finally, you book a ticket and before you know it you are standing in Rome.
Big dreams like building the first airplane started out the same for the Wright brothers.
They had an idea, they had a goal to create a machine that could fly.
They defined how it would work.
They said it would have wings and they would first make a glider and later put on an engine.
They kept on working on this idea until it became a reality and as we all know that idea changed the world.
The courage of these men to turn their original thoughts into reality changed how we live on this planet.
You can now be anywhere in the world within 24 hours.
Thanks to the Wright brothers.
By focusing on our one big burning desire or purpose we can occupy our minds with a massive desire to take our thoughts and turn them into reality.
Write down your purpose.
Read it before you go to bed and when you get up in the morning.
Record it on your phone and listen to on your way to the office, or in the gym.
Fill your mind with positive thoughts, books, and influences.
Align everything you do with this purpose.
Have Faith In Yourself And What You are Doing.
“Faith is a state of mind that may be induced, or created, by affirmation or repeated instructions to the subconscious mind, through the principle of autosuggestion.”
-Napoleon Hill
The reality for us is that if we want to live to our full potential then we need to take control of our thoughts.
When we take control then we will be in the position to go after any goal we want.
It's OK to think that this sounds far out and like some bullshit from a self-development book.
Sometimes the truth is weird and different.
Sometimes you need a bit of faith whether you are religious or not.
Have faith in the process of dreaming about a better future, faith that you can take your thoughts and cultivate them into something great.
Again, what is the alternative?
A boring life of taking no shots at great things?
Fuck that!
I would take the shot every time.
If you are not going to believe in yourself then who will?
Start believing and act as you have already achieved what you want.
Act like the thing you want is a foregone conclusion.
Call it fake till you make it or whatever you want, but get yourself to believe again.
Get yourself to have faith in you that you can do whatever you put your mind to.
Because you can, you just have to live it.
The Dark Side.
Again let's examine the negative side of faith.
People have an abundance of faith that something is not going to work.
This negative faith is everywhere to be found and it's astonishing to see how sure people are about bad things happening.
They believe these negative things with absolute certainty and then, of course, they do happen.
They display the power of faith right in front of you but when you start using that same power for a positive purpose they will question you for being “crazy” or “naive”.
This is the irony of faith and negativity.
So How Can We Build Faith?
“Making repeated affirmations to your subconscious mind is the only known method of developing the emotion of faith voluntarily. Perhaps the meaning may be made clearer through the following explanation as to the way people sometimes become criminals. Stated in the word of a famous criminologist, “When people first come into contact with crime, they abhor it. If they remain in contact with a crime for a time, they become accustomed to it, and endure it. If they remain in contact with it long enough, they finally embrace it, and become influenced by it.”
– Napoleon Hill
So Napoleon Hill is telling is to fill our subconscious mind with affirmations that will guide us towards our goals.
This means we should shower our minds in the mindset of success and turning our desire into a reality.
Let's Look at How You can Build this faith:
We talked earlier about having a plan.
In your plan, you need certain elements to load up into your subconscious mind on a regular basis.
These elements are the following:
(1)Like mentioned before be very clear about what it is you want. You can't just say “I want money”Say” I want $1000000.”
(2)Write down the actions you will take to turn this goal or dream you have into reality.This is not a bullshit story where you wish stuff and it happens. You need to take action and have a plan of specific actions that you will take.
(3)Create a Timeline for when you will accomplish your goal. For example,2 years from now I will have a million dollars in my bank account.
(4)Have a plant that brings everything together and start right now. Don't wait, start taking your first step right now.
(5)Write down a statement of intent. Write down a summary of the things you want to achieve, how you will achieve it and when. Add some powerful affirmations about how awesome you are and how much power you capable of producing in this universe. Get creative. Inspire yourself and fill up your subconscious mind with something awesome. Something that will push you towards a great future.
(6)You need to consistently reinforce the statement of intent and combine it with consistent and relentless action.
Some plans will fail and that's OK.
If you first try at this does not work out then look back at exactly what you did, adjust and try again.
Write out a new plan and a new statement and go for it.
Never give up, always keep on pushing forward.
The Key is Persistence.
“Without persistence, you will be defeated, even before you start. With persistence, you will win.”
-Napoleon Hill
Like I mentioned earlier you have to persist in whatever you decide to do.
Most people give up just before they reach success.
When things get hard they quit.
Creating a powerful mindset persistently and backing that up with persistent action is what will determine your success.
There is nobody that is coming to help you and tell you to keep going.
You need to create the mindset that just keeps pushing you.
The SBS Mindset.
The United Kindom has a very secretive Special Operations Unit.
Their name is the Special Boat Service or SBS.
They are the Naval equivalent of the world-famous British SAS or Special Air Service.
The SBS is like the British Navy Seals.
They have a dropout rate of about 90% and the guys who make it through the grueling selection are the best of the best.
One of their tests is consistent Marching for days on end with a heavy backpack over arduous terrain.
They walk into the mountains not certain what is coming at them.
The recruits are given a compass and will only see training staff at certain checkpoints.
The staff don't talk to them and offer no encouragement.
They are not told when it will end and when to stop.
They are just told to keep on going.
After days of this most recruits quit and the ones that remain are exhausted and start experiencing side effects of no sleep and little food and water.
They start hallucinating and their minds start playing tricks on them.
Their minds tell them to stop.
A famous story of the SBS is that a recruit was nearing the end of the grueling march and unexpectedly walked into a Training Instructor.
The recruit exhausted and near his physical and mental limit asked the instructor “How far to go before its over”?
The instructor said, “Its another 20 miles, just keep going”.
At that point, the recruit couldn't imagine himself doing another 20 miles, so he quit.
As soon as he said he is done and gave up, he walked around the corner and found he was just about 50 meters away from the end.
He was so close to his dream of becoming an SBS special operator,but he quit.
And that was the end for him.
Conclusion
This is an extreme story and you will probably never be in exactly the same situation.
But the lesson of this soldier we can all take with us.
Don't give up,don't listen to outside voices telling you to quit and more importantly don't listen to those voices in your own mind telling you to quit.
You could be close to success and then you decide to quit.
Don't give in to that temptation.
Stay consistent and persistent.
Be relentless in building your mindset and the actions you take.
If you do this success will be yours.
