Chapter 1
Where This All Gets Started
Synopsis
There is an invisible talisman (mental attitude) that has 2 amazing powers: it has
the power to draw in wealth, success, happiness and wellness; and it has the
power to drive back these things — to rob you of all that makes life worth living.
It's the first of these powers, that lets a few men climb to the top and remain
there. It's the second that keeps other men at the bottom all their lives. It's the
later that pulls still other men down from the top when they've accomplished it.
A Place To Begin
You must learn to develop the habit of recognizing, relating, assimilating and
utilizing universal precepts and adopt them as your very own. Then follow
through with desirable action.
And what are the precepts you might apply? They may be learned and applied
by youngsters and grownups:
Greatness comes to those who acquire a burning desire to accomplish high
goals.
Success is accomplished and maintained by those who try and keep going with a
positive mental attitude.
To become an expert achiever in any human action, it requires practice . . .
practice . . . practice.
Effort and work may become amusing once you establish particular desirable
goals.
With each adversity there's a seed of an equivalent or better benefit for those
who are motivated with positive mental attitude to become achievers.
Man's biggest power lies in the power of prayer.
To learn and apply these precepts, tune in your invisible talisman to the positive
mental attitude side.
We're the masters of our fate as we are masters, first, of our attitudes. Our
attitudes determine our future. This is a universal law. This law works whether
the attitudes are destructive or constructive. The law says that we translate into
physical truth the thoughts and attitudes which we hold in our brains, regardless
what they are.
We translate into truth thoughts of poverty even as quickly as we do thoughts of
wealth. But if our attitude toward ourselves is big, and our attitude toward other
people is generous and merciful, we
Draw in big and generous portions of success.
As well know that those who trust they can't repel the positive; they utilize the
negative side of their talisman. Those who trust they may repel the negative;
they utilize the positive side.
That's why we must be cautious when we utilize these talismans. Its positive
mental attitude side that may get for you all the rich blessings of life. It put up
help you to overcome your troubles and to discover your strengths. It may help
you step out ahead of your rivals, and can turn what other people say is
impossible into reality.
But the negative mental attitude side is just as powerful. Rather than happiness
and success, it may draw in despair and defeat. Like all power, the talisman is
unsafe if we don't utilize it the right way.
But how do you go about putting positive mental attitude to work in your life
instead of negative mental attitude? Some individuals seem to utilize this power
instinctively. Some learn by relating and absorbing what they read in inspirational
magazines and books.
A few individuals use positive mental attitude for a while but when they get a
setback, they lose faith in it. They start out right, but a few "foul breaks" cause
them to flip the talisman wrong-side-up. They never realize that success is
maintained by those who continue trying with positive mental attitude.
A few individuals seem to use positive mental attitude pretty much all the time.
Other people start and then quit. But other people — the huge majority of us —
have never truly begun to utilize the fantastic powers available to us.
What about us? May we learn to utilize positive mental attitude, as we've learned
other skills?
The answer, based on years of experience, is a definite yes.
This is the content of this book. In the chapters that follow we'll show you how it
may be done. The effort to learn will be worth it because positive mental attitude
is the crucial ingredient in all success.
Chapter 2
You Can Alter Your Life
Synopsis
We now know that positive mental attitude is a great thing. Once you
begin to employ these principles with positive mental attitude in your
preferred occupation or to a solution of your personal issues, you're on
the road to success. Then you're on the right track and headed in the
correct direction toward getting what you wish.
To accomplish anything worthwhile in life, it's crucial that you employ
positive mental attitude, no matter what other success rules you
employ.
Positive mental attitude is the catalyst which makes any combination
of success precepts work to accomplish a worthwhile end. Its negative
mental attitude, combined with some of the same precepts, that's the
catalyst which results in crime or evilness. And grief, calamity, tragedy
— sin, disease, demise — are a few of its rewards.
The Things Needed
As long as you live, from this day onwards, you are able to analyze
your every success and every failure — that is, if you form these
principles indelibly in your memory.
You might develop and sustain a permanent positive mental attitude
by making it your duty to adopt and apply these principles in your day-
to-day living.
There's no other known technique by which you might keep your mind
positive.
Analyze yourself bravely, now, and learn which of these precepts you
have been utilizing and which of them you've been overlooking.
In the future examine both your successes and your allures, utilizing
the principles as a measuring system, and really soon you'll be able to
lay your finger on what has been holding you back.
If you have positive mental attitude and don't succeed, then what? If
you utilize positive mental attitude and don't succeed, it might be
because you're not using it the right way in the combination for
success to accomplish your particular goal.
Initially it might be hard to comprehend and apply the principles.
However as you continue to read each of these precepts will be more
clear to you. You'll then be able to utilize them.
Has the world presented you a raw deal? "I never truly had a chance
to advance. My dad was an alcoholic, you know." "I was raised in the
slum area and that's something you are able to never get out of your
system." "I only had an elementary school education."
These individuals are all stating, in essence, that the world has
afforded them a raw deal. They're blaming the world and conditions
outside themselves for their failures. They blame their heredity or their
surroundings. They start out with a negative mental attitude. And,
naturally, with that attitude, they're handicapped. But it's negative
mental attitude that is holding them down, not the extraneous
handicap which they provide as the cause of their failure.
Identifying one's self with a successful mental image may help break
the habits of self-doubt and defeat which years of negative mental
attitude set up inside a personality. A different and equally crucial
successful strategy for altering your world is to identify yourself with a
mental image that will inspire you to make the correct decisions. It
may be a slogan, a picture, or any other symbol that's meaningful to
you.
What will your picture state to you? There's one way to find out. When
you're faced with a grave issue or decision, ask your picture a
question. Listen, for the answer.
A different crucial ingredient for altering your world is to have
definiteness of purpose.
Definiteness of purpose is the beginning point of all accomplishment.
Definiteness of purpose, blended with positive mental attitude, is the
beginning point of all worthwhile accomplishment Remember — your
world will alter whether or not you decide to alter it.
• However you've the power to decide its direction. You are able to pick out
your own targets. When you ascertain your definite major aims with
positive mental attitude, there's a natural tendency for you to utilize seven
of the success precepts:
• Personal initiative
• Self-control
• Originative vision
• Organized thinking
• Commanded attention (concentration of effort)
• Budgeting of time and cash
• Exuberance
Goals
98 out of every 100 individuals who are disgruntled with their world don't have a
clear picture in their brains of the world they'd like for themselves.
Consider it! Consider the individuals who drift without aim through life,
disgruntled, struggling against a great many things, but without a clear goal. Can
you say, right now, what it is that you wish out of life?
Fixing your goals might not be simple. It might even involve a little painful self-
contemplation. But it will be worth whatever work it costs, because as soon as
you are able to name your goal, you are able to expect to enjoy a lot of
advantages. These advantages come nearly automatically.
The first awesome advantage is that your subconscious starts to work under a
universal law: "What the mind of man may conceive and believe — the mind of
man may accomplish with positive mental attitude." Because you visualize your
specified destination, your subconscious is affected by this self-suggestion. It
goes to work to help you arrive there.
Because you know what you desire, there's a tendency for you to try to get on
the correct track and head in the correct direction. You get into action.
Work now gets to be fun. You're motivated to pay the price. You budget your
time and cash. You hit the books, think, and plan. The more you consider your
goals, the more enthusiastic you get. And with enthusiasm your want turns into a
burning desire.
You get alerted to opportunities that will help you accomplish your objectives as
they present themselves in your daily experiences. Since you know what you
want, you're more likely to recognize these chances.
All of these things are essential for a positive mindset and consequently success.
Chapter 3
Personal Initiative
Synopsis
Consider something you wish to accomplish that's truly important to you? (Don’t
go forward without picking out one of your top goals.)
Now imagine having accomplished it? You’re basking in the gratification of a job
well done. How does it look? How does it smell? How does it taste? How does it
feel? How do you feel?
The sole way in which you'll experience the delight, beauty, and fulfillment that
will come by accomplishing this goal is if you utilize your personal initiative. It
won’t occur without it.
Initiative is a force of personal power that rises from deep inside and flows forth
into positive, goal-oriented activity.
Take Action
Your personal initiative is your inner energy that begins all action. It's the enemy
of procrastination. It’s the spark that starts your productive actions. Without
personal initiative, you can't be successful.
Success is something you have to accomplish without somebody telling you what
to do or why you ought to do it.
Success comes to those who are proactive. Rather than drifting through life
doing only what is called for, successful individuals do the additional things that
bestow more meaning to life.
Regardless what your goal is—becoming a noteworthy mother, an honor student,
an great athlete, a top-producing sales man, or the owner of your own
business—if you're going to be successful you must utilize your personal initiative
to do the little things demanded of you to succeed.
Personal initiative is more than a rudimentary requirement to accomplishing your
goals, it’s likewise about doing the little things that make your life and the lives
of other people, both at work and at home, more pleasurable.
It’s doing the simple matters like cleaning up your dirty clothes, cleaning house
or emptying the spilling over trash can. It’s taking 3 minutes to clear the coffee
mugs in the sink at the office. It’s taking time to convey your genuine gratitude
to somebody who did something for you. It’s offering to assist a friend in need
and is essential for a positive mindset.
In a way, your personal initiative is observing and being aware of the tasks that
need to be done without being asked.
Among my fundamental beliefs is that the only way you'll have personal initiative
to do huge things is by first utilizing it to do the tiny things. Each big success is
made up a big number of little successes, each of which demands personal
initiative and many of which are so little and insignificant that merely you notice,
but they all add together.
Utilizing one’s personal initiative has more advantages than meet the eye.
Individuals who utilize their personal initiative are more respected and have
heavier influence.
No other technique for building one’s self-regard is more effective than utilizing
your personal initiative to do the little tasks that make you a better individual.
Individuals who constantly utilize their personal initiative to advance their
vocations are those who are at the upper side of the pay scale in their
profession.
You'll have the edge at everything you do as you will stick out as an individual
worthy of being noticed who has a positive mindset.
I not certain of the cause, but I see fewer individuals utilizing their personal
initiative to advance their lives forward than at any time in my life. It’s like
everybody is seated in a holding pattern waiting for something to shift.
This is your chance to rev up your game and distinguish yourself from the rising
number of apathetic individuals. This is your opportunity to utilize your unique
talent, skill, and power to accomplish the things that are significant to you.
Don’t let the lethargic surroundings around you keep you from stretching
yourself to become your very best.
I wish to challenge you to begin doing the little things that call for personal
initiative. As you establish your confidence in executing the little things, then
begin stretching yourself to do the bigger things. Keep going with this procedure
and let each success to build on the prior one.
Chapter 4
Self-control
Synopsis
Self-control is the power to get yourself to take action regardless of your
emotional state or a way to maintain a positive mental attitude.
Get It In Order
Imagine what you may achieve if you could merely get yourself to follow up on
your best intentions regardless what. The pinnacle of self-control is when you
reach the point that when you arrive at a conscious decision; it’s nearly
guaranteed you’ll follow up on it.
Self-control is among many personal development tools available to you.
Naturally it is not a cure-all. Even so, the issues which self-control may solve are
crucial, and while there are other ways to solve these issues, self-control utterly
shreds them.
Self-control may empower you to wipe out procrastination, maintain a positive
mental attitude and be a success. Moreover, it becomes a potent teammate when
combined with other tools.
Self-control is like a muscle. The more you discipline it, the stronger you get. The
less you discipline it, the feebler you get.
Just as everybody has different muscle power, we all possess assorted levels of
self-control. Everybody has some — if you are able to hold your breath a couple
of seconds, you have a little self-control. But not everybody has formulated their
discipline to the same level.
The way to establish self-control is like utilizing weight training to establish
muscle. This entails lifting weights that are close to your limitations. You force
your muscles till they fail, and then you rest.
Likewise, the basic technique to build self-control is to tackle challenges that you
are able to successfully achieve but which are near your limitations. This doesn’t
imply attempting something and failing at it daily, nor does it imply remaining
inside your comfort zone.
You'll gain no strength attempting to lift a weight that you can't budge, nor will
you acquire power lifting weights that are too flimsy for you. You have to begin
with weights/challenges that are inside your present ability to lift but which are
near your limitations.
When you succeed, you step-up the challenge. Even as most individuals have
very weak muscles likened to how strong they may become with training, most
individuals are really weak in their level of self-control.
If you’re really undisciplined right now, you are able to still utilize what little
discipline you have to form more. The more disciplined you get, the easier life
gets. Challenges that were once inconceivable for you will finally feel like child’s
play. As you become stronger, the same weights will feel lighter and lighter.
Don’t equate yourself to others. It won’t help. You’ll only discover what you
expect to discover. If you believe you’re weak, everybody else will feel stronger.
If you believe you’re strong, everybody else will appear weaker. There’s no point
in doing this. Merely consider where you are today, and aim to get better as you
proceed.
Chapter 5
Originative Vision
Synopsis
Originative thinking is the bringing into being of something which didn't exist
before, either as a product, a procedure or a thought.
You would be demonstrating originative thinking if you:
• Cook up something which has never existed before
• Devise something which exists elsewhere but you're not aware of
• Cook up a new procedure for doing something
• Reapply a subsisting procedure or product into a new or changed market
• Formulate a fresh way of viewing something (bringing a fresh idea into
existence)
• Alter the way somebody else views something
As a matter of fact, we're all originative daily because we're constantly altering
the ideas which we hold about the world about us. Originative thinking doesn't
have to be about developing something fresh to the world, it's more to do with
formulating something new to ourselves. Once we alter ourselves, the world
alters with us, both in the way that the world is impacted by our different actions
and in the different way that we go through the world.
Get Creative
Originative thinking may be utilized to make products, procedures and services
better and it may be utilized to produce them in the first place. It's expected that
increasing your originative thinking will help you, your organization and your
clients become happier through betterments in your quality and amount of
output.
Originative thinking is the procedure which we utilize when we come up with a
fresh notion. They are the blending of ideas which haven't been blended before.
Brainstorming is one form of originative thinking: it works by blending somebody
else's ideas with your own to produce a new one. You're utilizing the ideas of
other people as a stimulus for your own.
This originative thinking process may be accidental or deliberate.
Without utilizing special strategies originative thinking does still happen, but
commonly in the accidental way; like a chance happening making you consider
something in a different way and you then discovering an advantageous shift.
Additional changes occur slowly through pure utilization of intelligence and
logical advancement. Utilizing this accidental or logical advancement process, it
frequently takes a long time for products to formulate and improve. In a
quickening and competitive world this is plainly harmful.
Utilizing special strategies, deliberate originative thinking may be utilized to
develop new ideas. These strategies force the blending of a wide range of
thoughts to spark off fresh thoughts and procedures. Brainstorming is among
these special strategies, but traditionally it begins with unoriginal ideas.
Developments of products happen much more speedily utilizing these deliberate
strategies than by accident. A lot of individuals known for being originative utilize
these strategies, but are not aware they're doing so because they have not been
officially trained in them. If you utilize these deliberate strategies during
advanced brainstorming sessions then you too will be more originative which in
turn will add to your positive mental attitude.
With practice, ongoing originative thinking (the continuous investigation, calling
into question and analysis that develops through education, conditioning and
self-awareness) happens all the time. Ongoing originative thinking maximizes
both accidental and deliberate originative thinking. Ongoing creativeness takes
time and deliberate practice to get skillful at, but it's amazing how quickly it
becomes a mental attitude, not a strategy.
The opening move to take is to learn the creative thinking strategies so that you
are able to deliberately utilize them to come up with fresh ideas. You'll then be at
an immediate advantage over those who don't understand how to utilize them.
You ought to then practice the strategies to increase your skill at ongoing
originative thinking as well as boost your positive mental attitude.
Chapter 6
Organized Thinking and Concentration
Synopsis
Concentration and organized thinking work together but one doesn't lead to the other.
To concentrate is to direct your mental mights or your efforts toward a certain action,
subject or issue.
Memory is the power to remember info, experiences and individuals. There are a few
particular skills that may be learned to heighten both concentration and organized
thinking.
Practicing these skills is likely to better one's positive mental attitude.
Get Your Brain In Order
When something is stored in our brain, we don't forget it. We might, however, have
difficulty recalling the data. It's likewise possible that the data we're trying to recall
was never stored.
Good concentration will heighten organized thinking. If we only practice skills that
better our organized thinking but never look at divisors that enhance concentration, our
efforts will only be marginally successful.
Make your mind a deal it can't reject. Yes, the mind takes bribes. Rather than telling it
NOT to worry about a different, lesser priority (which will cause your brain to consider
the very thing it's not supposed to consider!), assign it one task with start-stop time
parameters.
For instance, "I'll consider how to pay off that charge card debt when I get home this
evening and have a chance to add together my bills. For now, for the following 30
minutes from 1-1:30 pm, I'll provide my total focus to practicing this presentation so
I'm eloquent and articulated when pitching this proposal.”
Still can't get additional concerns out of your brain? Write them down on your to-do list
so you're free to block them. Recording distressful obligations means you don't have to
utilize your brain as a "reminder" message board, which means you are able to provide
your undivided attention to your chief priority task.
Don't feel like concentrating? Are you ducking a task or project you're supposed to be
working at? That's a sort of procrastination. It’s astonishing how long it takes to finish
something we're not working at.
Next time you're about to put off an obligation ask yourself, "Do I have to accomplish
this? Do I want it accomplished so it's not on my mind? Will it be any simpler later?"
Those 3 questions may provide you the incentive to mentally apply yourself as they
bring you face to face with the reality this chore isn't disappearing, and delaying will
simply add to your guilt feelings and make this burdensome chore occupy more of your
brain and time.
Picture your brain as a camera and your eyes as its aperture. Much of the time, our
eyes are "taking it all in" and our mind is in "wide-angle focus." We may really consider
a lot of things at once and maneuver really efficiently this way.
What if you wish to shift to telephotograph focus? What if you have to ready for a test
and you require 100% concentration? Cup your hands about your eyes so you've
"tunnel vision" and are looking only at your text. Placing your hands on the side of your
face screens surroundings so they're literally "concealed, out of mind." Consider the
importance of those words.
If you cup your hands about your eyes each time you wish to switch from wide-angle to
telephotograph focus, that physical ritual gets to be a Pavlovian trigger.
Utilizing your hands as blinkers each time you wish to narrow your focus teaches your
mind to switch to "one track" mind and center on your command.
Wish to know how to be "present" and fully here and now rather than senselessly
rushing here, there, and everyplace? Next time your brain is a million miles away,
merely look around you and truly view your environment. Study that dainty flower in
the vase. Get up close to the picture on the wall and wonder at the artist's
craftsmanship.
Lean in and truly view a loved one you tend to take for granted. Your world will come
alive in your mind's eye.
Chapter 7
Budgeting Time and Being Excited
Synopsis
If time is an un-renewable resource, it adds up to make the most of the time you're
presented. Learn to set a budget and maximize the time you have.
Let life drift by without a clear, definite, and ascertained purpose. You now have the
pure formula for boredom!
If you let the day go past without zest and vigor, you're opening gaps to allow dull
moments to creep in and a negative mentality.
Get Moving
Time
When it comes to devising purchases, many individuals have an idea in their brains of
what they're willing to spend. You likely wouldn't walk into a shoe-shop and say, 'I'll buy
that pair of shoes regardless how much they cost.'
If the salesperson states the shoes cost $300, most individuals wouldn't purchase them.
That's because when it concerns making purchases, individuals set a budget in their
brains of how much those shoes are truly worth to them.
However what about when it bears on how you spend your time?
Do you occasionally expend more time on particular tasks than they're truly worth?
For example, when it comes to housecleaning do you spend 60 minutes a day doing so?
2 hours? 3 hours? More than 3 hours? Is dusting truly worth that much of your time?
What about your additional projects and assignments? How much is that time worth to
you?
We all get the same sum of time every day--24 hours. Leastwise eight of those hours
are apportioned to sleeping. So, we all have about sixteen hours when we're awake.
By arranging a time budget for particular activities, you'll always ensure your time is
being expended on what is most crucial to you, your loved ones and your future.
How much time are you wishing to invest with a spouse or love? How many hours will
you apportion to working, cleaning, working out, eating or watching TV?
Before arranging anything, ask yourself how much time you're willing to commit. Put
those time investments down so you can reference them on a regular basis. Then, stick
with your time budget.
Time isn't an inexhaustible currency, so make sure to spend it sagely.
Excitement
Go to a place where you've never been to. Anything fresh will make your brain curious
and invigorated. This lifts the dullness off your present way of living. Fresh places bring
back the childly curiosity in you. Curiosity keeps you alive; and traveling is, far and
away, the best antidote to tedium.
It is frequently said that, “All work and no play, makes a dull day”. You have to work in
order to pay the bills. All the same, working without fun once in a while might result to
listlessness.
Once a year, take time out to go to a fresh place or alien land (if your budget may allow
it!) and add fresh info in your intellectual vault.
If you're a pet lover, drive over to a pet store of your choice and pick out an animal
companion. Individuals state that dogs are the most truehearted companions. You've
heard of dogs risking their lives for their owners.
If you can't have pets at home, one alternative is to have plants. Others find it curative
talking to orchids, roses, and each imaginable flower in the plant kingdom. Flowers in
assorted hues, and the color green, may be relaxing to the eye.
If you've a green thumb, why not attempt this hobby? If you feel thrilled when
surrounded by plants, go ahead and grab your horticulture tools!
Boring life may be made exciting thru food! Aside from being the source of power (and
additional pounds!), Utilize food to make life stimulating. Be on the lookout for fresh
food ideas through eating and distinguishing unique restaurants.
Think about cooking as a different activity that may stimulate the mood. Cooking
exposes you to assorted flavors and textures of ingredients. Who knows? You may be
looking at a future business venture if you indulge in your passion in cooking.
Distinguish what you want and love to accomplish. If you're not into it by now, this is
the ideal time to begin the discovery procedure. Perhaps now is the correct time to
learn a fresh skill like playing an instrument, enroll in a gym, and pick-up fresh habits.
This will do marvels for your life in terms of physical wellness and elimination of tedium.
Other people engage in volunteer work. This is a different alternative that's certainly
fulfilling and uplifting to the spirit.
In all these actions, you are able to invite similar-minded acquaintances to join you in
your journey. The moment you decide to pursue a clear and definite purpose and do
something that places meaning into your life, you've taken the initial step toward a life
of ceaseless fulfillment and a positive mental attitude.
Wrapping Up
This is the beginning step... reading. It ought to be a fast reading, to grasp the
sweeping flow of thought that the book bears.
Read for certain emphasis. A 2nd reading is for the purpose of absorbing particular
details. You ought to pay certain attention to see that you comprehend and truly grasp
any fresh ideas the book presents.
Read for the future. This 3rd reading is more of an organized thinking feat than it is a
reading job. Literally learn passages that have certain meaning to you.
Discover ways they may relate to issues you're presently facing. Test fresh ideas;
attempt them; discard the worthless and imprint the valuable indelibly on your habit
patterns.
Read — later — to brush up your memory, and to rekindle your inspiration. There's a
celebrated story about the salesman who's standing up in front of a sales manager
stating: '"Gimme that old sales talk again, I'm getting kinda disheartened." All of us
might become disheartened. We ought to re-read the best of our books at such times to
rekindle the fires that got us going in the beginning place.