I was reading the book, “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill again.
It’s so great, I believe this is my third time reading it.
One of the main principles that Hill talks about in this book and some of his others is the power of auto-suggestion.
This is the idea of telling yourself who you want to be and what you desire so that it sinks into your subconscious mind and allows it to help you achieve your goals.
If you think this is nonsense, then let me share a few quotes:
“A man is literally what he thinks.” – James Allen
“A man is what he thinks about all day long.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Affirmations are one of the simplest and most powerful things we can do to change the quality of our lives, and to create the things we want.” – Mark Allen
“As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” – Proverbs 23:7
“Don’t you know that the very thing a man dreads is the thing that always happens?” – Mark Twain
“Every man is free to rise as far as he’s able or willing, but the degree to which he thinks determines the degree to which he’ll rise.” – Ayn Rand
I could go on and on.
The reason that most people never see the success they desire is because they don’t fully realize the power their subconscious mind has over their lives.
Check out this simple picture below:
The conscious mind is where our thoughts and actions we have to think about to perform come from.
For example, if you stand up and speak, your conscious mind is at work.
All the background actions are controlled by your subconscious mind.
These are the things like breathing and your heart pumping.
You don’t have to think about those things.
Also, your subconscious mind is in charge of beliefs and emotions.
This is where the victory and defeat lie when it comes to success.
Whatever you deeply believe about yourself will be true for you.
You can have a genius idea and work hard to bring it to fruition, but if you believe subconsciously that you don’t deserve success or wealth, it will elude you.
You will self sabotage without even realizing it.
Also, your emotions come from your subconscious mind.
The conscious mind is no match for the subconscious.
To give you an idea, the subconscious mind runs 20 million bits of info per second compared to the conscious mind which can only process about 40 bits of info per second.
It was explained to me that the conscious mind is like a 110 pound jockey riding an elephant (the subconscious).
It does okay until a mouse pops out and then good luck controlling it.
The subconscious takes over in times of stress and protects us from danger.
However, it can be the problem when we are stepping out of our comfort zone and trying to make a business idea or project take off.
Most of us carry feelings of unworthiness or limiting beliefs in our subconscious which are difficult to overcome when we want more for ourselves.
So, how do we fight or win over this behemoth control freak?
There are two ways that have been proven to work effectively.
First of all, is the principle of affirmations or auto suggestion.
We have to get the subconscious to believe new beliefs by instilling them from the conscious mind.
Napoleon Hill says to repeat certain phrases to ourselves morning and night that affirm who we want to be and the things we desire.
It must stay present on our minds for long periods of time so that the subconscious will slowly take it in and change our core beliefs about ourselves.
It helps to visualize what we want as if we already have it and imagine what our five senses would experience in those moments.
Another way to help imprint our desires into our subconscious is to feel the emotions of having what we want now.
Emotions are powerful because our subconscious mind is where our emotions reside.
Powerful emotional experiences help our subconscious imprint and change beliefs.
It is impossible to achieve success if our subconscious doesn’t believe we should have it, or that we are not worthy of it, or that success is evil, or anything else that contradicts what we want.
This piece of the puzzle of success, riches, and wealth may very well be the most important piece of the puzzle, because it is missing for most people and it manifests itself regardless of what industry you are in.
Start today to affirm the person you want to be and the life that you want.
I believe that you can have it, but perhaps you don’t believe it deep down.
You are worthy and intelligent and beautiful, but perhaps you don’t really believe that in your subconscious mind.
Maybe it was because something someone told you very young that imprinted there before you were old enough to defend against it.
Perhaps, it was a traumatic childhood event or divorce.
Knowing it is there will help you overcome it and move on to the greatest period of your life.
I hope you found this helpful.
Thank you for reading.
Phillip Adams