You can do it, if you believe you can!

Dr. Wayne Dyer has a book called "You'll See It When You Believe It".  This book is from 1989 and reiterates what Napoleon Hill says in his book, The Law of Success.  You must keep your thoughts on your Definite Purpose and in cooperation with others with whom you are working to achieve your goals and the cooperation between your conscious and sub-conscious minds it will be achieved.

In the book Hill talks about the Law of the Master Mind when he talks about the cooperation of people who come together for the purpose of reaching a specific goal.  When a number of people get together and focus their thoughts and resources on a given outcome they have a greater chance of success in achieving the desired end result.  So it is within each of us if we keep both our mental and physical thoughts and actions on the desired outcome.

In the body exists many systems that come together to create the harmony and balance referred to in Anatomy classes as homeostasis.  Most people know about the physical aspects of the body that we can see or that are affected by disease or misuse.  This are the bones, the muscles, skin and the internal organs.  Many people are only aware of the Nervous System when sickness or stress affect it.  What most of us do know about the Nervous System is that it is the brain, the spinal cord and all the nerves that come from the spinal cord to our muscles and organs.  These nerves control every aspect of each and every movement of our body including how our heart beats and we digest the food we eat.  Hearing, seeing and tasting are all controlled by these nerves.  We walk and talk because of nerves that process information.  When you touch something hot, it is the brain (the Nervous System) that responds and in that split second tells you to pull away.

In the book, The Law of Success, Mr. Hill spends a lot of time talking about what he refers to as the "subjective mind" and the "objective mind" and what parts of the brain and therefore the Nervous System that they belong to. He is talking about subconscious and the conscious mind respectively.  

I am not qualified to talk about the portions of the brain but I can talk about the Nervous System and the Sympathetic and Parasympathetic portions of it.  These two parts of the Nervous System are what control all of our body processes.  Every action that we take is controlled either voluntarily (we make a decision) or involuntarily (the Nervous System makes the decision).  This is the cooperation that Hill talks about in the book and what I would like to spend a little bit of time talking about here. 

What I want to explain is how the conscious (subjective) mind controls the subconscious (objective) mind.  In the medical field the subject is the patient, the person telling why they are at the doctors office, while the object is what the Doctor or Nurse writes on the chart in order to make a decision about the patient.  The same thing applies to the conscious and subconscious minds. 

The Conscious Mind

The Conscious Mind is the thinking mind.  This is where you either accept or reject an idea.  This part of your mind is conditioned or taught over your lifetime and is influenced by every aspect of your life from the day that you were born.  In my Infinite Possibilities classes it is where we hold our Beliefs.  Those things that we believe are true.  These things guide us through life, regardless if they really are true or not!  Those ideas, thoughts or beliefs that you accept become part of the subconscious mind.  THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT!

The Subconscious Mind

 The Subconscious Mind is the conditioned mind. Every cell in your body functions based on what the subconscious mind is programmed to do.  This part of your mind has no ability to reject what the conscious mind has accepted.  This is the part that is the player in "The Law of Attraction"  It operates predictably in all instances.  It is expressed by our feelings and actions.  Any conscious thought is continuously impressed upon your subconscious over and over until it becomes fixed here and in your personality.  Fixed ideas then continue to express themselves without any conscious assistance until you replace them.  These fixed ideas are called Habits.

Therefore if you want to change your habits you have to change your beliefs and the way to do that is to reprogram what your Conscious Mind accepts as truth.  It is through the Cooperation of these two parts of your mind that you can achieve your Definite Purpose, that Goal that Napoleon Hill sets forth as the first thing you need to get set in your mind.

Here is a little something to think about:

Thoughts build Ideas,  Ideas stir Emotions,  Emotions are expressed through Actions,  Actions create Results

  When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.  Wayne Dyer

The Law of Attraction, The Laws of Success, The Power of Positive Thinking, The Golden Rule

What do all of these things have in common?  More of my thoughts on these things coming soon.

Failure is simply the opportunity to being again,
this time more intelligently.      Henry Ford

Napoleon Hill begins his chapter for this lesson with that quote from Henry Ford.  Now most people know Henry Ford as the man who created Ford Motor Company and the Model T but most people don't know that his first two companies failed.  If he had admitted defeat we would not even know his name today.  Failure is just temporary defeat.  Battles may be lost but the war still won. 

I am going to fill this post with many people who we know from history because of their actions and current times because of their successes.  I will also use some quotes about failure or defeat.  Mr. Hill spends the majority of this chapter talking about his own setbacks which even though they talk about defeats that he suffered, many of them have to do with the times he was living in.  War, stock market crashes etc.  It is his perseverance through these defeats that make his name recognizable today.


There is no failure except in no longer trying.    Elbert Hubbard

I include this quote for two reasons.  Number 1 it is one of the original quotes in the book and used by Napoleon Hill and Number 2 the quote "when life gives you lemons, make lemonade", is a paraphrasing of a statement he made in an obituary that he wrote.  That quote is "He picked up the lemons that Fate had sent him and started a lemonade-stand".  I have often used this quote and I think it is very appropriate to a lesson on Failure.  A temporary defeat when you are working toward your Definite purpose is just that, temporary.  Use is as a lesson to be learned, as Ford said and then retry with the intelligence gained.

Defeat allows you to question.  "Every defeat, every reverse, usually teaches us a valuable lesson that could be learned in no other way."  This from Napoleon Hill.  When you analyze and study every setback you have you should take knowledge away from it.  Defeat should never be accepted as failure.  Take Thomas Edison.

I haven't failed.  I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.    Thomas Edison

Edison was a very prolific inventor who holds over 1000 patents.  When he was in school his teacher told him he was too stupid to learn anything!  Over 9000 experiments led to the light bulb.

And talk about failure, Milton Hershey failed many times in his attempts to make money before opening his Lancaster Caramel Company.  It was from this success that he was able to build the Hershey Chocolate Company that we know today!

Everyone knows the name of the master of horror, Stephen King.  Did you know that his first book, Carrie, was rejected 30 times?  He threw it in the trash and the only reason we know of it today is because his wife saved it and made him try again.  He now has 350 million copies of his books worldwide.

If you've never failed, you've never tried anything new.  I cannot find the definitive author of that line but it is all over the internet and is especially appropriate for this lesson.  You have to get out there and try to get to make your goals happen and if you fail at first then try something else did you finally succeed.


Today you are you! That is truer than true!
There is no one alive who is you-er than you!       Dr. Seuss

Only you can make your own dreams come true.  And I think Ralph Waldo Emerson said it best.

There is no defeat except from within.  There is really no barrier save your own inherent weakness of purpose.    Ralph Waldo Emerson

Napoleon Hill says to define your purpose, set your goals and then with determination and concentration to go after what you want.  Fear of failure is not an option.  Will there be setbacks, probably.  Will you get past them, absolutely.  What's the old quote?  What doesn't kill you, makes you strong.  You will have setbacks, the great ones almost always do.  Anyone know the name Steve Jobs?  At 30-years-old he was unceremoniously removed from the company he started, Apple, after a power struggle with the board of directors.  He later acquired the computer graphics division of Lucasfilm, which allowed him to regain the funds needed to regain control of Apple.  And we all know what that led to.

And my favorite is Einstein.  His parents thought he was mentally retarded when he was young.  His grades in school were so poor that a teacher asked him to quit, saying, “Einstein, you will never amount to anything!”  And he didn’t speak until he turned 4 and didn’t read until he was 7.  We however know him as possibly the most important scientist of the 20th century!

And of course most everyone knows the story of that author lady and the Wizard World that she created after being nearly penniless, divorced, depressed and raising a child on her own.

We all have the ability to get past our defeats and keep moving toward that definite purpose with enthusiasm, self-confidence, imagination and concentration.

In Lesson 7, Napoleon Hill talks about self-control.  He states that lack of self control can lead to the loss of the power needed to achieve your definite purpose.  In other words, loss of self control can defeat you.  The enthusiasm that you have for a project must balance with the self-control needed to rush too fast into things or the desire to proceed in the face of danger or without regard to others.

If a part of your definite purpose is to be in charge of others then you need to understand that you cannot control others if you cannot control yourself.  Sometime we need to wear mental ear muffs.  The old adage of just letting things roll off of you rather than to respond.

Hill says that Imagination + a definite plan + self-confidence + action directed through self-control is the way to get to your success.

You have a tremendous advantage over the man who does you an injury; you have it within your power to forgive him while he has no such advantage over you.  N. Hill

In other words, don't strike back.  

Get angry, write it down, throw it out!  Get it out of your system and don't hold on to it!

One of my client's once gave me a gift.  He called it a God box.  It looks like a bank with a slot at the top to put in coins, however it has no way of opening it so whatever you put in it stays in it, never to be seen again.  It is the old forgive and forget or as I like to say, "let go, Let God".  Now I don't care what your perception of God is, all I am saying is to let go of those things that anger, frustration or worry you.  And as you forget about them they will be released.  You have control over your thoughts and you can select which thoughts you let in AND the ones  you let go!

Self-control = thought control.

Using auto-suggestion and positive, constructive thoughts in harmony with your definite purpose to transform those thoughts into physical reality. Deliberately choosing your thoughts is self-control at its highest level.  Thought is the most highly organized function of the mind and we consciously control it.

Have you ever had to change your tone of voice in order to hide your true feelings.  For example, have you ever been in an argument with someone and the phone rings?  Have you answered the phone and the person on the other end had no idea you were in the middle of a heated argument?  Then you know how easy it is - WHEN YOU WANT TO DO IT.

This is Desire!  You have the power to think and the power to control your thoughts and direct them.

Have you ever been around anyone who was enthusiastic?  Their enthusiasm is contagious and affects everyone with whom they come in contact.  These kind of people and "infect" people so easily that afterwards people that were "infected" will say "How did you ever talk me into that?"

By mixing enthusiasm with your work, you will never be bored and the work will not seem hard.  The old saying "If you love your job, you will never work a day in your life", comes to mind.  Enthusiasm about a task also enables you to perform more work in a given time without becoming tired.

Even if you are currently in a job that you do not enjoy, due to other circumstances, you can still continue to plan and work on ways to achieve your definite purpose that you have set for yourself in life.  As you develop enthusiasm about your definite purpose (your long range goal), no matter if you are in position to achieve it at this time, you are still setting the stage for that end result.

By being enthusiastic, you may pass that enthusiasm to those around you.  By doing this and along with the doing, be enthusiastic in your speech and thoughts you are passing the suggestion of enthusiasm to others.  What this means is that the way you speak when you are enthusiastic is very different from the way you speak if you are bored when doing a job.  Imagine how that translates to the people you are around!  Especially if any part of your job includes sales!  Being enthusiastic about a product or service you are trying to sell put a very different suggestion into the mind of those to whom you are trying to sell.

SO the action of enthusiasm must be followed with words of enthusiasm in order for it to be able to apply the principle of suggestion.  The other part of suggestion has to do with your thoughts, as most things usually do in this book and in many others out there, including The Secret.  If your thoughts, your words and your actions are in harmony, you are bound to influence those around you.

Now you may say that you are not in the selling business and that is not part of your definite purpose, but I say that we are all in the selling business when it comes to our definite purpose.  You may have to "sell" a significant other on the idea you are presenting, maybe you have to "sell" your current employer on an idea that will get you to where you see yourself in the company, etc.  In order to get to your definite purpose you sometimes even have to "sell" yourself on the idea that it is even possible.  Being enthusiastic about it is one of the principles that will get you there!

Now I must warn you that as it is with all thoughts, actions and words.  Negative ones will come to pass just as readily as positive ones.  So doing, saying or thinking things that are negative in an enthusiastic way will bring about the same result!

The human mind is a very marvelous piece of equipment!  Much more complicated that any computer.  Everything that enters the brain is recorded, whether positive or negative in our unconscious.  When it comes from the unconscious into the conscious all the memories that are associated with that thought also come into play.    Therefore the old saying "like attracts like" comes into play here through the principle of auto suggestion.  The principle of suggestion to others as well as your own auto suggestion should always be associated with positive experiences and with the principle of enthusiasm.  Believe in yourself and the definite purpose you have set for yourself. 

In this lesson you need to coordinate the four previous lesson: definite purpose, self-confidence, leadership and imagination.  You need to take them all together to create action.  In The Laws of Success, Napoleon Hill states that it is not only the statement "knowledge is power" but that "organized knowledge expressed in action is power."

If you only have the knowledge without taking action there is no power.

You may have a definite purpose that you have set in your mind.  You may have self confidence in abundance.  You may have the ability to be a leader.  You may have the imagination to create your definite purpose.  But until you put them together and take action on them you might as well know nothing.  Your education is useless to you until you go out and do something with it.

There is the old saying that you can't get anything for nothing.  And this true about your definite purpose also.  How can you get to something that you desire without doing anything?  And not doing anything is termed procrastination.  Most people will say that the world/society/their boss/spouse, etc. never gave them a chance.  Sometimes we need to take a chance or make the chance rather than wait for someone or something to give us something.

Procrastinating is our worst enemy and I think that expecting others to give you a chance is the second worst.  Go out and make your own opportunities. 

Now I must confess that in this actual lesson in the book, Mr Hill goes into great detail about the importance of keeping the intestines clean.  I found this very amusing until I began to look at it from my nutrition background.  If the intestines are clogged your entire body system will become sluggish.  Toxins can build up in the intestinal tract and cause many types of diseases that can affect the entire body.  Diabetes, Heart Disease, Obesity can be linked to problems caused by what we eat, how we eat and the responses of the Gastrointestinal System.  The thing to be aware of is that the processing of nutrients by our body is a function that requires energy and energy that is clogged does not produce efficient energy or effort.

Now, I will not suggest, as does Mr. Hill, that you take an enema for a headache but I do suggest that you use natural means to produce a bowel movement every single day.  Anything less and waste product (feces) will accumulate in the rectum which can then back up into the colon.  As this waste festers it can become the first step in colon cancer. 

So, back to the lesson of action.  One of this biggest setbacks to you producing action is worry.  Worry, envy, jealousy, hatred doubt and fear are all states of mind that can lead to inactivity.  Any type of negativity will keep you from action, therefore you need to keep yourself in a positive frame of mind.  And one of the best ways to make this happen is to smile!  Keep something with you at all times that will always put a smile on your face.  Find something to make you laugh.  When you feel like moping around the house, find or put on a movie that will make you laugh.  It is amazing how even forcing yourself to laugh can free your mind from thoughts of the negative.

The action that Mr. Hill talks about is not just in the physical sense but also in the mental sense.  Keep your mind active; be always thinking of the next way to get to your definite purpose.  And the thinking about how you will get there will drive your physical body to perform actions to get to that goal.

In the book, we are given some suggestions on how to become active and not procrastinate.

• First - Get in the habit of doing the most distasteful tasks first each day.  That way they are over and done with and you can move on to more pleasant (or at least less distasteful) tasks.
• Second - Get in the habit of not just telling people what you can do but showing them what you can do!
• Third - Start using this mantra - Tomorrow I will do everything that should be done, when it should be done, and as it should be done. 
• Fourth - DO this with faith and the belief that they will develop action in body and mind that is sufficient to realize your definite purpose.

Next Lesson:  Enthusiasm

Following Self-Confidence comes Initiative and Leadership.  If you have the self confidence that was talked about in the last lesson then you can become an efficient leader by taking the initiative needed.

Leadership is required for the attainment of your success and initiative is the foundation on which it is built.  Initiative is what makes you do what needs to be done without being told to do it.  It is your self confidence which will allow you to do this.

Taking the initiative sometimes means doing things that others may not deem necessary or see the value of, but after you have chosen a definitive purpose it then becomes your duty to transform your purpose into reality.  You will need to form the habit of taking some sort of definite action each day to carry yourself ever closer to attainment of that goal/definitive purpose.

This will take initiative.  It also means that you need to eliminate procrastination!  Procrastination is a deadly enemy to anyone who wants to become a leader in any undertaking.  Procrastination is a deadly habit.

The way to initiate this lesson is to do one definite thing each day, something that needs to be done without anyone telling you to do it.  Next you need to look for something that you can do each day that you are not in the habit of doing.  This has to be something that will be of value to others but for which you do not expect to receive any monetary payment.  In other words do something for others.  The last step here is to let someone else know of this lesson - tell at least one other person each day of the value of practicing the habit of doing something that should be done with being told to do it.  And wouldn't the world be a better place if we all practiced this last step.  Do something that needs to be done without being told to do it!

The habit of initiative will become part of us as we develop these habits just as the muscles in our bodies become stronger as they are used.  And research tells us that anything that we consistently do daily for a period of 30 days becomes a part of our normal routine.  The place to start these habits of initiative are in the small, common place things connected with your daily work.  So go about your work every day, no matter what it is, as if you were doing it solely for the purpose of developing the habit of initiative.  You may be amazed at how quickly, by developing the habit of initiative, you begin to attract the attention of those who will begin to place greater value on you and your services as a result.

Remember that you only limitation is the one that you set up in your own mind.

Initiative opens the door to opportunity.