One of my favorite books ever is Napoleon Hill’s classic “Think and Grow Rich.” What an amazing book and it has truly made a dramatic impact on my life. In one of the first chapters, Napoleon Hill talks about the importance of “desire” in our lives. So the question I have for you is, what do you really desire in your life?
There’s a six-step process that’s clearly defined in that chapter, and the first thing it says is “what do you want?” What do you really want? Step two is, “what do you intend to give in return?” There is no such thing as a free lunch. If you don’t provide a service, you’re not going to receive any pay, it’s just that simple. The third thing is “Set a definite date.” When do you want it by? Someday? Someday is not so far in the future, it may never come. Step four is, “What kind of plan do you have? And begin at once whether you’re ready or not.” Step five, “Write a clear, concise statement of steps one through four.” Then step six is, “Read that statement out loud twice a day.” Read it out loud.
See, the repetition of reading your statement will put an image on the screen of your mind. When you have an image of what you want in your mind you start to get emotionally involved with the desire. The more you visualize your want the more emotionally involved you get with it. The more emotionally you get involved with your want/desire the more you are willing to take action to make it a reality.
In other words, you’re feeding the positive thoughts of what you want, not the C.A.T.s (counter-productive attitudes and thoughts) or the things you don’t want. What we have to realize is that we become what we think about. So, let’s start focusing on what we do want, not what we don’t want. Besides, it is so much more fun thinking about what we do want in life.
One more thing to think about, Napoleon Hill spent twenty-five years of his life studying the most successful people of his time. People like Henry Ford, Andrew Carnegie, Charles Schwab, Thomas Edison, William Wrigley Jr., John D. Rockefeller, and 100’s more just like them. What he found is that these highly successful people all spent time everyday focusing on what they wanted in their life (not on what they didn’t want). It seems to me that is we want more in our lives, these are the kinds of people that we should emulate. What do you think?
This is Tim Burgess.
Don’t feed the C.A.T!