Success is often molded by the people with whom we surround ourselves. 
Remember your mother’s wise words: “If you play in the mud, you’re going to get dirty!” Whether you are seeking that next promotion or taking steps to move forward in other areas of your life, your BIGGEST OBSTACLE TO SUCCESS MAY ACTUALLY RESIDE WITHIN YOU – specifically, within your subconscious mind.
Messages stored in your subconscious mind can hold you back, negatively affecting your opportunities for success in your personal and professional life. The subconscious mind is one of THE most powerful “success principles” available to us, having a direct effect on our success, and depending entirely on the messages it is fed.
Over the past 100 years, much research has been completed about the subconscious mind, proving its power and potential effect on people’s lives. Yet, most people are unaware of this important concept.
Quick backstory: Beginning in the early 1900’s, Napoleon Hill was commissioned to study the most successful people of his time to identify their common traits. After compiling his findings, Hill determined that anyone could become successful by following a formula which he called “success principles.” One of these key success principles he identified is the power of the subconscious mind.
The Power of the Subconscious Mind
Think of the subconscious mind as a storehouse of your knowledge and beliefs, working day and night. It records and stores vast amounts of information during the course of your life, most of which your conscious mind has long since forgotten.
But, to harness the power of your subconscious mind, you must learn to do two things:
1.) Regulate what kind of information reaches this powerful lock box.
2.) Consciously feed the subconscious mind powerful, positive thoughts, making it work to your advantage.
Did you know that the subconscious mind has NO ability to reason or ascertain “good” from “bad” or truth from lies? It simply absorbs anything it is told. This is a critical aspect of this principle.
As Henry Ford famously said, “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t – you’re right.”
So, if you heard negative comments about yourself at some point in your life, your subconscious mind has stored that information as TRUE. It takes and absorbs ANY orders it is given repeatedly and acts upon those orders as truth… It simply takes the input information and stores is as part of your subconscious mind — part of your belief in yourself.
- Your subconscious mind functions voluntarily, whether you make any effort to influence it or not.
- Therefore, you must become aware and very careful of the messages coming into your mind.
- There is real, proven POWER in the content of those messages, and the impact they will have on your life.
You cannot afford to neglect this critical component of success. Your subconscious mind can hold great power over your ability to achieve your full potential! Moreover, you can learn to develop CONTROL over what messages reach your subconscious mind, thereby influencing your chances of achieving success. But you must apply focus and effort to successfully control the messages coming IN.
What messages do you send yourself? Could there be a hidden saboteur living with you?
Thought Assessment
Let’s do a quick “thought assessment” to find out:
- When is the last time you objectively reviewed what kind of messages you regularly send yourself?
- What messages do you tell yourself about your abilities and your potential for success?
- Are your thoughts mostly positive, like those of a coach? Or, are your thoughts and self-talk often negative, acting as a “saboteur” to your own success?
- What negative messages have you received from others over the years, which may still be lurking in your mind, impacting your opportunities for success?
Think about this for a moment. If you are not aware of the impact negative messages can have on your subconscious mind, they will act as a hidden force, undermining opportunities for your future. But, you CAN change this once you’re aware of it.
Feed the Mind Positive Messages
Changing negative messages requires that you consciously and actively FEED the mind positive thoughts to reverse any negative beliefs or programming. In recent years, you have likely heard about “the power of positive thinking.” Positive thinking CAN and DOES influence the subconscious mind.
Repeatedly saying positive things to yourself has been proven to increase one’s self-confidence and self-concept. This is the subconscious mind at work. (Some of you may remember the old Saturday Night skit, “Daily Affirmation with Stuart Smalley.” If not, Google it.)
Funny thing is, daily affirmations, or “autosuggestions” as Napoleon Hill called them have been proven to work. Again, this is because the subconscious mind believes what it hears repeatedly – good or bad. So, make sure it’s hearing POSITIVE things! Hill taught us that if you fail actively plant positive messages in your subconscious mind, it will feed upon negative thoughts which reach it as the result of neglect. (So turn off the news; change your social media feed to positive stories; cut ties with toxic people.)
You must actively shut off the flow of negative impulses and purposefully fill your subconscious mind with positive thoughts, goals, plans and desires. Napoleon Hill gave us specific instruction about those emotions we should cultivate and those we should strive to avoid to ultimately develop a more positive subconscious mindset:
Six MAJOR POSITIVE emotions to CULTIVATE
- Desire
- Faith
- Love
- Enthusiasm
- Romance
- Hope
Six MAJOR NEGATIVE emotions to AVOID
-
- Fear
- Jealousy
- Anger/Hatred
- Revenge
- Greed
- Superstition
Note: NO EFFORT is required to pass negative emotions on to the subconscious mind. Negative emotions voluntarily inject themselves into the thought impulses, which ensure passage to the subconscious mind.
Positive and negative emotions CANNOT occupy the mind at the same time. One or the other must dominate. Become conscious of your emotions and the messages you are sending yourself on a daily basis. Cultivate the positive and avoid the negative to build a success-focused subconscious mind.
Consciously Choose Your Mindset
It is within YOUR OWN power to change your deep subconscious mind. By using this power wisely, you can consciously gain control of sending yourself only positive communications. “Feed” your subconscious mind positive information to develop it toward a certain goal or desire. As Hill said, “Man is in absolute control over the material which reaches the subconscious mind.”
“You can voluntarily hand over to the subconscious mind any plan, desire or purpose which you wish transformed into concrete form.” – Napoleon Hill
Seek out positive messages. Feed your mind with positive books, seminars, CDs and experiences. Be careful about what you watch on TV and how much news you ingest. Every bit of information goes into your subconscious mind, shaping your life.
Now, set your mind, your focus, on any plan or purpose you’d like to achieve, and make it happen.
It takes conscious work of habit to direct the subconscious mind. Be patient. Be persistent, and results will follow. By forming a HABIT of applying and using positive thoughts and emotions, you will develop a more success-oriented mindset, driving you to new heights and opening your world to endless possibilities for success.
Until next time, we wish you positive thoughts and much success!
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