Psycho-cybernetics is the original science for self improvement for 3 reasons:
1. Maxwell Maltz was the first researcher to explain how the subconscious has complete control over the ability to achieve or fail to achieve any goal
2. Every other self improvement book written after Maltz wrote this mentions how self image and improvement of self image including visualization, mental rehearsal and relaxation are crucial to achieving your goals
3. Psycho-Cybernetics is in fact scientific that provides practical things to do that yield quantifiable results; It makes things that were once difficult easy for you
No matter what you goal you attempt to achieve, you will use psycho-cybernetics whether you know it or not
If you aren’t achieving everything you want in life, it’s probably because your goals are being ineffectively communicated to or rejected by your self image
Although this sounds abstract, this statement is the key to your self improvement
Chapter 1: The Self Image - Your Key to Living Without Limits
“Nothing splendid has every been achieved except by those who dared believe that something inside them was superior than circumstance”
“Understanding the psychology of yourself can mean the difference between success and failure, love and hate, bitterness and happiness”
Once Difficult, Now Easy
The fundamental promise of psycho-cybernetics has been proven true without any doubt or argument
Whatever is now difficult for you can be transformed to easy by certain psychological concepts
Your Secret Blueprint
We all carry a mental blueprint of ourselves whether we know it or not
This self image is our own perception of the sort person that we are
We don’t question its validity, we just assume it is true
All of our actions are always consistent with this self image
More importantly, you cannot act other than what we perceive ourselves to be
The Snap Back Effect
The person that has a “fat” self image, will be unable to lose the weight no matter what they consciously do to try and lose it
You cannot outperform your self image, and if you do escape briefly, you’ll be snapped back
The person who perceives himself to be a “failure” type person, will find a way to fail even if an opportunity for success was placed in their lap
The control of your self image is absolute and pervasive
The self image is a premise, base or foundation in which your entire personality, behavior and circumstances are built
Whatever is difficult for you, are likely proving something that is engraved in your self image
Your self image CAN BE CHANGED
You are never too old or too young to start living a completely different life
Success From the Inside Out, Not the Outside In
Some people know that positive thinking helps improve your life, but they do not apply this to their self image
Positive thinking cannot be used effectively as a patch to the same old self image
It is impossible to think positively about a certain situation if you have a negative view of yourself
Numerous studies has shown once the concept of self has changed, other thinks consistent with the new concept of self are accomplished easily and without strain
A System of Ideas
Ideas that are inconsistent with a system are rejected and cannot be performed
The keystone or base on which all else is built is the individual self image or the conception of his self
If you identify yourself with a failure of certain things, trying to apply an idea of something different is inconsistent with your “system” of already being a failure
Change the way your system is built, and the application of the ideas can then follow suit
The Self Image - The Real Secret
The discovery of the self image is the common denominator to all of our case history - failures and successes
To find life satisfying, you must find yourself acceptable to you and have a self that you are not ashamed to be
You must know yourself regarding your strengths and weakness, and be honest with yourself about both
When the self image is something that you are comfortable with, you feel good and confident and free to be yourself
When your self image is an object of shame, you begin to hide it and become somewhat anxious
Dramatic psychological changes only happen if you have an accepted new view of your self
What we all want at the end of the day is More Life - living a life without restrictions of a limited self image and fear
New Scientific Insights of the Subconscious Mind
Man has a mind that operates as an automatic goal striving machine
The creative mechanism within you is impersonal, and will work depending on the goals that you set for it
Present it with success goals and it will strive for success; present it with negative goals, and it operates just as faithfully as a failure mechanism
It must have a clear cut target to work towards
These goals you attempt to convey through this mechanism filters through the self image, and if they are inconsistent with your self image than they are rejected
By discovering how to alter your self image, you end the conflict with your goals
Then if you can communicate your goals directly to your creative mechanism, it will do what’s necessary to achieve them
Self Image Imprinting
This is controlled by Authoritative Source, Intensity, and Repetition
What we see and hear from something/someone that is authoritative holds more weight than something of a less credible source
What we see, hear or experience with intensity has added weight
What we hear repetitively has even more weight
It is your personal imperative to invest the time, energy and study needed to better understand and use your mind power, including your self image power
Chapter 2: How to Awaken the Automatic Success Mechanism Within You
Your Built in Guidance System
Every living thing has an internal guidance system that guides them to the ultimate goal of living
In humans, the goal to live is more than survival, but requires certain emotional and spiritual satisfactions as well
It is important to suggest that you have a guidance system within you to accomplish all that you desire out of life
There is a formula to create of your own life experiences:
1) Conscious Mind Decisions + 2) Imagination that Communicates a Goal or Target to 3)Your Self Image = 4) A Work Order to Your Internal Server to Accomplish Your Goals
How Your Automatic Success Mechanism Works
Your physical brain and nervous system make up a servo-mechanism that you use and that operates just like a computer
In psycho-cybernetics, we are learning to effectively communicate with and through the self image to better control the servo-mechanism within
Your servo-mechanism can be an Automatic success mechanism or automatic failure mechanism, and that is dependent on how you view your self image
Understanding the Two General Types of Servo-Mechanisms
There are two general types of Servo-Mechanisms
1. Where the target or answer is known and the objective is to reach it
2. Where the target or answer is not known and the objective is to discover it
You own the process of this automatic mechanism, it just needs to be triggered
So What Exactly is Psycho-Cybernetics?
Think of it as a collection of insights, principles and practical methods that enable you to do all of the following:
1. Conduct an accurate inventory and analysis of the contents of your self image
2. Identify erroneous and restrictive programing embedded in your self image and systematically alter it to better suit your purposes
3. Use your imagination to reprogram and better your self image
4. Use your imagination in concert with your self image to effectively communicate with your servo-mechanism so that it acts as an Automatic Success Mechanism moving you towards your goals including getting back on course when confronted with obstacles
5. Effectively use your servo-mechanism as something like a giant search engine to provide the information you need for any particular purpose, even reaching beyond your own stored data to obtain it
In a way, Psycho-Cybernetics is a communication system for effectively communicating with yourself
Get a New Mental Picture of Yourself
An unhappy person cant develop a new self image by pure will power or by deciding to
There must be some reason for deciding the old picture of self is error’d and the new picture is appropriate
You can’t imagine a new self image unless it is based upon truth
You have to realize a new truth about yourself that you did not previously recognize
The fundamentals of psycho-cybernetics is that every human being has been engineered for success and has access to a power greater than himself
Know the following points to begin using psycho-cybernetics correctly and efficiently:
1. Aim - your built in success mechanism must have a goal or target and must be conceived of as already existence now
2. Trust - don’t be discouraged because the goal might seem out of reach; The automatic mechanism within you will supply the tools to get to that goal at the appropriate time as you stay the course
3. Relax - don’t be afraid of making mistakes or temporary failures. All servo-mechanisms achieve a goals by feedback or by making a mistake and correcting itself along the way
4. Learn - skill learning of any kind is accomplished by trial and error; Further learning is accomplished by forgetting the past errors and memorizing the successful response
5. Do - you must learn to trust your servo-mechanism to do its work and not jam it by becoming to concerned or anxious to whether it will work or not; You must let it work rather than trying to force it to work
The Strengthened and Empowered Automatic Success Mechanism (ASM)
You accelerate goal achievement by providing your ASM with a clear, precisely detailed, vividly imagined target
As the target gets clearer, the ASM responds by doing its job more efficiently
Chapter 3: Imagination - the Ignition Key to Your Automatic Success Mechanism
Human beings always act and feel and perform in accordance to what they imagine is true about themselves and their environment
This is a basic and fundamental law of mind; its the way we are built
Your nervous systems reacts appropriately to what you think or imagine to be true
The Secret of Hypnotic Power
Hypnotic subjects are able to do surprising things only when CONVINCED that the hypnotist words are true statements
The subject acts differently because they now believe differently
Hypnotism has always seemed mysterious because it is always assumed that is something more than belief that is causing the person to act a certain way
In reality, if the subject is convinced of what the hypnotist is telling them, then they act in that way because they now believe it
The majority of people are literally hypnotized by their own self images of themselves, and therein act accordingly
Truth Determines Action and Behavior
The Human brain and nervous system are automatically programed to react in accordance with the environment
For example, if a grizzly bear is chasing after you, you don’t think, you automatically just run away out of fear and your senses and abilities are automatically heightened
This is a commonly known fact, but is what not so commonly understood is that this is the same brain and nervous system that automatically reacts to an environment is the same brain and nervous system that tells us what the environment is
With that in mind, it was your belief that the grizzly bear was extremely dangerous that made your brain and nervous system react in that way
In short, We react to the mental images of what we think, feel and believe in our minds
We have the ability to change our belief in what is true, which will therein change the way our brain and nervous system reacts
You can change by gathering new information, discovering new truths, and replacing old truths with new truths
Why Not Imagine Yourself Successful
Realizing that our actions, feelings and behavior are result of our own mental images and beliefs gives us the leverage we need to change or improve personalities
This is true because your nervous system cannot tell the difference between what is actually true and what is vividly imagined
If you picture yourself performing in a certain manner, it is nearly the same as a actually performing that way
MENTAL PRACTICE IS AS POWERFUL AS ACTUAL PRACTICE
Mental Pictures Can Help You Sell at a Higher Level
It has been tested and proven that people applying this technique have highly increased their sales percentages
The sales associates essentially role play by imagining themselves in various sales situations and solving them in their minds
They do this often until they know what to do and what to say in almost any situation
Sales in nothing but a series of different situations; if you’ve already mentally gone through almost every situation, you have a counter for it already prepared and that will assist you with the sale
Use Mental Pictures to Do a Better Job
Plan for things in advance and rehearse them in your mind and you will be surprised how well you do and how much confidence you have
If you do this for a job interview, you will be relaxed, confident and comfortable with the ability to ad lib easily where necessary because you’re already gone through it in your head
Clearly See the Target, and Let Your Automatic Success Mechanism Take Care of the Details
Some of the best golfers agree that having a strong visualization of where you want the ball to go is more important than perfect form
If you have great visualization, your subconscious will take over and do whatever is necessary to achieve what you visualized
Mind over mechanics can work with many aspects in life
The Real Secret of Mental Picturing
A strong mental picture can pull you towards success even when you have no logical argument for it
Mentally zero-ing in on your results as if they already exist is a significant factor in your ultimate success
Its important to focus on a positive outcome as a forgone conclusion rather than imagining what can possibly happen or go wrong
Even a single vivid picture of successful achievement can be sufficient to block out doubts, fears, and worries and direct your success mechanism to its desired target
Full scaled mental rehearsal is even more powerful
Learn to use this tool regularly, because if you’re not, you’re not using one of the most proven and relied on psychological tools for success known to man
The important part about your imagination when practicing visualization is to be as vivid and detailed as possible
Doing this consistently gives you a new image of self, which cause change and improvements to yourself
Why Mental Picturing is so Powerful
The more people understand why this works, the more likely they are to use it
Your success mechanism only works if you start with a clearly defined thing that you want
When you see something clearly, your success mechanism starts to take over and move toward it naturally
The more you think about what you clearly have defined that you want, the more brain waves put out similar vibrations in to the universe and via the law of attraction those same vibrations come rushing back to you
Chapter 4: How to De-Hypnotize Yourself From False Beliefs
“Convictions are more dangerous enemies to proof than lies”
“Fake it til you make it” is a common misunderstanding that many people attempt to utilize
Its based on external fraud, when in reality you should be finding an internal belief to get you to where you want to be
Replacing a negative belief with a positive belief will change results faster than anything else
Your actions are connected to your beliefs of who you are so that your mind thinks that you are being “true to self”
Change your belief of yourself and you will change your actual self
Is Everyone Hypnotized?
Its no exaggeration to say that all humans are hypnotized to some extent…either by ideas they have uncritically accepted by others, or by ideas they repeated or convinced themselves are true
These ideas that we’ve come to accept have the same affect as those that have been implanted by a hypnotist to their subjects
Within you is the ability and power you need to do whatever you deem successful
This power becomes available to you just as soon as you change your beliefs
You Can Cure Your Inferiority Complex
The feeling of inferiority is a big handicap to anyone’s success
Even if someone is 100x better than you at something, not comparing yourself to them will remove the feeling of inferiority
You may be inferior in that skill, but you are not inferior as a person
The FEELING of inferiority is what hinders success, and if you know that you are not an inferior person, than you can focus on success of the task at hand
You are not inferior nor superior - you are in fact, YOU
You aren’t like any other person and they aren’t supposed to be like you, so there is never a need for comparison ESPECIALLY when looking to self improve
Chapter 5: How to Succeed With the Power of Rational Thinking
By conscious thought, you’ve developed your unconscious reaction patterns (automatic habits), and by conscious thought they can be changed
You Can Get Positive Results Now
You are a creator of your own experiences and can do so with rational thinking by using the following formula:
1. Conscious mind decisions + 2. Imagination that communicates a goal or target to 3. Your Self Image = 4. Work Order to your serval (success) mechanism
In Simple Terms, We use deliberate conscious thought to choose the target, then we use imagination to communicate the target to our self image in a manner that it will be accepted and acted upon
How Testing Self Imposed Limits With Rational Thinking Can Surprise You
Success is a constant cycle of trial and error until we hit our success
Our error are a means to an end, not an end themselves
When they’ve served their purpose, they should be consciously forgotten
When we consciously dwell on the error or feel guilty about the error, then we make the error or failure itself the goal that is held in our memory
The Power of Forgetfulness
The ability to forget and refocus is every bit as important as what you are currently working on towards your success
The minute we change our minds and stop giving power to the past, the past and its mistakes loses power over us
Ideas are Changed Not By Will, But By Other Ideas
If there are 2 conflicting ideas that you have, one must naturally be rejected
In order to change, you must replace the belief in one idea with another
If you don’t and are only attempting to do so by will, you will eventually be drawn back to what you originally believe in
Examine and Reevaluate Your Beliefs
One of the reasons that the power of rational thinking goes unrecognized is because it is so seldom used
Trace down your belief about yourself, the world or your environment that is the cause of negative things and feelings you have
If you begin to think about them rationally, you may begin to find out the source of the negativity and ultimately help you change your beliefs
Ask yourself “Why” often about your beliefs; “Is this belief based on an actual fact or an assumption?”; Then ask:
1. Is there any rational reason for such a belief?
2. Could it be that I am mistaken in this belief?
3. Would I come to some other person in a similar situation?
4. Why should I continue to act and feel as if this were true if there’s no good reason to believe it?
Really wrestle with yourself and these questions and dig deep
What Rational Thought Can and Cannot Do
Your internal automatic mechanism can work as a success mechanism or failure mechanism depending on the goals you set for it - the goals you set for it are up to you
Many people set up goals for failure without knowing, and your automatic mechanism will work towards it without question
Be very conscious of what your thoughts are so that they are always focused towards positivity and not negativity
Its Just a Game
There are many mental hazards that prevent you from succeeding; A few include:
1. The Fear of Fear
2. Losing Your Cool
3. Getting Too Up or Too Down
4. Worry What Others Think
We must use rational thinking to rise above these hinderances
However, rational thinking used solely as will power is a losing formula
Rational thought used creatively to develop entirely new mental pictures in the imagination and feeding your self image new information to transform your belief is a winning formula
The Problem That Can’t Be Solved Won’t Be Solved
It is the job of your conscious rational mind to form logical and correct conclusions
“I Failed once before so I’ll probably fail in the future” is not rational or logical at all, and it is up to your conscious rational mind to determine that
Decide What You Want, Not What you Don’t Want
It is imperative to spend your time focusing on what you do want to achieve your goals
Spending time even entertaining what you don’t want is irrational
What do you let your mind think? Are your thoughts easily persuaded by so many things that we interact with everyday?
If you actually took a note of every thought you had throughout the day, you would be surprised by the things that you actually chose to think about vs. what has been influenced by an outside source
Keep Your Eye on the Ball
It is your job of your conscious mind to stay strictly focused on what you are doing and want to achieve despite all the outside distractions - “Keep Your Eye on the Ball”
Conscious Rational Thought selects the thoughts, gathers the information, concludes, evaluates, estimates, and puts the wheels in motion
It is not responsible for results - we must do the work and leave the results to themselves
Chapter 6: How to Relax and Let your Automatic Creative Mechanism Work For You
With all the technology, work demands and hardships, it is important to conquer stress and anxiety throughout your life
Don’t ignore the automatic creative mechanism and try to do it all
You relieve stress by assigning problems to your automatic mechanism, then letting go of them
Don’t Be Too Careful
When you rely solely on your conscious thought or will power, you start to become TOO careful and over analytical
Release all care about a particular outcome; unclamp your intellectual and practical machinery and let it run free and the service it will do you will be twice as good
The Secret of Creative Thinking and Creative Doing
When you let go of a problem, it allows for your creativity to expand and surprisingly solutions come out of nowhere
If you have a burning desire to solve the problem as well as gathering all the facts, then wrecking your brain with stress does no good - allow it to come to you, let whatever be, be
Ideas come most readily when you are doing something that keeps the mind alert but now putting too much strain on it
You Are a Creative Worker
A common mistake is that people assume they are a not a “Creative”, but in fact we all have that creativity within us
The Secret of Natural Behavior and Skill
The success mechanism within you can develop creative doing just as it does ideas
At times, it is necessary you can cease conscious effort and just allow it to unconsciously take over
This is done by going through the process of the 4 stages of learning:
Unconscious Incompetence - You don’t know what you don’t know
Conscious Incompetence - You know know that you don’t know how to do something
Conscious Competence - You can do the act, but have to focus and think on how to do it
Unconscious Competence - You are able to complete the act without thinking twice
Don’t Jam Your Creative Machinery
Conscious effort jams your automatic creative mechanism
When your always thinking of how good or bad this might go, it blocks your internal creativity
Letting go and having faith allows you to act creatively and ultimately just be yourself
5 Prescriptions for Freeing your Creative Machinery
1. Once a Decision is Made, Focus on Supporting It, Not Second Guessing It
2. Focus on the Here and Now
3. Try to Only Do One Thing at a Time
4. Sleep On It
5. Relax While You Work
Stressless Success
Throughout the book, Maltz has used the words Serval Mechanism, Automatic Creative Mechanism, and Automatic Mechanism interchangeably
They are internal to each and every one of us and essentially allow you to accomplish things without much conscious thought and without stress
Tell it what to do and it will surprise you with its ingenuity
Do your best to delegate to your automatic mechanism, do not micro manage it, and let go
Your job is to most accurately communicate your target and thats it
Micromanaging your automatic mechanism is like cleaning your house before your hired cleaning person comes to clean it
Chapter 7: You Can Acquire the Habit of Happiness
Dr John A Schindler’s definition of happiness is: a state of mind in which our thinking is pleasant a good share of the time
Happiness is Good Medicine
We think better, perform better, feel better and are healthier when we are happy
Even our physical senses work better when we’re happy
The very word disease means a state of unhappiness (Dis - ease)
Common Misconceptions About Happiness
Happiness isn’t something that is earned or deserved, nor it is it a moral issue
If you wait until you feel like you deserve happiness, you will often think thoughts that will not put you in a state of pleasantry
The Pursuit of Happiness is not Selfish
Many people think they shouldn’t have happiness at times because it will make them selfish
If you make a moral issue out of happiness, you’ll feel guilty about wanting happiness
Happiness actually comes from being and acting unselfishly as a natural accompaniment to the being or acting, not as a payoff or prize
Happiness Lives in the Present, Not in the Future
One of the most common causes for unhappiness is always worrying about a future event to make them happy
If happiness is not learned or practiced in the present, it will never happen
Life is a series of problems, if you’re not happy now, you won’t be
Happiness is a Mental Habit, that Can be Cultivated and Developed
Happiness is produced not by objects but by ideas, thoughts and attitudes which can be developed by the individuals own activities irrespective of the environment
A chief causes of unhappiness is taking things personal that are not personal at all
Your Opinion can Add to Your Happiness
You can always be happier by not adding your own opinion to certain negative facts
“I lost 100K in the stock market I am ruined”
You losing 100K is unfortunate, but don’t add on to that by saying you are ruined
Staying positive regardless of an unfortunate event will make you Happier
The Attitude that Makes for Happiness
Happiness is a symptom of normal natural functioning
When you act as a goal striver, you are generally happy
Form the habit of acting positively in unfortunate situations
Form the habit of always staying focused on your goal
See yourself as not running away from adversity, but going towards them and working through them positively
Take Responsibility for Your Own Happiness
Happiness isn’t something that happens to you, it is what YOU determine
Everyday is a mixture of good and evil, it is largely up to you to decide as to how to react to both
What do you chose to give your primary attention to
An Exercise for Canceling Negative Thoughts
Write down whatever thoughts you have and the crumble them up and throw them away…Or even better BURN THEM
Chapter 8: Ingredients of the Success Type Personality and How to Acquire Them
“You are today where your thoughts brought you, you will be tomorrow where your thoughts take you”
The Picture of Success
The Success Type Personality is composed of:
S Sense of Direction
U Understanding
C Courage
C Charity or Compassion
E Esteem
S Self Confidence
S Sense of Direction
Self Acceptance vs Self Rejection
Many people admit they cant stand rejection from others
Trying to conform for acceptance is one of the biggest mistakes a person can make
If you peel back everyones life, we all have flaws
Learn to accept your flaws and be comfortable with who you are to gain a sense of self confidence towards success
Chapter 9: How to Avoid Accidentally Activating Your Automatic Failure Mechanism
“A person who doubts himself is like a man joining with his enemies and bears arms against himself”
Everyone feels negative feelings, but we need to recognize them as soon as possible for what they are, then take positive action to correct the course
The Picture of Failure
Failure is composed of:
F - Frustration, Hopeless, Futility
A - Aggressiveness misdirected
I - Insecurity
L - Loneliness, Lack of Oneness
U - Uncertainty
R - Resentment
E - Emptiness
We can cure these symptoms not by will power, but by understanding that they do not work
The truth about these things can set us free from them
Chapter 10: How to Remove Emotional Scars and Give Yourself an Emotional Face Lift
“Anger is really disappointed help”
We are Naturally inclined to put up an emotional scar that is hardened against an experience that has previously hurt us
It is nature’s intension for scars to be helpful, replacing the previous skin with something tougher to prevent it from happening again
How Emotional Scars Alienate You From Life
Many people have emotional scars because they’ve been hurt from someone in the past and develop an emotional scar to protect their ego
This protects them not only from the thing that hurts them, but also alienates them from other human beings as well
You can scrape away the scar tissue that alienates you from others and liberate yourself by using the psyco-cybernetic tools:
Awareness, rationale thought, and deliberate decisions
It is up to you to use these techniques to remake your own “skin” (or ego) and not be scarred to the point where you putting yourself off from others
Don’t Underestimate the Power of Emotional Scars
Built up emotional scars make the self image a threatened and vulnerable entity that triggers survival mode behavior
This happens when you encounter situations similar to the one that scarred you, sometimes without you even knowing
You don’t have to revisit every incident or influence from childhood until now to liberate the emotional scars you’ve had
You can use fresh programing, mental rehearsals, and recalling success stories
Accepting of something new and better will automatically remove the old scars
Can We Prevent Future Emotional Scarring
“The first step to getting out of a whole is to stop digging”
We might say that the first step to liberating a scarred self image is to stop piling on on more emotional scar tissue
Ways to prevent emotional scarring include:
1. Be Too big To Feel Threatened
2. Having A Self Reliant Attitude Makes you Less Vulnerable
Assume responsibility for your own self and emotional needs; This prevents you from having the need to be validated by others
3. Relax Away Emotional Hurt/ Relaxation Cushions Emotional Blows
How to Remove Old Emotional Scars
Once an emotional scar is formed, it must be removed by “surgery” just like a physical scar
Only you can perform this operation and they must be cut out, given up entirely, or eradicated
Forgiveness is like a scalpel to help remove emotional scars
If you can’t forgive, you tend to deep down believe that other person owes you something
Forgiveness isn’t a weapon - real forgiveness allows us to let go completely which leads to repairing your emotional scars
The key to complete forgiveness is the person must actually WANT to forgive and let go of the grudge that was previously there
Stop to think about who are those people that look extremely young and healthy in old age
Usually it’s those people that are positive, optimistic, and overall happy, not negative, pessimistic and grumpy
How you heal from emotional scars can add years to your life if you take the time to do so properly
Chapter 11: How to Unlock Your Real Personality
“To Avoid Criticism, Do nothing, Say Nothing, Be Nothing”
This obviously implies that there will always be a critique in a person’s life
Everyone Has a Dynamic Personality Locked Within Them
When we say someone has a good personality, we really mean that they have released the potential within them and allowed themselves to be their free self
A person with an inhibit personality is someone that is restraining themselves and is almost afraid to come out and be their true self
The failure to be themselves builds up and ultimately causes frustration
Self Consciousness is Really Others Consciousness
As we live our lives, we are constantly interacting with others, and getting subtle ques of feedback
We pick up and sense this feedback from other people and that plays into our self-consciousness
What others Think Creates Inhibition
When you become to consciously concerned about what others think, and too sensitive to the approval or disapproval of others, then you have excessive negative feedback, inhibition and poor performance
The best way to make a good impression on good people is to never consciously try to make a good impression
Essentially, be yourself without caring what others think
Poise Comes When You Ignore Excessive Negative Feedback
Poise is the deliberate shunting aside of all fears arising from new and uncontrollable circumstances
Eliminate that fear and your self confidence to unlock your true personality will arise
Your Opinion Matters Most of All
Self Esteem is the reputation we acquire with ourselves
Determine for yourself what your reputation will be with yourself tomorrow, and live up to it today (One day at a time)
The Conscious’ Job is to Make Ourselves Happy Not Miserable
The purpose of conscious is to make us happy and productive, not the other way around
Our conscious must be based on truth if we are to let it be our guide properly
Blindly following conscious without truth can lead us to living a life we believe is correct but may not be
Chapter 12: Do It Yourself Tranquilizers That Bring Peace of Mind
“Worry affects the circulation of the heart, the glands, the nervous system and profoundly affects heath”
Often we are prescribed drugs when we are overly hyper (can’t sleep) or stimulants when we lack energy, but we have “tranquilizers” within ourselves that can change the way we feel and give us peace of mind
Over-Response is a Bad Habit That Can Be Cured
Have we ever took the time to think that the things that we respond do not always require a response?
Just because we are used to or programed to respond to something, doesn’t mean that we should or have to
Assess how you are responding to certain things in your life regularly and ask yourself, Why am I responding this way? Is it healthy for me to do so? If not, change it
How to Extinguish the Conditioned Response
We can extinguish the conditioned response if we make a practice of relaxing instead of responding
We can learn to ignore what is triggering us and to just relax and going on with what we are doing
Acknowledge that that trigger is there, but ignore it to the best of your ability
If you cannot ignore the response, do your best to delay it
Remembering to stay relaxed will at a minimum allow you to delay your response rather than instantly reacting
Clear Your Mechanism Before Taking on a New Problem
Taking a mental escape to a mental quiet place can serve as a way to clear your mental mechanism
This is needed because if you carry over the same baggage from your last major problem most recently dealt with, it will negatively affect the solution for the current problem at hand
Hit the “Clear” button on your calculator before moving on to the next problem
After you’ve done this, you can now begin to create mental pictures in your head of you successfully solving the problem or tackling your next upcoming goal
The key thing to know is that attempting to tackle multiple goals or problems at ones drastically reduces your success rate
Take your time to give all your attention to one thing at a time and you are more likely to achieve it withe efficiency and proficiently
Calmness Carries Over
When you reset yourself by spending some quiet time alone, it brings a sense of calmness, concentration and control
Before starting an activity towards your goal, take some short quiet time in your head where no-one is bothering you and you are completely relaxed
This reset does wonders your upcoming productivity
Make it a point daily to have a short quiet time throughout the day and it will become a regular habit that improves whatever you set out to do
Your Emotional Stabilizer
Your own inner stability is very important to maintain when going after your goals
The same attitude must be maintained despite environmental changes
Remember this as things raise your emotions in a negative way when working towards your goals
Chapter 13: How to Turn a Crisis Into a Creative Opportunity
There are some athletes that go into a slump and never come out of it, and there are others that bounce back right back
This is mostly mental, and whether you believe it or not, you can come back from whatever that setback is
People Who Come Into Their Own in a Crisis
Some people operate better in “clutch” situations than others
It is not that one may simply just be better than the other, but that one has learned toreact in certain circumstances
A crisis is a situation that can make you or break you
If you act properly it can give you strength and power that you may not have known you have
If you act in fear and pessimistically then it can tear you down completely as a person
To perform well in a crisis you must :
1. Learn certain skills under conditions that we will not be over motivate; We need to Practice without Pressure
2. Learn to react to crisis with an aggressive rather than defensive attitude; respond to the challenge of the situation rather than to the menace, always staying positive
3. Learn to evaluate the so called crisis in their true perspective to avoid making the crisis seem bigger than it actually is
How To Make Your Nerves Work For You
A crisis is a fork in a road, one ends a better direction and the other in a worse, but it is completely up to you to decide how the outcome turns out
After a crisis, concentrate on what you want to happen coming out of the crisis, feel that you can make it happen, and then go about doing it
Having a strong focus on your goal will allow everything in you to put more of an aggressive reaction to turning the crisis around rather than a defensive reaction that is timid and non affective
What is The Worst That Can Happen
Many people use their imaginations against them in a bad situation, making a Mountain out of a mole hill
Taking a step back from the crisis can allow you to see that it may not be as bad as it really is
Use your imagination to think about it in a way that can turn out positively instead; this may be hard at first depending on the crisis, but it can be done
Remembering that Life is long can put things into perspective that the crisis will not be hear forever and help you have a positive outlook on it
Seek the perspective of 20/20 hindsight as foresight and how usually when looking back on a crisis you end up coming out on top in the grand scale of life
Chapter 14: How to Get and Keep that Winning Feeling
Once you give your automatic mechanism a goal, you can rely on it to continue to go after it as long as you are constantly clear about your goal
It will lie dormant and do nothing if you don’t direct it
Think In Terms of Possibilities
In order for this to work you must supply the goal, and in doing that you must vividly imagine as if the goal is already achieved
We often picture failure to ourselves vividly
Remember our brain and nervous system cannot tell the difference between what’s real and tangible and what’s in your imagination
Therefore if we dwell on failure, we will experience all the things that go with failure
Instead make it a point to vividly picture success and faith that the outcome will be desirable
Setting your Machinery for Success
If there is a simple secret to the operation of your servo-mechanism its this:
Call up, capture, evoke the feeling of success
When you feel successful you will act successful, and when the feeling is SO STRONG, you can do no wrong
When you experience that winning feeling, your internal servo-mechanism is set for success
Your subconscious mind is now set to do whatever is necessary to make the goal an accomplished fact
Don’t force the successful feeling on yourself, but instead just gradually begin to play with the idea of success over and over to yourself just as you used to do with failure
Don’t Take Council of Your Fears
If you experience negative feelings and anxiety before something that you have to do (like we all do), it is not a confirmation that something bad is about to happen
These things originate from your own mind, not from some external fact that something bad happens
This is just you replaying negative circumstances in your head, and that is all they are - thoughts in your head
It is up to you to ignore them, use them as a benefit to you, or allow them to overcome your circumstance with failure or negativity
Choose to react to those those feelings with positivity and overcome them with aggression
You cannot do this simply with will power, but you must replace them with good and believe in that good to have a positive outcome
Chapter 15: More Years of Life, and More Life in Your Years
“We age not by years, but by events and our emotional reactions to them”
Life Force: The Secret of Healing and the Secret of You
Stress is one of the biggest wear and tear on our body
Stress and frustration are part of the failure mechanism that can be triggered within you
The body is equipped to maintain itself in health, cure itself of disease, and remain youthful by successful for coping with things that bring amongst of old age
Drugs, surgeries, and therapies all stimulate the body, but its the bod itself actually cures and heals itself
Knowing that our body and mind has the auto-healing capability should keep us positive and optimistic in times of stress, hurt and disease
Responding to stress negatively has been proven to age you physically, so why not respond positively and preserve or even enhance your youth
Retire From a Job, But Never Retire From Life
Many people go downhill in life once they retire from their job
They become lost and lose their sense of purpose and have a feeling of uselessness
Never lose your sense of purpose and always have something to strive after in life
The Best Self Image of All
Don’t limit our acceptance of life by our own feeling of unworthiness
It is an insult to our Creator that we are not worthy or capable of anything we desire
Conceive of yourself as in the image of God
You cannot do this sincerely and not feel or receive a new source of strength and new power