Over the years, many people have asked me about my friendship with Dan Kennedy. They often want to know what the common denominator was that brought us together.
The truth is, we’re both highly introspective. We share a deep appreciation for analyzing why certain things work — and why others don’t.
Dan and I firmly believe that the quality of your mindset and beliefs determines the level of success you’ll experience in your entrepreneurial life.
If your inner game isn’t strong, your outer game — your results — will fall below average. Unfortunately, many entrepreneurs fail to recognize the importance of refining their own minds as a fundamental source of creation and fulfillment.
As Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “The ancestor of every action is thought.”
And Napoleon Hill, author of the legendary Think and Grow Rich, wrote:
“You have absolute control over but one thing — your thoughts.”
This prerogative is the only way you can truly control your destiny.
If you don’t control your mind, you control nothing else.
Your mind is your spiritual state — your mind today shapes the mind you’ll have tomorrow.
For us as entrepreneurs and leaders, the ultimate principle is simple: the only way to control your destiny is to control your thinking.
A simple way to begin using your inner power to design the future you want is to think of your mind as your personal computer.
It consists of two distinct parts under your control:
- the conscious mind, which you use rationally to distinguish truth from falsehood, to direct thoughts, and to make decisions;
- and the subconscious mind, an internal data bank that records everything you’ve ever seen, read, heard, or said.
Your subconscious doesn’t distinguish between true or false — it simply receives and transmits thoughts.
It executes exactly what your conscious mind “tells” it to do.
Scientists estimate that your subconscious has the capacity to hold more information than all the world’s libraries combined.
Your ability to become exactly who you want to be begins with desire and commitment.
It’s a process of reprogramming your internal computer, making you feel aligned with yourself and enabling you to tap into your highest potential.
These new beliefs, built from your new way of thinking, will keep you motivated to achieve your dreams and goals.
As the most important organ of the body and a highly sophisticated memory bank, the mind works with the information it receives daily — and from that, it creates your reality.
That’s why it’s crucial to pay attention to the kind of information you allow into your mind.
Everything you think — true or false, good or bad — originates from your conscious mind and leaves an imprint on your subconscious.
That information becomes an image, and whatever it may be, it’s programmed into your subconscious in line with your capabilities, potential, and values. It forms your belief system and becomes the image you hold of yourself.
Most of the time, you don’t see your true talents or abilities — only the information stored in your internal computer, shaped by external sources and outdated thoughts.
Whether beneficial or harmful, this internal image becomes the foundation upon which you build your future.
You must act intentionally to become the kind of person you want to be — in alignment with your beliefs.
It’s no wonder that many people never get there: before transformation happens, you must first take charge of what enters your mind and update the old inner images.
If you don’t, you’ll remain stuck in a comfort zone that kills motivation and prevents your dreams from becoming reality.
Dr. Maxwell Maltz, in his classic Psycho-Cybernetics, wrote:
“The self-image sets the boundaries of individual accomplishment. It defines what you can and cannot do. Developing your self-image means developing your possibilities.”
Positive growth and a realistic self-image fill your life with new capabilities, new skills, and can literally transform a life of failure into one of repeated success.
Decide today not to be a victim of your past.
Make a conscious decision to rewrite that outdated mental program, to replace those old inner images, and to give yourself a new beginning.
You can do it by consistently monitoring how you direct your daily thoughts.
You’ve probably heard the saying, “People teach what they most need to learn.”
That’s been especially true in my own life.
As a child, I had a very poor self-image.
Even though my inner voice told me I had something valuable to offer the world, my environment didn’t reinforce that belief.
That continued until I decided to take charge of my destiny and ask for help.
I read every book and listened to every audio program I could find on personal responsibility and self-image.
And little by little, over the years, I found the courage and resources to transform the negative image I once had of myself — and to finally become the person I was meant to be.
Today, I know that this was one of the most important decisions I’ve ever made in my life.
Without changing my self-image, I could never have created a better life or done what I truly love — speaking, coaching, and writing.
I would have simply continued on, never using my innate talents, and probably ended up as a deeply unsatisfied person.
Unfortunately, that’s exactly what happens to most people.
They look for the quickest fix instead of doing the inner work necessary to create lasting success and wealth.
As I say in my book, Success Is an Inside Job:
“No matter your skills, the size of your genius, or the quality of your education, your success will never rise higher than your level of self-confidence.”
If we think of the brain as a computer, you act in a way that aligns with the image you hold of yourself — what you believe you are and what you believe you can do.
The good news is that today you have the power to reprogram yourself in a completely new way — by feeding your mind with empowering information that will transform your life for the better in the long run.
