Success Through A Positive Mental Attitude by W. Clement Stone and Napoleon Hill is one of my all time favorite books. It illustrates, quite clearly I think, just how important our thinking is to how we feel and who we are.
- If we think happy thoughts, we will be happy.
- If we think miserable thoughts, we will be miserable.
- If we think fear thoughts, we will be fearful.
- If we think sickly thoughts, we will probably
be ill. - If we think failure, we will certainly fail.
- If we wallow in self-pity, everyone will want to shun us and avoid us.
“You are not,” said Norman Vincent Peale, “you are not what you think you are; but what you think, you are.”
Oh my. This means that I am responsible for how I feel.
That I can change how I feel by changing what I think.
And by changing what I think I can change the direction of my actions.
Which results in my achieving my goals, finishing what I started, having the success I want in life and in business.
Let's begin with this thought: what we think is who we are.
“A man will find that as he alters his thoughts towards things and other people, things and other people
will alter towards him. … Let a man radically alter his thoughts, and he will be astonished at the rapid transformation it will effect in the material conditions of his life. Men do not attract that which they
want, but that which they are. … The divinity that shapes our ends is in ourselves. It is our very self. …
All that a man achieves is the direct result of his own thoughts. … A man can only rise, conquer and
achieve by lifting up his thoughts. He can only remain weak and abject and miserable by refusing to
lift up his thoughts.”
—- As a Man Thinketh by James Lane Allen,
If we want to develop a mental attitude that will bring us peace and happiness, then we must keep it simple and doable and understand that what we think is who we are.
When we do this, we set ourselves up for success on a daily basis.
How do we do this? I recommend that that you read and meditate on the following, every day for 7 days. Then you decide if it works to change your thinking and if it sets you up for success.
JUST FOR TODAY
- Just for today I will be happy. This assumes that what Abraham Lincoln said is true, that “most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” Happiness is from within; it is not a matter of externals.
- Just for today I will try to adjust myself to what is, and not try to adjust everything to my own desires. I will take my family, my business, and my luck as they come and fit myself to them.
- Just for today I will take care of my body. I will exercise it, care for it, nourish it, not abuse nor neglect it, so that it will be a perfect machine for my bidding.
- Just for today I will try to strengthen my mind. I will learn something useful. I will not be a mental loafer. I will read something that requires effort, thought and concentration.
- Just for today I will exercise my soul in three ways; I will do somebody a good turn and not get found out. I will do at least two things I don’t want to do as William James suggests, just for exercise.
- Just for today I will be agreeable. I will look as well as I can, dress as becomingly as possible, talk low, act courteously, be liberal with praise, criticize not at all, nor fault with anything and not try to regulate nor improve anyone.
- Just for today I will try to live through this day only, not to tackle my whole life problem at once. I can do things for twelve hours that would appall me if I had to keep them up for a lifetime.
- Just for today I will have a program. I will write down what I expect to do every hour. I may not follow it exactly, but I will have it. It will eliminate two pests, hurry and indecision.
- Just for today I will have a quiet half hour all by myself and relax. In this half hour sometimes I will think of God, so as to get a little more perspective into my life.
- Just for today I will be unafraid, especially I will not be afraid to be happy, to enjoy what is beautiful, to love, and to believe that those I love, love me.
—Written by Sybil F. Partridge and printed in How To Stop Worrying, And Start Living by Dale Carnegie, 1951
