The Power of Mind (Part III)

I’ve been thinking about what has led to all of my successes to date. I started thinking about who I was when I was younger. I was extremely shy; I could not look people in the eye. I could not speak to girls. I was self-conscious and always wondering why life was the way it was. I felt trapped. I felt small.

I felt sad a lot and at times, depressed and suicidal.

I thought of many ways of possibly ending my life when I was in elementary school. I thought of what it would be like to be hit by a car, jump off a building, stab myself… But I was too scared of the unknown, the possible pain and the possible shame, as well as what my parents would think and how they would feel.

So how am I now able to speak in front of hundreds of people without trembling? (I used to shake when I had to speak in front of a classroom or group of people.)

I remember the first moment I had a brilliant thought: Try my best to look people in the eye. Try to hold that look for a second, then a few seconds, then try to hold their gaze as long as possible. To my surprise, they looked down first. I started to gain a little more confidence, and pretty soon, I found almost no one could hold my gaze long enough. Were they as insecure as I was?

Then, in my early 20s, I had the nerve to ask a girl to a movie. She said “Yes”. Wow. I couldn’t believe it. I gained more confidence. And with each gain of confidence, I was able to do more.

But what was it? I was slowly beginning to believe I had something within me. But a big breakthrough came when someone I loved supported and believed in me more than I did myself. I felt almost invincible. I was in love. I didn’t think, I felt, and I felt so alive.

And my biggest breakthrough came when I believed in God because I saw the tremendous love God had for me. As I read the Bible, I saw the belief people of faith had in God and what great things they did for others and for God. I wanted to emulate them. David against Goliath. The heart of a lion while tending and caring for his sheep.

Within this meagre body, the heart of a giant developed. I believed I could do anything God allowed me to do. I prayed for wisdom. I thought deeply. I moved with faith, believing it would come to pass.

Then I also came across other ‘mentors’ who taught this. Here are some who have highly influenced me, in addition to the great mentors and leaders in the Bible.

My life now can be summed up in one word: “Believe!”

Earl Nightingale: The Strangest Secret

Born in the Great Depression in the early 1930s, amid scarcity and uncertainty following the roaring 1920s, an age of abundance, he was forced to think for himself after his father abandoned the family. Earl watched people fall into despair and be governed by learned helplessness. People lost hope and gave up on their dreams. But he noticed a tiny proportion of people still dreamed and found success, happiness and growth despite such hard times.

He pondered what made these select few people different.

During his time in the Marines on the USS Arizona, which was bombed while in Pearl Harbour, he gained an appreciation for his life, as he wasn’t on board that tragic morning of the bombing. This gave his days more purpose, allowing him to pursue something worthwhile in life. He became obsessed with understanding why some people succeeded in living their dreams while most gave up and conformed to whatever came their way.

After reading all the great thinkers in philosophy, psychology, theology and economics, he had a secret insight—one which became the cornerstone of all his philosophy, life and teaching:

“We become what we think about.”

This turned into a recording, “The Strangest Secret,” a 1 1956 recording that sold millions of copies and sparked what we now call the personal growth industry. It was the first, and I think the only first spoken recording to earn a Gold Record!

If you think about growth, you grow.

If you think about failure, you fail.

If you think about problems negatively, you become burdened by your problems.

Today’s neuroscience confirms his beliefs.

• Thoughts activate neural networks, which are mimicked in AI neural networks.

• Focus embeds these thoughts into behaviours via dopamine pathways.

• Belief alters outcomes; the stronger it persists, the greater its placebo effect.

What is success? How do you achieve your success?

Earl Nightingale’s three great laws:

1. “We become what we think about.” Your focused thoughts shape and lead to your results.

2. “Success is the progressive realization of a worthy ideal.” Success is achieving what you believe to be your ideals and your purpose, rather than just mere goals or achievements. I especially love this definition of success.

3. “Your world is a living expression of how you are using your mind.” Your external results are just a delayed results of your internal beliefs, values and reflections.

Your life is a result of your dominant thoughts and beliefs.

Change your thoughts, you change your life.

Change your beliefs, you can change your destiny.

Earl became a mentor to many of the great mentors I have listened to incessantly: Jim Rohn, who took in a ‘fatherless’ Tony Robbins, Zig Ziglar, the master salesman, who mentored Seth Godin. Seth once told me that without Zig, he would have been lost. He listened to Zig on tape cassettes so much that the tapes eventually wore out. Wow, I asked Seth to introduce me to Zig. “He would have loved you, but he has passed away.” I thought that when Seth said Zig was his mentor, that Zig personally mentored me, but Seth had only met him a few times and really was mentored by his books and tapes.

I later met someone who personally knew Zig and served on his Board of Directors. It was surreal.

And then I discovered a man who had been trained and mentored directly by Earl. He left his multi-million-dollar business to learn from Earl and took a huge pay cut to $18,000 a year. Eventually, he became his head of sales. I wanted so much to speak to this man who had learned directly from Earl. And he lived in Toronto, Canada. Bob Proctor, who was featured in the hit film , “The Secret”.

Bob Proctor: The Secret - Paradigm Shift

So I signed up for Bob’s masterclass to speak with him. I had a 35-minute phone call with him. We connected immediately. He asked if I had ever been in Toronto, and I said yes, I had a company based there and a daughter who was going to school there. He said that he would love to host me for lunch when I was in town. I was so honoured. Then he said, “Actually, why don’t you come to my house and have lunch here?” I was floored and honoured. I booked a flight to Toronto the following month on my way to Ireland. Then one day before our meeting, his wife said Bob was not well and if we could postpone. I thought I would see him in January or February.

When Bob was young, he was stuck in life, broke, lost and in debt. He dropped out of school. He had no plan, confidence or self-belief. But he met a mentor who gave him a copy of a book that would change his life.

The book was Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. He read and studied, memorized and implemented the 13 principles of success for the next 60 years, leading him to success beyond his dreams. I shared the first six principles in last week’s newsletter.

Bob told me that once a year, he reads the chapter on Persistence every day for a month—30 days straight—to remind himself of this one principle. He did this for 30 years. Imagine, 30 days * 30 years = 900 times he had read this chapter on Persistence. And he continued this practice for all 13 principles. Imagine how well he knew this book. I had the same thought for both this book and As a Man Thinketh, and many chapters of the Bible, and for some of my favourite poetry.

Earl taught Bob one valuable lesson that he tried to impress upon everyone. Earl often had one page of a book in his bookstand. This seemed so strange to Bob. He asked Earl why he did this. Earl explained that most people read but don’t understand, and even if they do, the insight isn't thought through deeply.

Most importantly, most people don’t really think. Only a few percent of people really deeply think. Bob started to do this with the book Think and Grow Rich. Bob wanted to be the world expert on the book. And I believe he was. When people ask me what my favourite books are, I now think very differently about how to answer this question. There are only a few books I want to be an ‘expert’ on, like Bob was on his Top 5 books.

Find the one thing that captures your heart and get a bookstand that holds that one page, and read it every day until you know it inside out. I have book stands all over my house and printed copies of the pages I want to know, memorize, understand, and apply to my life.

Bob explained how each of us gets programmed with a paradigm, a belief system that is embedded into our subconscious when we are young. It runs on autopilot, it’s habitual, and we need to reprogram consciously. This was a big breakthrough for me to understand how our minds work. I had tried to do this myself as I often thought deeply about my thinking over the decades. Sometimes, just one single thought or belief would change the trajectory of my life. It was like a judo move that turned a weakness or problem into a huge life purpose or mission.

Like my disease at age 14 and my current serious diseases, I view them as God-given missions to help me discover my purpose. I am reversing and healing not only my own diseases, but now others. Before my diseases, I didn’t know how to reverse and heal clogged arteries, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, obesity, and even cancer, which I am slowly discovering the insights and secrets to prevent and attack this malady of maladies.

What is a paradigm?

“A paradigm is a mental program that controls your behavior — and almost everything you do.”

These paradigms program your:

• Self-image

• Identity

• Confidence

• Financial decisions

• Health behaviours

• Work ethics

• Relationships

• Resilience

• Grit

• Emotions

You are limited by the height of your paradigms. Most people have self-limiting paradigms and beliefs,

When I ask people to set a goal of doing one pull-up and explain why this is a great endeavour that 99% of the world cannot do. First, it puts you in the top 1%. Second, it activates all your upper body muscles. It also aligns your spine as you do both pull-ups (palms facing inwards) and chin-ups (palms facing outwards). I grew ½ inch because I do 13-20 pullups daily.

On my call with Bob, he asked me to write out the last chapter of one of his Top 5 books, “As a Man Thinketh.” This chapter is the 7th and final chapter of the book, titled ‘Serenity’. It is the most beautiful chapter. He asked me to write it out 90 days in a row. Wow. I thought that was crazy. He said it would change my life. I challenge each of you to do it. To set aside 30 minutes each day and write it each day by hand in a notebook. Fill the notebook. He said to let him know how it changed my life.

Feb 1, on my father’s 88th birthday, was day 90. I had written it out each day. By day 45, I had memorised most of it just by writing it out. Then I recited it whenever I felt stressed. I had major anger issues. It calmed me greatly. I decided to do it for 10 more days to reach 100 days, then contact Bob.

On Feb 3, I received an email that Bob had passed away. I was shocked. I hadn’t met him yet in person. I had been looking forward to the opportunity to help him with his health, to be mentored by him, and to become great friends. He had been so able. I assumed it was cancer. Then I realised that, when he was not well enough to meet in November, I should have gone to meet him. Perhaps I could have helped extend his life or relieve any suffering he might have had.

Later, my good friends, the Kims, told me they had known Bob for decades, as he visited their glass shop. Wow, I had always believed that there must be someone in my network who could introduce me to anyone I wanted to meet. Had I known ...

Dear Bob, may God bless you for your heart, your thoughts and your mentorship.

Bob’s three laws:

1. “You don’t get what you want. You get what you ARE.” Your identity of who you believe you are precedes the actual results. Results lag behind your paradigm and beliefs.

2. “Thoughts become things.” Thoughts → feelings → actions → habits → destiny.

3. “If you can hold it in your head, you can hold it in your hand.” Your subconscious mind translates your paradigms, your mental images into real-world outcomes.

You must change your inner program (paradigms) before your outer world changes.

You must change your identity before you can change your biology and your life.

His teachings are eternal as they are based on timeless principles.

Change your paradigms and change your life.

Go read, memorise the 13 principles of Think and Grow Rich, and write out Serenity for 90 days.

And let me know how these two change your life in 90 days. I, like Bob, guarantee it will, but as Earl knew, very few people will read this and understand this request and do it.

Think and grow _____. Replace the word ‘rich’ with anything you desire.  

• Think and grow healthy. 

• Think and grow wealthy. 

• Think and grow love. 

• Think and grow success. 

• Think and grow your musical talent. 

• Think and grow your physique.

• Think and grow in Wisdom.

• Think and grow in God.

I wish to write about two others who made me think and grow deeply but my plane is landing. I am now in San Francisco. I am thinking deeply about raising money for my AI business. I have a goal. We have a goal and timeline and a plan. I fully believe we will not only raise a lot but also continue to build a very valuable business with amazing AI products in the most amazing way.

Bob’s Top 5 Books

1. Think and Grow Rich — Napoleon Hill

• Your thoughts, desires, beliefs, and persistence have the power to create any result you want in life.

2. Psycho-Cybernetics — Dr. Maxwell Maltz

• Your self-image is the internal blueprint that determines every action, behaviour, and outcome in your life — change the image, and you change the result.

3. The Science of Getting Rich — Wallace D. Wattles

• Wealth and success come from thinking and acting in a certain way — aligned with gratitude, creation, and unwavering belief.

4. As a Man Thinketh — James Allen

• Your mind is the master of your character and circumstances — you literally become what you continually think.

5. You Were Born Rich — Bob Proctor

• You already possess infinite potential within you — unlocking it requires changing your paradigms and aligning your mind with abundance.

Reflection

Your thoughts are in a continual state of flux. Bob called this your vibration, or the frequency of your thought. You attract others and things at the frequency you are at. Are you at a high frequency or a low frequency? Your thoughts are the frequency that others can immediately tune into if they are at the same frequency. Like attracts like.

What are my subconscious thoughts, the program programmed into my soul and mind since I was young, before I was fully aware and conscious?

What are my paradigms of thought with regard to me, others, health, wealth, and other areas of my life?

This is a lifelong exploration. Not in faraway lands or travels, but into the depths of your own soul, your mind, your past, your dormant spirit, which sleeps heavily, unable to open its eyes and ears to truly see and hear as God intended.

I am grateful to God for inspiring me to think beyond time, way beyond the limits I have, materially and physically, to dream, think, and be great in thoughts, plans, and actions.

I am grateful to my wife, kids, parents, family and friends for supporting and believing in me, fueling my own desire to be great for them and for others.

I am so grateful to Rob Thompson, who gave me extra days, even though he perished earlier this year, to discover the Strangest Secret to Health. I am not only rapidly reversing my own diseases, but also rapidly reversing the diseases my close friends. I have prayed for this wisdom. Thank you, Lord.

I am grateful to all the people who have taught us to dream, to believe and to hope that there is a greater life ahead of us and beyond this lifetime.

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