Change your thinking change your life chapter 9 Unleash your brain power
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Unleash Your Mental Powers
The potential of the average person is like a huge ocean unsailed, a new continent unexplored, a world of possibilities waiting to be released and channeled toward some great good.
—Brian Tracy
Every change in your life will come about as the result of your mind colliding with a new idea. Ideas are the keys to the future. Ideas con- tain the answers to all of your problems and the ways to achieve all of your goals.Your need is to become an idea generator, so that you are continually coming up with new and better ideas to deal with the continuous changes and opportunities taking place around you.
Fortunately, you are naturally creative. It is an innate quality. You are born with it. But creativity is subject to the Law of Use, which says, “If you don’t use it, you lose it,” at least temporarily. The good news is that you can reignite your creativity by practicing the specific methods and techniques discussed in this book.
■ PROJECT AND THINK FORWARD
BACKWARD
Changing your thinking requires that you expand your ideas and imagination about the person you could be, the things you could
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do, and the things that you could have. Every person who accom- plishes anything worthwhile in life begins with a big dream or a vi- sion of what is possible for him or her.They rise above their current surroundings, their existing limitations and problems, and instead they imagine themselves sometime in the future living the kind of life they would like to live.You need to practice this way of thinking as well.
Earlier, we talked about your ideal future vision.You create this by projecting forward five years and imagining that all of your dreams have come true. What would your life look like if it were ideal in every way? Where would you be? Who would be there with you? What would you be doing? How much would you be earning? And so on.
You then return to the present day and your current situation. You think of specific steps you could take to capitalize on your op- portunities and to overcome your limitations and obstacles. This is the primary use of creative thinking. It is to solve your problems and trigger mental breakthroughs that you can use to move faster toward achieving the goals that are most important to you.
■ THREE MINDS IN ONE
You think and operate your life with three different minds.The first is your conscious mind.You use your conscious mind to take in new information, compare it with your current knowledge, analyze it in terms of its value or relevance to you, and then decide to act or not to act.This is the mind with which you direct your life.This is often referred to as the objective mind.
The second mind you use is your subconscious. Your subcon- scious mind is a huge data bank that records every thought, idea, emotion, or experience that you ever have throughout your life.This is called the subjective mind. Its role is to keep all of your words and actions consistent with your self-concept and with your current atti- tudes, beliefs, fears, and prejudices. Your subconscious mind does not reason; it only obeys your commands.
Your subconscious mind is also responsible for the operation of all of your bodily functions. It controls your autonomic nervous sys- tem and your heart rate, breathing, digestion, basic memory, and so
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on. It is like a huge computer, so powerful and precise that it can process a hundred million commands per second. It maintains a precise balance of hundreds of chemicals in each one of your bil- lions of cells, 24 hours a day.
Your third mind is your superconscious mind. This mind is your direct connection with infinite intelligence. It contains all knowl- edge, and can bring you all the ideas and answers you will ever need to achieve any goal that you can set for yourself. This mind is the source of all inspiration, imagination, intuition, and hunches. It op- erates 24 hours a day, and will bring you exactly the right answer to your problem or question, exactly when you are ready for it. It is stimulated by clear goals, vivid mental pictures, and clear, positive commands in the form of affirmations.
When you use all three minds in harmony, with each mind per- forming the functions for which it was designed, you will accom- plish more of your goals, faster than you have ever imagined. The proper utilization of your three minds is central to your changing your thinking and changing your life.
■ THREE TRIGGERS TO CREATIVITY
There are three main factors that trigger creativity.You can use each of them regularly, in everything you do. They are: first, intensely de- sired goals; second, pressing problems; and third, focused questions. When you use them all, you begin to generate ideas at a rate that will amaze you.
By using these three methods of mental stimulation—goals, problems and questions—you activate all three of your minds si- multaneously and you begin to function at much higher levels than the average person.
■ INTENSELY DESIRED GOALS
The first factor is a clearly defined, intensely desired goal. You must know exactly what you want, set a deadline, make it measurable, and develop a plan for its achievement that you work on every day.There is a direct relationship between how clear you are about your desired goal and how many ideas you will come up with to achieve it.
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One of the most powerful ways to harmonize the activities of your three minds, and to activate your creative powers, is for you to rewrite your goals in the present tense each morning.
Get a spiral notebook. Each morning, after your daily reading, take a few minutes and rewrite your major goals in the present tense, exactly as if they already existed. Take a few seconds after rewriting each goal to visualize it as though it were already accom- plished. See each goal in your mind as if it already existed. Then, smile, relax, and let go.
This method of rewriting your goals each morning, visualizing them as if they had already been achieved, and them letting them go with complete confidence is a vital part of creating the mental equivalent of the things you want.
By using this method, you will help your goals to materialize ex- actly when you are ready for them. By writing and rewriting your goals, you burn them deeper and deeper into your subconscious mind. At a certain point, you activate your superconscious mind. At that point, you begin attracting into your life people and circum- stances that can help you to achieve them.
■ GET THE FEELING
Emotion is the key. The more intensely you desire a goal, the more rapidly it materializes. Combining your idea of your goal with the intense emotion of desire or excitement is like stepping on the ac- celerator of your mental potential.Your mind will speed up and gen- erate ideas for goal accomplishment. The more positive, excited, and enthusiastic you are about achieving anything, the more rapidly your mind goes to work to bring it into your life.
Think about how you would feel if you had achieved your goal. Would you feel proud, happy, relieved, joyous, or exhilarated? What- ever the emotion would be, you should confidently and happily imagine yourself enjoying the exact feeling that you would have if your goal were already a part of your life.
If you want to earn more money and achieve a higher standard of living, imagine that you are already there, living the life you de- sire. Imagine how you would feel. Close your eyes and get the feeling of happiness, joy, and inner satisfaction.
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When you can combine a clear mental picture of your goal with the same emotion that you would have if it were achieved, you activate your higher powers of mind.You trigger your creativ- ity.You get insights and ideas that will help you to achieve your goal far faster.
■ PROBLEMS AS OPPORTUNITIES
The second factor that triggers your creativity and activates your positive mind is pressing problems. It is only when you are experienc- ing the pressure of problems and obstacles that you are motivated to perform at your mental best. Facing and solving the inevitable problems and difficulties of life make you stronger and smarter, and bring out the very best in you.
Most people do not understand the nature of problems. Prob- lems are a normal and necessary part of life.They are inevitable and unavoidable. Problems come in spite of your best efforts to avoid them. Problems, therefore, come unbidden.
The only part of a problem over which you have any control is your response to your problems. Effective people respond positively and constructively to problems. In this way, they demonstrate that they have developed high levels of “response-ability.”They have de- veloped the ability to respond effectively when unexpected or unde- sired difficulties occur.
Problems of all kinds bring out your very best qualities. They make you strong and resourceful. The more pressing your prob- lems, and the more emotion you invest in solving those problems, the more creative you will become. Each time you solve a problem constructively, you become smarter and more effective. As a result, you prepare yourself for even bigger and more important problems to solve.
■ THINK ON PAPER
One way to improve your ability to solve problems, and to trigger your creativity, is for you to think on paper.Take a few moments to ask, “What exactly is the problem?” Then write the answer down in such a form that it describes the problem exactly.
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You can then ask, “What else is the problem?”You should beware of any problem for which there is only one definition. The worst thing you can do is to solve the wrong problem.The more different ways that you can state a problem, the more amenable it becomes to a solution.
Whatever difficulties, obstacles, challenges, or factors that are hindering you or holding you back in any way, define them clearly in writing. As they say in medicine, “Accurate diagnosis is half the cure.”
Sometimes, when you begin to define a problem, you will find that it is actually a “cluster problem.” That is, it is a single large problem surrounded by several smaller problems. Most problems you deal with will be composed of several smaller problems. Often in a difficult situation, there is one large problem that must be solved before any of the smaller problems can be solved.
The best approach to this type of situation is for you to deter- mine the main problem and then define the individual parts of the problem separately.You identify the core problem that must first be solved and then deal with the smaller problems in order. Some- times solving one part of the problem leads to the resolution of the entire situation.
■ GOALS ARE JUST PROBLEMS
A goal that you have not yet achieved is merely a problem that you have not yet solved.This is why success has been defined as the abil- ity to solve problems. If you are not earning the kind of money that you would like, that is an unsolved problem. If you are not enjoying the levels of health and fitness that you desire, this is just a problem that you must solve. An obstacle that stands between you and your goal is merely a problem waiting for a solution. Any limitation that is holding you back is just another problem waiting for you to solve. In every case, your job is to not let the problem get on top of you, but rather for you to get on top of the problem.
■ YOUR JOB DESCRIPTION
If I asked you what you did for a living, you would tell me the name of your current position or job description. But whatever
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your title, your real job is “problem solver.” This is what you do all day long. It is this ability that makes you valuable.You are a professional problem solver.Your success in your career is deter- mined by how effectively you solve the problems and achieve the goals of your position.
Never complain about your problems at work.You should be grateful for them. If you had no problems at work, you would have no job. When people become unable to solve the problems that arise in their work, they are quickly replaced by people who can. When you become an excellent problem solver, you are quickly promoted to solving even bigger and more impor- tant problems.
From now on, see yourself as a problem solver.The only ques- tion is, how good are you at your job? Your goal is to become ab- solutely excellent at solving any problem that the world can throw at you.
■ ASK FOCUSED QUESTIONS
The third way to activate your creativity is by asking focused ques- tions.Well-worded, focused, provocative, challenging questions acti- vate your mind and stimulate your thinking. The very best consultants often describe themselves as “insultants.” They don’t give answers. They instead force their clients to ask and answer tough questions.
To trigger your own creativity, you have to ask yourself some tough questions as well, and then question your answers.
Remember zero-based thinking? Keep asking yourself, “If I were not now doing this, would I start it over again today knowing what I now know?”You will be amazed at how creative you become when you examine every aspect of your life as though you could choose to start it again, if you wanted to, based on your present knowledge and experience.
Often, the answer to your biggest dilemma is simply to discon- tinue an activity altogether. If it’s not working out, sometimes the smartest thing you can do is to simply abandon a particular course of action. Always ask, “What is the simplest and most direct solution to this problem?”
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■ CLARITY IS EVERYTHING
There are additional questions that you can ask to trigger your cre- ativity—for example, “What am I trying to do?” Be absolutely clear about your answer to this question.
Whenever you experience any frustration or resistance in achieving a goal or getting a result, ask yourself, “How am I trying to do it?” and “Could there be a better way?” Don’t fall in love with your current methods.
What are your assumptions? What are your obvious assumptions and what are your unconscious assumptions? What are you assum- ing to be true that if it were not true, your thinking would change altogether? Alex McKenzie wrote, “Errant assumptions lie at the root of every failure.”
■ THE REAL PROBLEM
I often work with companies that are trying to market a new prod- uct or service and they are having difficulties in the marketplace. When we seek the reasons for their business problems, they usually give me long lists of difficulties with advertising, promotion, people, sales, distribution, delivery, and service. However, the core problem is always that their sales are not high enough.
I then ask them three questions.They are questions that you can ask when considering any potential product or service for any market. The first question is, “Is there a market?” Are there people who can and will buy this product or service in competition with other products and services currently being offered? Many people start businesses without realizing how hard it is to attract a customer away from another supplier if the customer is currently happy with the other vendor.
If the company’s answer is, “Yes, there is definitely a market for what we sell.There are people who want it and are willing to buy it from us,” my next question is then, “Is the market large enough?” Many a product or service is good, valuable, and worthwhile, but there is not a large enough market to justify investing all the time and energy necessary to bring it to the market.There are better and more profitable uses for the money.
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■ WHY COMPANIES FAIL
Many people go broke, especially in entrepreneurial ventures, be- cause the market is simply not large enough for them to sell enough to justify the trouble and expense of producing the product or ser- vice in the first place. Every investment must be compared with other possible investments that are available at the same time.There may be better places to put your time and money.
This principle applies to you personally, as well.Your job is to in- vest yourself so that you are getting the highest “return on energy.” There are a thousand different ways that you can spend your time and your life.You yourself are your most valuable resource, and you must always invest this resource where you can get the highest return. The third question I ask my clients is, “If there is a market, and the market is large enough, is the market concentrated enough so that you can advertise and sell to it in a cost-effective way?”
This final question is what often sinks a new product idea.Yes, there is a market, and yes, the market is large enough, but the mar- ket is spread over such a wide geographical area that it is virtually impossible to sell to it effectively.
■ CONSIDER THE CONSTRAINTS
A good way to trigger creative solutions to your problems is to apply the “theory of constraints.”This theory says that, in every process or series of activities, there is a limiting factor. There are constraints or bottlenecks that determine the speed at which you get from where you are to where you want to go.The very act of identifying the crit- ical constraints in your environment often triggers ideas and in- sights that help you to alleviate them.
For example, let us say that your goal is to double your income over the next three to five years. You begin identifying the con- straints on achieving this goal by asking, “Why isn’t my income twice as high already?”
Be honest. Ask yourself the brutal questions: Why aren’t you al- ready earning twice as much as you are earning today? What is holding you back? Of all the things that are holding you back, what is the ma- jor limiting factor that will determine how fast you achieve your goal?
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■ APPLY THE 80/20 RULE
The 80/20 Rule seems to apply to constraints, but in a special way. In this context, this rule says that 80 percent of the constraints that are holding you back from achieving your goal are inside yourself. They are contained within you, rather than in your environment.
Only 20 percent of the factors that are holding you back are in the outside world.This discovery is a shock to most people.The vast majority of people think that their major problems are created or caused by situations and people around them. But this is usually untrue. Most of the reasons why you are not moving ahead have to do with your own lack of skills, ability, or good personal qualities.
■ DOUBLE YOUR INCOME
Let us say that you are in sales.You want to double your income in the next three to five years, if not sooner.The first critical constraint you will identify is the amount of your product or service that you have to sell. If you could resolve this problem, you would achieve your goal.
Once you have identified this main constraint, you then ask, “What is the constraint behind that?”Your next constraint could be the number of prospects that you have to find. If you could speak to enough prospects, you could probably double your sales and double your income.
You then look behind that constraint and ask what is the con- straint that is causing this limitation. This actual constraint may be your ability to prospect, something that is inside of you rather than in the marketplace.
■ LOOK AROUND YOU
One good way for you to determine whether the constraint is inter- nal or external is to look around you and see if anyone else is ac- complishing the same goals that you want to accomplish. Is anyone else already earning twice as much as you are earning selling the same product or service in the same market? If someone is already doing it, then the constraint is internal, not external. It is something
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inside you. It is the lack of a particular ability or attribute that you need to overcome.
It has been said, “When a man’s fight begins with himself, he is really worth something.” The superior person always asks the ques- tion, “What is it in me that is holding me back?” Superior people al- ways look to themselves first. It may very well be that there is something in your outside world that is acting as the brake on your potential, but the place to start looking is inside. The odds are you’ll find it there.
■ PULL THE TRIGGERS
When you pull these triggers regularly, you will be stimulating your creative ability and switching on your mental lights, like turning up the lights in a dark room with a dimmer switch.
When you set clear goals that you have a burning desire to achieve, you activate your creative mind. When you combine your goals with pressing problems, clearly defined, you generate more ideas. When you continually ask focused questions that provoke your thinking, you see more and better possibilities in every situation. And when you identify your key constraint to achieving any goal or solving any problem, you begin to perform like a genius.You put yourself onto the high road of success and great achievement.
■ USE ALL YOUR INTELLIGENCE
You have at least 10 different forms of intelligence, according to the research of Howard Garner at Harvard and the work of Charles Handy in England. Throughout your schooling, you were tested only on the basis of your verbal and mathematical intelligences. But research in the past few years indicates that you have a variety of in- telligences, in any one of which you could be a genius; in combina- tion, they enable you to accomplish extraordinary things.Your first job is to identify your predominant intelligence or intelligences; you then apply yourself using more of that intelligence in whatever it is you are trying to achieve.
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■ VERBAL INTELLIGENCE
Your first intelligence is verbal. This is your ability to speak, your command of language. The ability to understand and to use lan- guage well is closely associated with success in any field that in- volves communication with others. In every society, there is a direct relationship between your level of fluency in your language and your income.You can actually increase your prospects and your rate of promotion just by learning and using more words.
Each word is actually a tool for the expression of thought. The more words you know and understand, the more complex thoughts and ideas you can form. The better your vocabulary, the more re- spected and listened to by others you will be. This is why language skills are considered a key measure of intelligence.
■ MATHEMATICAL INTELLIGENCE
The second intelligence used to measure IQ is mathematical. This is your ability to use numbers skillfully, to add, subtract, divide, and multiply. In business, this is your ability to read financial statements and develop financial projections.The more knowledgeable you are about prices, costs, expenses, and financial ratios, the better deci- sions you can make, and the more valuable you become.
Many people feel that they have no ability for numbers. They therefore avoid any area or activity where financial fluency is necessary for success. This can be fatal if one of your goals is to achieve financial independence. Fortunately, you can learn to un- derstand the critical numbers in your business with a little study and application. As a result, you will be far more competent and ca- pable of making good decisions for the rest of your business life.
■ PHYSICAL INTELLIGENCE
Your third area of potential genius is physical intelligence. This is the kind of intelligence enjoyed by top athletes who have extraor- dinary abilities of timing and coordination in the movement and use of their bodies. A person could fail in school on verbal and mathematical tests and still be an extraordinary success athleti- cally, even though it would never show up on a report card.
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Many people sell themselves short by believing that they are not particularly capable at sports or certain physical activities.The good news is that with proper instruction and practice you can perform quite well in a variety of sports, such as swimming, skating, or ski- ing. It is really only a question of desire on your part.You have far more physical ability than you have ever used before.
■ MUSICAL INTELLIGENCE
Your fourth form of intelligence can be musical. A Mozart or a Beethoven could have been poor at sports and poor in school and yet capable of composing some of the most beautiful classical music of all time. Many of the top musicians and popular singers today did poorly in school but turned out to have an exceptional ability to create and express music.They were able to perform at outstanding levels musically.
■ VISUAL-SPATIAL INTELLIGENCE
Your fifth area of mental potential is visual-spatial intelligence. This is the ability to see and create shapes, forms, and patterns. An archi- tect, an engineer, a painter, or a person who has developed the ca- pacity to visualize very clearly would have this intelligence.
An architect, for example, might be able to develop, first in his or her mind and then on paper, beautiful buildings that then people with mathematical intelligence would be able to convert into blue- prints and exact dimensions for construction.
This is also the intelligence you use for visualizing and see- ing your goals in your mind’s eye before they emerge in your reality. This is an intelligence and an ability that you can develop with practice.
■ INTERPERSONAL INTELLIGENCE
Your sixth form of intelligence is interpersonal. This is the highest- paid form of intelligence in the United States. It is the ability to communicate, negotiate, influence, and persuade other people. It is characterized by a high degree of sensitivity to the thoughts, feel-
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ings, motivations, and desires of others. A person with high inter- personal intelligence has the ability to interact with people effec- tively to get things done.
Successful managers, team leaders, and even military officers usually have interpersonal intelligence developed to a very high de- gree. As a result, people want to work and cooperate with them in the accomplishment of group goals.
The highest-paid salespeople are those who are excellent at per- suading others to purchase their products and services. The most effective businesspeople, consultants, and professionals demon- strate this intelligence constantly. It is the most important single ability of the successful politician.This may be your particular area of genius, as well.
■ INTRAPERSONAL INTELLIGENCE
Your seventh form of intelligence is intrapersonal. This is the ability to be aware of yourself—who you are and who you are not. With this intelligence, you know exactly what you want and what you don’t want. You are capable of setting goals for yourself and making plans for their accomplishment. People with high levels of intrapersonal intelligence are good at introspection.They reflect on how they are thinking and feeling. As a result of understanding themselves better, they are more effective in dealing with others.
The greater your level of self-awareness, gained through thought and introspection, the greater your level of self-understanding. The better you understand yourself and why you think and feel the way you do, the greater will be your level of self-acceptance.The more you accept yourself as a valuable and worthwhile person, the more you like and respect yourself. And the more you like yourself, the more you like others and the more they like you. Intrapersonal intelligence is very important to a happy and successful life, and you can develop it with practice.
■ ENTREPRENEURIAL INTELLIGENCE
Your eighth form of intelligence is entrepreneurial. This is the ability to see market opportunities and then to bring the various resources
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together to produce products and services that can be sold at a profit. Entrepreneurial intelligence is one of the highest-paid forms of intelligence in our society today, and is the foundation of all suc- cessful, fast-growing businesses.
Most self-made millionaires and many self-made billionaires started with nothing and made their money by applying their entre- preneurial intelligence to market opportunities that appeared before them. Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard to start Microsoft with an idea to develop software for the emerging market in personal com- puters. Michael Dell began assembling personal computers in his dorm room at college.They had high levels of entrepreneurial intel- ligence.You probably do as well.
■ INTUITIVE INTELLIGENCE
Your ninth form of intelligence is intuitive. This is the ability to sense the rightness or wrongness of a situation, to judge people quickly and accurately, and to come up with ideas and insights sep- arately from your logic or training.
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