Most of the great thinkers of the past have generally agreed with one another that we become what we think about. They agree that our dominant thoughts drive our behaviors and therefore are responsible for the majority of the results we achieve. Whether those thoughts are positive or negative makes absolutely no difference. Our lives tend to manifest in direct accordance to wherever we concentrate our thoughts. A major principle in our life has to be to focus our thoughts upon a worthy goal with as much intensity as possible until we attain that goal or the goal becomes unworthy.
So how do the great philosophers of our past describe the process of becoming what we think about? All though the language used varies from philosopher to philosopher I essentially found that its broken down to 4 basic steps; all though the 4th step is often left out.
Step 1 – You have to know exactly what you want. You have to have a clear picture of the outcome. We start with the end in mind and reverse reengineer the process. Without a clear picture or target we have no aim in life. Confucius said “man shoot at nothing sure to hit it”
Step 2 – You have to know why you want a particular outcome. I believe most people skip over this step and it kills your chances to achieve your goals. Why we want our outcome is the emotional part of the process. It’s the fuel to blow through the obstacles we will surely encounter. Building a big enough why is how we stare fear in the face and win!
Step 3 – You have to have a reasonable idea of how to achieve your desired outcome. This is where you model other people that have already achieved this outcome, list out your available resources, determine the price you will have to pay and build a road map from where you want to be back to where you are.
Step 4 – You have to take action to achieve your outcome. This step is so obvious that I think most philosophers left this step out. James Allen said “As a man thinketh in his heart so is he” and Napoleon Hill taught us all to “Think and Grow Rich”. I believe a lot of people are following the first 3 steps and still sitting on their couch waiting for fortune to fall upon them. This is the lifelong dreamer, who never reaped because he never sowed. Thinking should always precede action, but thinking without action is the single biggest cause of failure in our lives.
If we learn to follow the 4 basic steps above and we follow them in the proper order we can unlock the key to our future and begin to live the life we desire.
Related articles
- Napoleon Hill’s Key Success Factor to Mastery (ipnostudio.com)
Jason Lindstrom 