In 1989 a Buddhist spiritual text called "How to live without Fear and Worry" stated:
“The thought manifests as the word,
The word manifests as the deed,
The deed develops into a habit,
And the habit hardens into character.”
The words in this text actually echo what Buddha said more than 2500 years ago, “We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts we make the world.”
In more modern times this sentiment was expressed in relation to sowing and reaping. In 1950 in the Sunday News and Tribune of Jefferson City Missouri it was expressed as:
“Sow a thought, reap a word;
Sow a word, reap a deed;
Sow a deed, reap a habit;
Sow a habit, reap a character;
Sow a character, reap a destiny.”
My favorite version of this idea comes from an American entrepreneur, Frank Outlaw, late president of the Bi-Lo Stores. His version goes like this;
“Watch your thoughts, they become your words;
Watch your words, they become actions;
Watch your actions, they become habits;
Watch your habits, they become character;
Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.”
I've been in the marketing business most of my life and I have heard different versions of what Earl Nightingale said but I never really understood it until last year when I watched a movie called “The Secret.” After I watched this film I reflected on the ideas that where expressed about the law of attraction. I began to understand just how powerful our thoughts are; just how much what we think about affects our lives in every way. I began to see examples of this idea in scripture, I began to see how people like Joyce Meyers and Joel Osteen are able to tap into this concept with their motivational sermons. There are so many things today that consume our thoughts.I know that in my own life I have found that when I changed what I thought about most; when I began to concentrate on what I wanted to achieve or have, instead of concentrating on my failures or what I lack; only then things began to change. Believe me, when you are unemployed there are lots of things you lack in your life that you can dwell on but I decided throughout the entire ordeal I would concentrate my thoughts on what I wanted to accomplish in life; to concentrate on all the things that I wanted to become and to have.
And you know what?
I felt better every day. I had purpose. I felt as though I could have or become anything and with that new mindset I saw opportunities before me that I would have never seen otherwise. I met people that would make a difference in my life, people like Dr Wallach and Brandy Brogdon, I would have never met them had I not been concentrating on future success instead of present or past failure.
Over these past couple years, because of my unemployment, I began working more on my personal development. I began reading books written by some of the most influential and successful people of our time as well as throughout history. Book after book, Video after video, Speaker after speaker, Andrew Carnegie, Dale Carnegie, Zig Ziglar, Jim Rohn, Henry Ford, Walt Disney, Vince Lombardi, they all seemed to express one common theme. The same thing that Earl Nightingale said, “You become what you think about most of the time.”
This idea has really consumed me these past couple years. “You become what you think about most of the time” begs to answer the question, what do I think about most?
Jim Rohn said, “When you know what you want, and want it bad enough, you will find a way to get it.”
What do I want?
A job? More money? Things? Time freedom?
What do I really want?
Zig Ziglar said, “The chief cause of failure and unhappiness is trading what you want most for what you want right now.” And “Outstanding people have one thing in common: an absolute sense of mission.”
So what do I really want?
According to Napoleon Hill, “The starting point of all achievement is desire. Keep this constantly in mind. Weak desires bring weak results, just as a small amount of fire makes a small amount of heat.”
He also said that “Riches do not respond to wishes. They respond only to definite plans, backed by definite desires, through constant persistence.”
So what do I want? Where do I start?
Jim Rohm said “If you go to work on your goals, your goals will go to work on you. If you go to work on your plan, your plan will go to work on you. Whatever good things we build end up building us?"
So that’s where I started. I looked at where I’ve been and where I would like to go in the future.
Albert Einstein once said “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results” so I asked myself the question, if I keep on doing what I’ve been doing will I get there?
Well of course the answer was no, so for the first time in my life I mapped out both short term and long term goals and I began exploring ways to achieve them. I began thinking outside the box. I began to activate the law of attraction and to follow what Earl Nightingale said, “You become what you think about most of the time” and that is when I began to meet people like Dr Wallach, Dr Corey Gold, Tom Chenault, Dave and Barb Pitcock. That’s when I took a deeper look into the home based business industry that they were all involved in and I began to see just what the possibilities truly where. Every one of these people that I met followed the idea that Napoleon Hill stated so well, “Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve.”
So a year ago I took a leap of faith and teamed up with all of these fine people because as I saw it, as Napoleon Hill also said “The person who takes no chances generally has to take whatever is left when others are through” and I was tired of the crumbs that where left over. I was sick and tired of working long hours making others rich while I clung on to the hope that I would be able to keep my health. Why? So I can work for them until I died or until they decided I was no longer of use for them?
\Well it has been a year now since I began following these folks and became a part of their team and I have created a steady stream of income; a residual income; an income that continues to come in despite the fact that I have taken some time away from the business these last few weeks to do some personal development training and planning for next year. A stream of income that will continue to grow until I replace what I used to make working 70 hours a week for someone else.
To have that freedom is what consumes my thoughts most now. Freedom to spend time with my family and not worry about my income. Freedom to not be owned by a corporate job. Freedom to become all that I can become while helping others.
As Walt Disney said, “If you can dream it, you can do it” and I have now proven to myself that I truly can do it.
What do you think about most?
Do you think about the things you don’t have?
Your lack of financial means to do the things you want, to have the things you desire?
Are you consumed with thoughts about your debt?
Maybe you think about and worry about your health, how you can’t seem to lose those pounds you want to shed. Maybe its your high blood pressure or diabetes.
Or maybe you think most about your lack of time; time to spend with your spouse or children. That field trip you missed and the weekend scouting or sporting events you weren't able to attend.
Are your thoughts consumed by your job, whether or not you will get that promotion, or constantly worried about whether or not you will keep your job or even be able to find another job?
What do you really want?
I think for most of us, certainly for me, what it came right down to is Freedom! I wanted freedom and my guess is so do you.
You want options.
You want to be of value, to make an impact.
What would that feel like?
What would it feel like to be free?
What would it feel like not to have an alarm clock?
What would it feel like to take your son or daughter to the dentist without asking your boss’s permission? To go to that school play or Christmas pageant?
What would it feel like?
There is an even bigger question though, WHO do you want to be?
What really changed for me is when I asked myself that question. I no longer wanted to be a statistic, working 70 hours per week; trading my time for money. I no longer wanted to be someone that questioned my worth. I no longer wanted to be someone that moped around and just wasn't present. I no longer wanted to be that.
So who did I want to be?
I wanted to be someone that made an impact. Not just in the area of their health but also in the life. I wanted to be someone that touched, moved and inspired people. Who did I want to be, not just my why, because I have had the same why most of my life and I thought while I was working those 70 hour weeks, I thought I was working toward my why?
It was focusing on who I wanted to be that really drove me and gave me the vision to keep going. Dr Michael Beckwith says “Pain pushes you until vision pulls you” so as the new year approaches I ask you, what vision is pulling you after all “You become what you think about most?”
I hope you enjoyed this blog post, if you did please click on the link on this page to subscribe. If you found this video through Youtube then please visit my blog site at AIMHighWithKeith.com and subscribe.
I would love to talk with you about what you REALLY want out of life. I would love to show you how you can make it a reality so you can become what you think about most.
Call my information line at 866-257-3105 or visit aimhighenergy.com
