Chapter 22 - You And Your Subconscious Mind As Partners In Action…In Relation To Success

Almost everybody likes to read "success stories." I suggest that you read the stories of people who have lived eminently successful lives. I have always recommended the reading of biographies to my students. The reason I encourage such reading and the reason the majority of people read "success stories," I have found from experience, are often at considerable variance. I do not condemn those who do not read them objectively, which is my reason, but I do feel that they are passing up an opportunity to get several times the value than- comes from simply reading them romantically.

Success is true romance

Do I sound as though I am being a profound moralist and saying that you shouldn't read just for the sheer pleasure of it? I assure you that that is not my viewpoint. There is romance in success and in stories about success. Success in anyone's life is romance of the highest order, and it should be this way in your life.

Let me amplify my viewpoint because it can change your interpretation of "success stories" to your advantage. I want to encourage you to find the "behind-the-scenes" facts about success stories that will be far more stimulating than any melodramatic or extravagant "happy ending." If you could read a success story about a person, without knowing in advance who the person was, or what the "happy ending" was, you would read much differently and have a more objective viewpoint. If the hero was anonymous until the end, you would see him as a person not unlike yourself, with similar needs and desires and with a similar pattern of problems and opportunities in his life. But more than that, I am sure you would see that success came to him not because he was specially blessed-and set apart by Providence, but because of what he did, based upon a self-influenced life.

Before success

Unfortunately we don't find biographies written that way; as a consequence, the private thought of most people reading a biography are: "Well, of course things happened like this to that person! Just look at who he, or she was!" Nonsense! Of course, "look at who he or she was" after success put them in the spotlight. But more important, look at who they were before they became "hero" or "heroine"; look at them when they were at the bottom of the ladder and while they were working their way up! Look at the lives of successful people during those periods and you will find the real story of success, the story that is important to you.

Success can be made to happen to you

Remember the list of successful people we met in Chapter 3? Things didn't "happen" to those people just because they had those names. You wouldn't know they even existed if it wasn't for what they did to make things happen. Making things happen, with self-influenced control, was what made them successful. This is so of every successful person, and it will be so for you! Therefore your success story is to be based upon making things happen that will result in achievements. You and I can visualize the "happy ending" that will characterize your biography. But most important is what happens between now and then. If your success story is to be written, it must tell of a lot of achievements, many things carried through to a good conclusion and much recognition along the way.

So, what is the definition of a successful person? It is one who takes his or her goals through to a successful conclusion, by making things happen.

Don't compromise with failure

At this point, let's consider a compromise viewpoint of success that is so common among "average" people. What do you think would happen if you were to say to a friend: "Since you are not a success, you must be a failure!" With an insult like that, you wouldn't expect to have him or her for a friend any longer. But suppose you and the other person could stay on an even keel, what do you think his follow-up would be? Perhaps, if you were your friend, you would say: "I know what I would say!" (If your reply is anything like what follows, I want you to figure on a quick change!)

Most would reply: "Oh, I’ll admit I haven't made a big success of things, but I certainly don't think I'm a failure! I could do better, but I get along!" With this attitude, people assign themselves to a never-never land between success and failure. They seem to be able to do enough to keep their heads above water. They "get along" by letting things happen to them. They wouldn't mind holding a winning ticket in what they call the "lottery of life." They seem unwilling to make an investment in success by making things happen. They don't reach the point of wanting to "end it all," but for them too much of the time, life isn't "worth living."

Not who you are, but what you do

Are these people successful in life? Obviously not! But are they failures? No, not in the sense that they were predestined to live compromised lives. No one is a failure until he says he is. But by not saying he is or will be a success, he is assigning himself to that purgatory where success is always for somebody else. All of this points up one dramatically significant fact you can't say about those people: "Of course things happen as they do to them. Just look at who they are!" You can't say that it is true of them any more than it is true of successful people.

You can say that successful people make things happen in relation to their goals, while those who compromise with life just let things happen and their goals remain daydreams. At any time, any person can start writing his own success story, no matter what his past record had been. As for yourself, you are already writing the first chapter in your success story through your experiences with this book of yours. Consider how true this is.

You have taken many practice steps in the use of subconscious self-influence. You have been involved in action that has resulted in desirable outcomes in your life. The self-influenced planning and the self-influenced action in each step resulted in an experience with achievement. In these experiences you have been a success, and my hat is off to you! You have proved this yourself: Established goals, plus "making things happen," equals success!

Success is for today

Success is a lot of achievements, everyday achievements, achievements gained by deliberately making things happen. Success means following through to a good conclusion on every goal you set up. There is no other way to be successful! Success comes from putting your goals into action, step by step. Each time you take a first step toward a goal, it is an achievement! It is an achievement when you take the second step, and the third and every step, until you have reached a goal.

Since you have made this good start, continue with your success story by making things happen in accordance with the way you have budgeted your life. If you need to strengthen your attitude toward this positive action, go back and review Chapters 11 and 13. And always remember this: your subconscious mind is the co-author of your success story. It will make your success story colorful and exciting, if you will condition it to influence you to act so that many achievements every day achievements that come from self-influenced action come your way.

Success? Of course! In the proper abundance that befits a person who has established his or her importance in the scheme of things. That is you, isn't it?

In Sum

A successful person is one who deliberately makes things happen.

He is one who takes action to achieve his goals.
 
Result Getting Projects

Confirm your status in the ranks of those who are successful by giving recognition to your achievements. Recognition, as you know, is a powerful factor in life. This project will give you that conscious recognition that you deserve for your success achievements. But it will do much more. It is intended to impress upon your subconscious the fact that "making things happen" to bring achievement is the way you want things to continue to happen. So, set up a Scoreboard of achievements that have been yours, and keep adding to the Scoreboard, day by day. You can make a good start by considering what you have done with your practice projects in this book. And don't think this idea of an accomplishment chart is "kid stuff." It's "adult stuff" and it really works. Take a look at success in your life and know that you are on the right road! This Scoreboard should be a piece of paper with three columns on it. The first column lists the actions involved in your practice steps (or in any other action where you planned the steps). The second column is headed "Planned" and the third column "Achieved." List everything you can think of that you "planned" and "achieved" and put a check mark after each item in both columns. Now list the goals that you have set before you. Check them off in the "planned" column. As fast as you make an achievement in relation to any goal, or any step toward that goal, mark it in the "achieved" column. What are you accomplishing by checking off items in the third column? First of all, you are proving that you have been successful in the many instances where you made things happen. Second, you are proving that each time you make something happen that you planned, you are successful. And third, you see that ahead of you are more achievements and more success as you continue to make things happen. This is the pattern of life for a successful person, you!

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