Autosuggestion

Autosuggestion isn’t a word that’s commonly used in our vernacular so I will break it down before we go in depth on it.  Affirmations or autosuggestion as we will call it here is nothing more that intentional self-talk; words you say to yourself about yourself in order to develop a particular characteristic in your character. I know this sounds fanciful but the fact is this, whatever you tell yourself consistently over an extended period of time, you will believe regardless if it’s true or false. This is why autosuggestion or affirmations are important. With them, you can build yourself into who you want to be.

Excerpts

“AUTO-SUGGESTION is the agency of control through which an individual may voluntarily feed his subconscious mind on thoughts of a creative nature, or, by neglect, permit thoughts of a destructive nature to find their way into this rich garden of the mind.”

The subconscious mind is one of the most powerful and effective tools we can utilize when pursuing success. It controls all the habits we perform and by harnessing it, we can make success habits a subconscious behavior. Once success habits become injected into our subconscious, we will begin to work towards our goals without even having to actively work on it.

“Plain, unemotional words do not influence the subconscious mind. You will get no appreciable results until you learn to reach your subconscious mind with thoughts, or spoken words which have been well emotionalized with BELIEF.”

Just saying monotone words with no emotion will not inject a characteristic into your subconscious. You must not only say the words, you must back them with the emotion of belief and faith. As you say whatever words you choose, you must already believe that you have become this person. I know that this is a mildly difficult concept for grasp. The easiest way to say this is you have to believe that you are the person you desire to be even if you are not there yet.

Hill’s Autosuggestion Breakdown

 

“First.

Go into some quiet spot (preferably in bed at night) where you will not be disturbed or interrupted, close your eyes, and repeat aloud, (so you may hear your own words) the written statement of the amount of money you intend to accumulate, the time limit for its accumulation, and a description of the service or merchandise you intend to give in return for the money. As you carry out these instructions, SEE YOURSELF ALREADY IN POSSESSION OF THE MONEY.

For example :— Suppose that you intend to accumulate $50,000 by the first of January, five years hence, that you intend to give personal services in return for the money, in the Capacity of a salesman. Your written statement of your purpose should be similar to the following:

“By the first day of January, 19.., I will have in my possession $50,000, which will come to me in various amounts from time to time during the interim.In return for this money I will give the most efficient service of which I am capable, rendering the fullest possible quantity, and the best possible quality of service in the capacity of salesman of (describe the service or merchandise you intend to sell).I believe that I will have this money in my possession. My faith is so strong that I can now see this money before my eyes. I can touch it with my hands. It is now awaiting transfer to me at the time, and in the proportion that I deliver the service I intend to render in return for it. I am awaiting a plan by which to accumulate this money, and I will follow that plan, when it is received.”

Second.

Repeat this program night and morning until you can see, (in your imagination) the money you intend to accumulate.

Third. Place a written copy of your statement where you can see it night and morning, and read it just before retiring, and upon arising until it has been memorized.”

Now that you’ve read how Hill creates autosuggestion, I will show you how to create your own step by step.

How to write an Autosuggestion

1. Go to a location where you will be able to focus on your autosuggestion without distraction
2. Write out and read aloud your autosuggestion statement. Your statement should include
   1. “I am so happy and grateful” at the beginning. This will put you in a positive mental state regarding your autosuggestion.
   2. The specific amount of money you desire (specificity will help you lock down the characteristics of your goal).
   3. The time limit you set for it accomplishment (work will always expand to the time you give it. By giving yourself a time limit, you subconsciously will push yourself to achieve your goal before time is up).
   4. The service you intend to give to obtain this money (There is no such thing as something for nothing. Money is a reward for service rendered so if we want to receive for money, we have to offer more service.)
3. When reading your statement, make sure to create the picture in your mind of you offering this service successfully and receiving the amount of money you desire for it.
4. Read and visualize your autosuggestion statement every morning and night until it becomes ingrained in your subconscious and you can do it with ease
5. Memorize your statement and post it somewhere you can see it every day

An example autosuggestion is:

“I am so happy and grateful that on Jan 1st, 2020 I am making $24,000 a month and am able to attend the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. In return for this money, I will give the most efficient, fullest possible quantity, and the best possible quality of service through Dollars and Decisions and my personal investing and trading. I believe that I will have this money in my possession. My faith is so strong that I can now see this money before my eyes. I can touch it with my hands. It is now awaiting transfer to me at the time, and in the proportion that I deliver the service, I intend to render in return for it. I am awaiting a plan by which to accumulate this money, and I will follow that plan when it is received.”

I hope this breakdown and example helped you to clear the air when it comes to autosuggestion and affirmations. This action is essential in implanting your goal into your mind and making working towards it habitually. If you have any questions about how to draft your own autosuggestion or any topic we have previously discussed, leave a comment and I will respond to you as soon as possible.

Thanks.

Decide to be great today

Matthew

Faith

Faith was defined by Clarence Smithison as “The ability to see the invisible -to believe in the incredible. That is what enables you to receive what the masses think is impossible” and it is paramount to you achieving your goal. Hill recognizes this and devotes a whole chapter to this.

“…you may CONVINCE the subconscious mind that you believe you will receive that for which you ask, and it will act upon that belief, which your subconscious mind passes back to you in the form of “FAITH,” followed by definite plans for procuring that which you desire….Repetition of affirmation of orders to your subconscious mind is the only known method of voluntary development of the emotion of faith.”

While faith may have initially been presented to you as a characteristic that can’t be actively developed, this is not true. Through repetition of certain ideas and words to yourself in the form of affirmations, you are able to develop your sense of faith in whatever you choose. This is why it is important to choose our words carefully. By repeating ideas, we develop a sense of faith in that thing. If we repeat negative words or think negative thoughts, we build faith in the negative. By replacing negative thoughts with positive ones, we can voluntary build our belief in good faith.

“THOUGHTS WHICH ARE MIXED WITH ANY OF THE FEELINGS OF EMOTIONS, CONSTITUTE A “MAGNETIC” FORCE WHICH ATTRACTS, FROM THE VIBRATIONS OF THE ETHER, OTHER SIMILAR, OR RELATED THOUGHTS.”

This is so profound yet so simple that want to draw your attention to it.

Thought + Emotions = Results

This is the equation for success. Every book, every theory, every teaching you have ever read about success boils down to this.

If you want more information on the thoughts portion of this equation, please check out the first article in this series called Thoughts Are Things. I will be tackling the emotions portion of the equation in this post.

Faith is built upon and affected by your emotions. Emotions are among the strongest trait of us as humans. Think about it, how many times have your emotions empowered or degraded your sense of faith?  You could have either continued to have faith embolden by your emotions even when it was illogical or not in your best interest to do so or you could have discouraged yourself to the point you no longer believed.

Your faith is either solidified in your emotion or killed by them. It is therefore important to take full control of our emotions and train them to behave in the way we desire. This will be addressed in more detail in the post on Auto-Suggestion.

Faith helps us paint the mental picture of who we desire to become and maintain that picture regardless of what’s going on.

“

First,

I know that I have the ability to achieve the object of my Definite Purpose in life, therefore, I DEMAND of myself persistent, continuous action toward its attainment, and I here and now promise to render such action.

Second.

I realize the dominating thoughts of my mind will eventually reproduce themselves in outward, physical action, and gradually transform themselves into physical reality; therefore, I will concentrate my thoughts for thirty minutes daily, upon the task of thinking of the person I intend to become thereby creating in my mind a clear mental picture of that person.

Third

I know through the principle of autosuggestion, any desire that I persistently hold in my mind will eventually seek expression through some practical means of attaining the object back of it, therefore, I will devote ten minutes daily to demanding of myself the development of SELF CONFIDENCE.

Fourth,

I have clearly written down a description of my DEFINITE CHIEF AIM in life, and I will never stop trying, until I shall have developed sufficient self-confidence for its attainment.

Fifth.

I fully realize that no wealth or position can long endure. Unless built upon truth and justice therefore, I will engage in no transaction which does not benefit all whom it affects. I will succeed by attraction to myself the forces I wish to use, and the cooperation of other people. I will induce others to serve me, because of my willingness to serve others. I will eliminate hatred, envy, jealousy, selfishness, and cynicism, but developing love for all humanity; because I know that a negative attitude toward others can never bring me success. I will cause others to believe in me, because I will believe in them and in myself.

I will sign my name to this formula, commit it to memory and repeat it aloud once a day, with full FAITH that It will gradually influence my THOUGHTS and ACTIONS so that I will become a self-reliant, and successful person.

“

The previous quotation is the creme de la creme of the chapter of faith. Hill writes an equation that will help you develop the confidence in yourself and faith in your abilities and the power that works through you.

Self-Confidence Equation Breakdown

1. Affirm faith in your abilities and promise to yourself to not quit
2. Visualise the person you want to become for 30 min a day
3. Perform self-confidence affirmations for 15 min a day
4. Write down the goal you desire to achieve and promise to never stop pursuing it
5. In pursuit of your goal, maintain your integrity.

Hill’s chapter on Faith is a powerful and impactful one. I encourage you all to track this chapter down and read it for yourself. I guarantee you that you will learn something that will help you achieve your goal if you look for it. Also, the self-confidence formula is called a formula because the steps WILL lead to a better sense of confidence in your abilities and an enhanced sense of Faith. Please take the 45-60 min it takes to perform the ritual and watch your Faith and results from both move you towards resonance with your goal.

Thanks for reading

Decide to be great today

Matthew

Desire

Desire, Hill writes, is the first step to riches. There is no joy or satisfaction in reaching a goal if we had no desire to accomplish it initially. 

“I will burn all bridges behind me, and stake my ENTIRE FUTURE on my ability to get what I want.”

How bad do you want it? If you aren’t willing to pursue your goal as hard as you can for as long as it takes, you may want to find a new goal. Now I’m not trying to say that you should be irresponsible and drop everything you’re doing to make your dream a reality (Unless you deem this necessary) but I am saying you have to be prepared to sacrifice lesser things to achieve the greater goal. Find a goal that is worth not watching TV or changing your circle of influence or being uncomfortable for. These are the goals that mean enough to you to pursue.

“

1. Fix in your mind the exact amount of money you desire. It is not sufficient merely to say “I want plenty of money.” Be definite as to the amount.
2. Determine exactly what you intend to give in return for the money you desire. (There is no such reality as “something for nothing.)
3. Establish a definite date when you intend to possess the money you desire.
4. Create a definite plan for carrying out your desire, and begin to at once, whether you are ready or not, to put this plan into action.
5. Write out a clear, concise statement of the amount of money you intend to acquire, name the time limit for its acquisition, state what you intend to give in return for the money, and describe clearly the plan through which you intend to accumulate it. 
6. Read your written statement aloud, twice daily, once just before retiring at night, and once after arising in the morning. AS YOU READ— SEE AND FEEL AND BELIEVE YOURSELF ALREADY IN POSSESSION OF THE MONEY.      

“

There is so much in this these simply six steps so we will be breaking them down for the remainder of this post. 

First, identify the amount of money you want and be as specific as possible. Do this because you want to make your goals definite and not vague. If simply as for more money, finding a penny on the ground technically fulfills your goal. Be specific about what you want from life.

Money is offered as the reward for services rendered, whether this is done in the capacity of a job, as a stock trader, or even an entrepreneur, you can and will never get what you want out of life before giving. Think about this example, you have a box packed with newspaper and your goal is to fill the box with money. You try as hard as you can to pack the money into the box but only a few bills will stay in the box and the rest fall onto the floor. What should you do? By giving up the newspapers you not only prepare the box for the money to be added, you make space for the money by giving up the lesser newspaper. As people who are seeking to achieve goals, we have to not only be prepared to give of ourselves, talents and capabilities, we have to make space for the good we want to occur.

Work expands to fill any space that you give it. A project that normally takes 15 min will take an hour if you left it. This was the story of my life in college. We have to be intentional about our goals and give ourselves deadlines. Deadlines move a dream forward. A goal with no date is simply a wish.

If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. It sounds so cliche but there is gold in these words. How many times have you known you had something to do but can’t remember what? How many times have you thought you’ve been productive only to later be reminded that you forgot something important? These issues can be solved by having a plan. A plan guides you when you don’t know what the next step is and keeps you focused on the task at hand.

Write down a goal is an important step because it transmutes your goal from thought (ethereal plane) to the physical plane. By doing this step you are confirming to yourself that you can turn an idea into a reality even if it is on a smaller scale. If you can do this once, you can do it again.

Affirmations are words that you say to yourself to reaffirm an idea to yourself or to implant an idea into your behavior. By repeating your written statement, you are implanting it into your subconscious. This allows the idea and goal to not only be something that you want but become a part of who you are.

I want you to stop what you’re doing right now and follow all 6 of these steps. If you are serious about reaching your goal, these 6 simple steps will prove invaluable to you in your pursuit of excellence. 

Thanks for reading,

Matthew

Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill is a staple in the personal development space and is an excellent resource for goal setting and staying determined during the up and down that can occur when trading. Hill spent over 20 years and interviewed and studied hundreds of the most successful people in America to see what qualities, characteristics, and habits to see what made a successful person and if we could replicate it. Although we encourage each of you to read this book, we also want to highlight and extract ideas, quotes and concepts that we think could be beneficial to you specifically as a forex trader. We will break down this book chapter by chapter to give you the full picture of how to think and grow rich.

Thoughts Are Things

“TRULY, “thoughts are things,” and powerful things at that, when they are mixed with definiteness of purpose, persistence, and a BURNING DESIRE for their translation into riches, or other material objects.”

Have you ever had an idea? Whether large or small, the only thing that separates the unsuccessful and the highly successful are their ideas and the way they pursue them. Hill says that thoughts aren’t just musing of the mind, but they are literal things that, when we apply purpose, persistence and burning desire, can be converted from an idea we have into a physical realization. 

“An intangible impulse of thought can be transmuted into its physical counterpart by the application of known principles.”

A recipe is a set of instruction used to achieve a particular outcome. We all have followed a food recipe at some time in our lives. We also know that if we perform the recipe for a cake, we will get cake and no macaroni and cheese. We understand that the steps we take will lead to the outcome we desire. Hill says that there is a recipe for the success that we desire and we can accomplish it in the manner we desire if we simply follow his instructions.

“One sound idea is all that one needs to achieve success…Success comes to those who become SUCCESS CONSCIOUS.”

This is the crux of this book. Success isn’t something that happens because you simply “hustle”, “grind” or work long hours with no sleep. If your mind is not primed for success, all your efforts will be performed in vain. Success, like all other things, begins in the mind. We have to attack the mental aspect of achieving a goal first before the physical can be of a significant result.

“One of these is DESIRE: knowing what one wants.”

Who cares if you can achieve whatever you want if you have no idea what you want to achieve. Right now, take out a sheet of paper and write down the goals you want to achieve in your education(learning), in your trading and your investing. Write at least 3 down for each. This exercise will help you discover what you want and determine what is important for you to achieve. This entire book is for naught if you don’t have any goals in mind. Below I have written out some of my goals in the areas of learning, trading and investing.

Learn

• I will have 3 of my heroes to become my mentors (Kanye West, Will Smith, Gerard Adams)
• I will impact the lives of 3,000,000 people for the better
• I will obtain a cleaner’s mentality (Check out Tim Grover’s Relentless)

Invest

• I will invest in my wife to empower her and help her become the best woman, wife, and mother she can be
• I will obtain a “passively” yearly 5% return of $250,000 due to my investments
• I will personally invest in the lives 100 people and teach them how to become their definition of successful

Trade

• I will ride the markets instead of trying to fight them
• I will become a 7-figure forex trader
• I will follow my trading plan every day

I hope you all will enjoy this series breaking down this wonderful book and please let us know if you have any additional quotes you like to talk about or would like further clarification on.

Thanks for reading,

Matthew