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Never underestimate your own intelligence, and never overestimate the intelligence of others. Don’t sell yourself
“My attitudes are more important than my intelligence.”
At work and at home practice positive attitudes. See the reasons why you can do it, not the reasons why you can’t.
Develop an “I’m winning”...
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“Am I using my mental ability to make history, or am I using it merely to record history made by others?”
You’ll find that not luck but preparation, planning, and success-producing thinking preceded his good fortune.
Truly, fear is a powerful force. In one way or another fear prevents people from getting what they want from life.
Indecision, postponement, on the other hand, fertilize fear. Jot that down in your success rule book right now. Action cures fear.
Take action promptly. Be decisive.
Here are two ways to put people in proper perspective:
Get a balanced view of the other fellow.
“We’re just two important people sitting down to discuss something of mutual interest and benefit.”
“But G. handled himself differently. He respected me, but what’s just as important, he respects himself.
This mutually important attitude helps you keep the situation balanced. The other fellow does not become too important relative to you in your thinking.
The other fellow might look frightfully big, frightfully important. But remember, he is still a human being with essentially the same interests, desires, and problems as you.
“Underneath he’s probably a very nice guy. Most folks are.”
To think confidently, act confidently.
So, to think confidently, act confidently.
Act the way you want to feel. Below are five confidence-building exercises. Read these guides carefully. Then make a conscious effort to practice them and build your confidence.
Make your eyes work for you. Aim them right at the other person’s eyes. It not only gives you confidence, it wins you confidence,
Action cures fear.
Make a supreme effort to put only positive thoughts in your memory bank. Don’t let negative, self-deprecatory thoughts grow into mental monsters. Simply refuse to recall unpleasant events or situations.
Put people in proper perspective. Remember, people are more alike, much more alike, than they are different. Get a balanced view of the other fellow. He is just another human being. And develop an understanding attitude. Many people will bark, but it’s a rare one who bites.
Make everything about you say, “I’m confident, really confident.” Practice these little techniques in your day-to-day activities:
Be a front seater. Make eye contact. Walk 25 percent faster. Speak up. Smile big.
“What is my greatest weakness?” Probably the greatest human weakness is self-deprecation—that is, selling oneself short. Self-deprecation shows through in countless ways.
We do not think in words and phrases. We think only in pictures and/or images.
The point is this: Big thinkers are specialists in creating positive, forward-looking, optimistic pictures in their own minds and in the minds of others. To think big, we must use words and phrases that produce big, positive mental images.
Build castles, don’t dig graves!
People naturally pay more for acreage and an idea than they do for just acreage. Because of this, more people want to list their farms with me and my commission on each sale is larger.”
The moral is this: Look at things not as they are, but as they can be. Visualization adds value to everything. A big thinker always visualizes what can be done in the future. He isn’t stuck with the present.
How blind can we be? See what can be, not just what is.
call these the “practice adding value” exercises.
“What can I do to make myself more valuable today?” Visualize yourself not as you are but as you can be. Then specific ways for attaining your potential value will suggest themselves. Just try and see.
Practice this. Practice being a big thinker. See the company’s interest as identical with your own.
knowledge of what he’s going to talk about and an intense desire to tell it to other people.
When you feel like taking negative action, ask yourself, “Is it really important?”
It works in any situation in life that is apt to produce quarrels.
Even a speech impairment in a talker’s profession is a triviality if the person has the big qualities. Practice these three procedures to help yourself think about trivialities:
Resolve to keep your eyes on the big ball.
Ask “Is it really important?” Before becoming negatively excited, just ask yourself, “Is it important enough for me to get all worked up about?”
There is no better way to avoid frustration over petty matters than ...
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“Is this really important?”
Don’t fall into the triviality trap. In making speeches, solving problems, counseling employees, think of those things that really matter, things that make the difference. Don’t become submerged under surface issues. Concentrate on important things.
Figures out ways to increase income by selling more merchandise.
Talks about the positive qualities of his friends, his company, the competition.
Figures out ways to increase income and buy more of the necessary items.
Regards security as a natural companion of success.
Surrounds himself with persons with large, progressive ideas.
Ignores errors of little consequence.
