An American scientist once visited the offices of the great Nobel-prize-winning physicist, Niels Bohr, in Copenhagen.
He was amazed to find that over Bohr’s desk was a horseshoe, securely nailed to the wall, with the open end up in the approved manner (so it would catch the good luck and not let it spill out).
The American said with a nervous laugh, “Surely you don’t believe the horseshoe will bring you good luck, do you, Professor Bohr? After all, as a scientist …”
Bohr chuckled, “I believe no such thing, my good friend. Not at all! I am scarcely likely to believe in such foolish nonsense. However, I am told that a horseshoe will bring you good luck whether you believe in it or not.”
In many ways so it is with any area of your life. When you believe, it works! This is no strange notion even in the medical field, for there you have what is known as the Placebo Effect.
This is when the patient believes so much in the treatment that they improve and even heal in some cases in spite of whether they receive real medicine or even water!
The thing is that once they believe in the process of recovery, their mind locks into the idea and thus the healing process starts!
You always become whatever you believe you are! There is a concept known as the Belief Cycle. There are basically four items in this cycle commencing with Belief, Potential, Action and Results. This is called a belief cycle because it feeds on itself. In short, if you do not really have much belief in what you are doing, that has an effect on the potential within you. That in turn feeds into the kind of action you dispense, which gives you so-so results, which then confirms what you have been believing all along, that this whole idea you are trying doesn’t really work, which then reduces you beliefs which affect your potential and then the whole process spirals downwards to a point of no action anymore!
On the other hand, if you are full of belief and really expect the best; that will feeds into your potential which gives you the ability to take massive action which leads to massive results which then confirm your beliefs, which then causes your potential to increase, which leads to even more action!
This causes an upward spiral and feeding that leads to great success! The Power of Belief is so strong that most sports men and women including Olympics athletes are taught how to realize their full potential through a method known as Neuro-linguistic Programming (NLP).
The concept and idea behind this revolutionary process is to use the power of your mind to completely alter not only the bad results you experience in whichever area of your life (including money), but get the very results you want.
We have learnt that the results we see always start in our minds, so how do we change this. NLP teaches what is termed the Four Point Formula For Success.
1.      Know your outcome.
Specifying precisely what you want is vital. You can use the outcome frame to fine-tune the desired outcome and satisfy the well-formed conditions.
2.      Take action.
Unless you take that first step, and then the following ones, nothing happens to help you towards your outcomes, no matter how clearly they’re defined.
3.      Have sensory awareness.
If you have the awareness to see, hear, and feel what isn’t working, you can modify your behavior to steer you towards your desired outcome.
4.      Have behavioral flexibility.
This point ties in beautifully with the NLP presupposition that ‘In interactions among people, the person with the most flexibility of behavior can control the interaction.’ Or you can say, ‘If it isn’t working, do something different.’
The key to true growth starts with belief. If you believe that you will succeed, then it is more than likely that you will. However, if you do not believe, this too stands very true. Here are some timeless quotes on belief…
“Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve” – Napoleon Hill
“The more man meditates upon good thoughts; the better will be his world and the world at large.”
– Confucius
“A good man out of the good treasure of the heart brings forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things.”
– Jesus Christ
If our thoughts determine our results, then we need to focus on them and alter them. This process is actualized in the mantra “Be–Do–Have”
Be – Your internal state of being must see the result you want. If you cannot see it with your inner eye, then you can never achieve it at all. The process of success hinges here. Change thoughts – change results. Small hinges swing huge doors my friend!
Do – You must start to do all the actions that will lead to that desired result. NLP calls this process as “taking action”. Unless you take action you cannot tell whether what you believe is even possible.
With action comes the much needed feedback that helps you make fine adjustments toward your destination.
Have – Finally it is inevitable that you will achieve what you desire, it MUST happen!
In closing, let me quote another favorite statement…
“Whatever you vividly imagine, ardently desire, sincerely believe and enthusiastically act upon must inevitably come to pass!”
– Paul J Meyer
Put another way, imagination fires up desire, desire kindles up belief and belief spurs one into action which then inevitably leads to results! Perhaps the scariest part of all this is that it is neuter, that means whether it is desire for success or fear of the unknown, the above quote will still stand true!
Change what you believe and you will achieve what you conceive. Next week we will be looking at the Law of Expecation.
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