“Very truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!” John 8:58
In life, we all tend to search for a silver bullet that will allow us to achieve most, if not all of our goals. Like many of you reading this article, I too have searched for this elusive silver bullet. While conducting my lifelong search, I became intrigued with the writings of Napoleon Hill, who wrote Think and Grow Rich (1937), in which he posits that our thoughts determine our destiny. This theme is evident in one of Hill’s famous quotes, “What the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.”
Even before Hill’s thought-provoking book came another equally influential book by Wallace D. Wattles called The Science of Getting Rich (1910). Wattles’ book is reported to be the main inspiration for Rhonda Byrne’s best-selling book The Secret (2006), in which she discusses the law of attraction, which at its essence is also about controlling one’s thoughts. Focusing our thoughts is essential to our overall well-being. More importantly, ensuring that our positive thoughts are in the present tense versus future tense is the most effective way I have found to achieving one’s goals.
Introduction
Since the dawn of time, a lot has been written about how our thoughts ultimately drive what we achieve. It is said that we need only believe without any doubt that our thoughts will come to fruition, and thus, they will. The difficult part is that we must believe without any doubt. Most times we will not know when nor how our thoughts will come to fruition. It requires a certain amount of faith that most of us just do not have.
It is the kind of faith held by the kid who uses a hairbrush as a mock microphone and pretends that she is a famous singer. She knows (not just believes) that she will surely become a famous singer. In fact, in her young mind, she is already a famous singer and it is only a matter of time before the rest of the world discovers her. It is the elementary school-aged boy who grew up to be an esteemed scientist because he knew that it was his destiny. It is the golfer who focused on achieving and perhaps one day surpassing the accomplishments of his childhood golf idol to become one of the best golfers ever. It is the college-aged young woman who eventually led one of the world’s largest, most successful publicly traded companies because she knew it was her destiny.
What all of these individuals have in common is that they believed that it was only a matter of time before their dreams came true. In fact, they focused on a positive, immutable thought about their future self and this thought became an all-consuming part of what they thought about all day long.
Focus on Positive Thoughts
If one is focused so intently on a positive thought, then there is hardly any time spent on negative, self-doubting thoughts that we all tend to have more often than not. It is not difficult to come up with a positive thought about our future selves; however, it is extremely difficult to not allow negative thoughts to overwhelm us. In my experience, people tend to think about things that can go wrong much more so than things that can go right. For example, if you believe you deserve a pay increase because of the great work that you do, if you are like most people whom I know, you will more than likely be consumed with thoughts of why you are not going to get the pay increase. Thoughts creep in such as, “My manager does not really like me,” or “My co-worker always gets what she wants; therefore, if anyone is to get a pay increase, she will be the one.” Inevitably, you end up not getting the pay increase, and you say to yourself, “I knew I wasn’t going to get it anyway.” Ironically, the thoughts that you focused on intently actually came to fruition. Unfortunately, in this example, the focused thoughts were negative ones rather than positive ones.
A Thought Experiment
Let’s try an experiment. What are you thinking about right now? Write it down. Is it a positive or negative thought? For the next seven days, take a moment to jot down what you are thinking once an hour between 9 AM and 5 PM. Categorize each thought as positive or negative. At the end of the seven-day period, tally up the percentage of positive thoughts you had versus negative ones. You may be surprised how often you are focused on negative thoughts versus positive ones. As Ralph Waldo Emerson stated, “We become what we think about all day long.” I believe this to be as true as the laws of gravity. If we step off the top of a three-story building, we will fall. There is no doubt about this. Likewise, if we are constantly thinking about negative things, negative things will happen to us. So, why not focus on positive things?
“I Am” Versus “I Will Be”
Why do some people achieve their goals while others fail? How can we become the person who succeeds more often than she fails? To achieve our goals, we must control our thoughts. Our thoughts must be positive, and we must have absolute faith that we will achieve the intended goals. An important step to achieving our goals and controlling our thoughts is to think in the present tense rather than the future tense. We must move from thoughts based on “I will be…” (i.e., the future tense) to thoughts of “I am…” (i.e., the present tense).
This may seem subtle, but it is a critical shift in the way we think about things. For example, I always wanted to be a writer. For years, my thoughts were future-tense oriented. I had thoughts such as, “I will be a writer someday.” However, once I shifted my thoughts from “I will be a writer” to “I am a writer,” within a short period of time, I wrote several articles and published a book with more in the works. Once my thoughts were in the present tense, I started acting as though I had already accomplished that which I had planned to achieve. I not only believed I was a writer, I knew it.
This too is a subtle, but hugely pivotal point. Once I moved from believing to knowing, my faith in achieving my goal became virtually absolute. My faith became absolute because, in my mind, I had already achieved the goal. I did not need to worry about when or how my goal would come to fruition because worrying brings on self-doubt and challenges our faith. My thoughts became overwhelmingly positive ones. Not even the sometimes negative influences of my environment could deter me from achieving my goal once I shifted my thoughts from “I will be” to “I am.”
In Summary
To achieve your goals in life, try the following:
- Shift your thoughts from “I will be” to “I am.”
- It does not matter the goal or its size. Do not limit yourself, as limits are just another form of self-doubt.
- Ensure that you have more positive thoughts than negative ones.
- Conduct the aforementioned experiment where you jot down your thoughts once an hour between 9 AM and 5 PM for seven days. If the majority of your thoughts are negative, spend the next 21 days making your thoughts more positive than negative. Whenever you have a negative thought, replace it with a positive one. Do not let anyone or anything deter you from thinking positively. After a few days of positive thinking, you will see positive changes in your life. You will then start to believe. Once you believe, you will gain confidence in what you will become. At this point, you want to shift your thoughts from “I will be” to “I am” and your goals are virtually assured.
- Write down an “I am” statement, and focus your thoughts on this goal as often as possible, all day long.
- After monitoring your thoughts once an hour from 9 AM to 5 PM for seven days, write down an “I am” statement and focus your thoughts on this goal for the next 21 days. Ensure that your thoughts are positive and have absolute faith that you have already achieved that which you seek.
Lastly, can positive thinking allow us to achieve everything our hearts desire? This is a common misinterpretation of what positive thinking is about. Your positive thoughts must be relative to you and your situation, rather than to someone else’s. For example, if I am a runner and I want to become the fastest person in the world, this is possible, but probably improbable. However, if I currently run a mile in an average of nine minutes, I can work hard and more than likely achieve running a mile in an average of seven minutes. In this example, my positive goal is relative to me and my situation. Join me in thinking positive thoughts that are in the present tense and be all that you were created to be.
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Dr. Milton Mattox is a senior-level business executive, leader, and technologist who has worked with some of the world’s most acclaimed companies. An expert in software engineering, information technology, and quality process management, he continues to practice the leadership techniques and methodologies outlined in his book and articles to successfully increase return on investment for organizations and companies.
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