Back to: Master Your Mindset: Ultimate Guide to Productivity & Success in Less Time

The title of this video is You Are What You Think You Are.
And that is very true because the thoughts that we have about ourselves, the belief that
we have in ourselves can affect the way that we deal with the rest of the world, the way
that we perceive ourselves, the way that we think the world perceives us.
And you form a mental picture that could be different from reality, both positive and
negative, and unfortunately that’s usually negative.
And this can really hold you back and stop you from realizing your potential.
You might have a lot going for you.
You might have brains, you might have good looks, you might have business acumen, intelligence,
education, a loving family, supportive friends, good health.
But all the time you think that there’s this great big arrow pointing down at you that
says you’re a loser.
And you know, that can cloud your judgment.
You’re afraid to do things because you think you’ll fail or be turned down or be rejected
in some other way.
And if you think that way, you’re not alone.
You know, lots of people think this way.
And it’s not a new phenomenon either.
But it’s as topical as it ever was.
There’s a famous book and you can get it for free from Project Gutenberg.
It’s called As a Man Thinketh by James Allen.
And when it was first published back in 1903, it really was a pioneering and groundbreaking
book because in some ways it really is the godfather of all self-help books that are
out there.
And it’s all about changing the way that you think.
And the title comes from a passage from the Bible from the book of Proverbs chapter 23
verse 7, which states, As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.
And the book was written by James Allen.
That’s him in the grainy black and white photograph on the right there.
And he had actually quite a hard life.
As you can see, he died in his forties.
He was born in a very poor family.
He had all sorts of hardships growing up.
He had to take on all sorts of different menial jobs just to make ends meet.
And he really had a very negative self-image of himself when he was growing up and when
he was a young man.
But he managed to turn that around.
He managed to change his thought processes.
And he managed to actually become a very successful writer.
First of all, writing for newspapers and magazines and later on writing as a book author.
And in a way, the preface for the book is really his own story.
And he says here that the book shows how in his own thought world, each man holds the
key to every condition, good or bad, that enters into his life.
And that by working patiently and intelligently upon his thoughts, he may remake his life and
transform his circumstances.
And that’s exactly what James Allen did.
And as I say, even though he didn’t live to be very old, by the time that he died, he
was actually much wealthier and I dare say a much happier person than he was in his early
life when he was growing up in quite poor circumstances.
Let me share some quotes from the book with you.
Now do bear in mind that this book was written in 1903, so they’re all from a male perspective,
but they can equally apply to women as well as men.
And the first one, which I think really sums up the whole book, is men do not attract what
they want, but what they are.
Another one is a man is literally what he thinks.
His character being the complete sum of all his thoughts.
So again, ties in with the title of the book, what you think is what you are.
Another good one is circumstance does not make them and it reveals him to himself.
So it’s not the circumstances that you’re in, it’s how you deal with them that really
matters.
You cannot travel within and stand still without.
I think that’s pretty self-explanatory.
The soul attracts that which it secretly harbors, that which it loves, but also that
which it fears.
And that ties into what’s known today as the law of attraction, that what you hope for,
what you want is drawn to you, but also what you’re afraid of is also drawn to you.
As the physically weak man can make himself strong by careful and patient training, so
the man of weak thoughts can make them strong by exercising himself in right thinking.
I think that’s fairly self-explanatory.
Men are anxious to improve their circumstances, but are unwilling to improve themselves, therefore
they remain bound.
So you don’t just want to think about it, you actually want to go out and do things
to improve your circumstances, to do things to actually make your life better.
Reaction and feeling is preceded by a thought.
Again, that’s fairly self-explanatory, but a lot of people don’t think about it that
way, but you do think about things before you actually do them.
If you’re going to open a door, you’re thinking about, yes, I’m going to reach for the dawn
of.
Well, in everything that you do, you do think about it ahead of time.
So be careful what you think because the thought is the father of the deed.
And finally, right thinking begins with the words that we say to ourselves.
And I think this is probably the most important phrase in the whole book, because so many
times people are down on themselves.
You say negative things to yourself.
In your mind, you’re saying, oh, I’m no good.
I’ll never get anywhere.
I’ll never do anything.
Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
And then of course, that becomes true because that is the way that you think.
As a man thinketh, you don’t think the right thoughts.
If you think that you can do something, then you can probably do it.
Yeah, Henry Ford used to say whether you think you can or think you can’t, either way you’re
right.
So when you think the right thoughts, when you think the positive thoughts, then you’ll
find that things will start to go right for you because you’re thinking positively, you’re
looking out for things that will work right rather than being afraid of things that are
going to go wrong.
And when you do this, when you apply what’s in this book, and as I said, you can download
it for free from Project Gutenberg, you’ll find that your life will start to improve almost
immediately and you’ll be a much happier person within.