ACT and Grow Rich Part 2 of 13

Paul Flowers Jr. here with Wednesday's Words of Wisdom, and today is the second part of the 13-part series on Act and Grow Rich, which is my take on Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich. Uh, great book I've mentioned a few times. I put the link out last week. In order for everyone to take a look and see just what this book has in store. So last week, just a quick recap, we were looking at the first step towards riches, which is desire. Desire— there were 6 steps that were pretty much necessary in order to start a person on that path. First step being fix in mind the exact amount that you want, meaning a specific dollar amount. Second step, determine what exactly it is that you want to give, that you will be giving meaning exchange of value in terms of receiving that which you want, which is a certain dollar amount. Number 3, establish that date that you want to have it done by. Everything has to have a date, everything has to have a goal so that you know exactly when you're going to be reaching this point, kind of checking yourself along the way. Fourth, you have to have a definite plan. As they say, things not written don't happen. So having a plan means having something written down, knowing exactly the steps that you're going to take to achieve that which you desire. Step 5, writing it out clearly, stating the amount in which you're looking to obtain, the things in which you're looking to give, the product or service that you're gonna sell, or how it is that you're going to bring about these riches through some sort of value exchange. The third step being the date that you're gonna have it done by. Last but not least, the sixth step was writing it down, and I believe that I recommended using 3x5 note cards in order to write these things down. Several of them, write it down a few times and have it in a few places. Have it by your computer, have it in your bathroom, have it in your car, have it by the bed especially, so that you can read it at least twice daily. Once in the morning so it can drive your thoughts and actions throughout the day, and once in the evening so that you can then begin to think about this as you sleep, literally dreaming about success, dreaming about the things in which you are looking to obtain. So that was step 1, that was last week. Take a look at that video if you'd like to see a little bit more on it. Step 2 is a really interesting one because it's very— how can I put it— some call it impractical almost. You've got some believers out there, different things that call it, you know, it's absolutely belief, and a higher power. Others call it, you know, a number of things, but Napoleon Hill simply refers to it as faith. So what is faith? Well, again, my biblical friends always point me back to Hebrews 11:1 and talk about how it's the substance of those things hoped for but the evidence of things not seen, which is essentially right dead on the head. It's the thing that you want, but you can't quite touch it yet, and there's that understanding of yet that causes a person to continue forward, that continues to drive you in the direction of that in which you look to obtain. So what is faith? It's an intangible at the present. However, it works from within you to get the things without. So you're starting off with this faith. It's an idea, essentially. It's a thing that you're looking for, a thing that you want, but you can't quite put your hands on it. You know, I'm dreaming that I live in a two-story home. I'm believing that I live in this 2-story home, right? However, if you don't have that 2-story home right there at the moment, it's a little tough to continue on going forward towards this 2-story home when it's not there, right? That's where the actual development of faith comes in. So it's, it's taking that desire and putting into a, putting it into a practical state. And what I mean by practical is this. So faith starts to turn itself into reality by a principle called autosuggestion. And autosuggestion isn't talked about until the next step, so tune in next week if you want more on autosuggestion. But as for now, I'll just kind of highlight it in brief. And quite frankly, it's a repetition of an affirmation of orders to your subconscious mind. Let me say that again. Faith is developed through repetition of an affirmation of orders to your subconscious mind, meaning that you're gonna continuously speak about the things that you desire until they become a part of the brain that does not require you to think about it consciously. So you have those things that you think about that you know you're thinking about, and those things that you think about that you don't have to think about. Like anybody that's woke up and walked outside you've actually opened the door to walk outside. Well, you don't think about opening that door, you just open the door. But when you were 2, you had to think about opening that door. How do I move this knob? How does it turn? How does it work? And so that's something that's become subconscious and really unconscious to us as adults, is how to open a door. But as a child, it's different. So the same concept goes when it comes to actually learning to have faith. It's a little foreign at first, the repetition of actions and the repeating of things to yourself until you actually begin to start that belief growing with inside you. It's a little foreign, almost like again that 2-year-old first learning how to open the door, but that's how it's done. So it's something that has to be stated daily, over and over and over and over. Now this is why that previous step of desire was so important, where we said that you had to read it aloud 2 times daily after having written it out and after having fixed it in your mind what it is that you wanted, determine what you'll be giving for it, creating a plan of action, and then having that date in mind, right? You have to have something that you're actually affirming on a regular and consistent basis. So this means not just once on Monday, not just once on Wednesday, and maybe I'll try to make up for it and do it 3 times on Friday. No, it doesn't work like that. Now, faith is similar to getting yourself in shape, similar to going to the gym on a consistent basis. And if you want the results, you want that 6-pack abs, right? You want that toned chest. Ladies, you want that extra lift, right? Those toned arms, nice and sleek. It takes that repetition of action, and it also takes not breaking through the cycle in between. Now, what do I mean by that? So again, relating it to working out, where you're developing this muscle of faith, whereby increasing your belief, you begin to easily, more easily attract the things in which you want in life. And because you believe and you know them to be true versus just thinking or merely hoping for them, you know that they're going to happen. It is a definite thing that's going to occur. So it's a habitual and consistent thing that starts play— let's say take place on a Monday. And so you start off with whatever you've written down now, whatever that plan was. You've got it written out. You read it once a day in the morning. You read it twice a day by the time you get to the evening time. Again, I personally recommend having it in multiple places so you can keep it top of mind. Again, he only recommends twice, but I kind of go above and beyond. Consider it, whatever it is you want, how much do you actually want it? Now, what comes up in between Monday mornings getting up and reading it, and then Monday evenings before you lie down reading it? Stuff, right? All sorts of stuff. Some call it haters, some call it the naysayers, some call it the negative pieces of your life. Well, whatever it is, it's going to come up. So again, understanding and addressing that it's going to be there is going to make a huge difference in how your faith actually grows through this process, how well you're able to actually grow your belief through this process. So when that comes up, because most people say, well, I've been trying and trying and trying and it's just not working, and I was working on a thing and I believed it was going to happen, and then, you know, I talked to my mom or I talked to my brother and they didn't see it the way I saw it, and then I thought they were right. Really? So you let somebody else who didn't have the belief that you were growing come right in and snatch that from you. It's like putting a seed in fertile ground and you start to water it, and then someone comes and tells you there's no point in watering that seed, it's never gonna grow, and then you stop watering the seed. That's the equivalent of the people and the things that are essentially temporary roadblocks that'll come up in your life that'll potentially stop you from having the thing which you want. Now at this point, again, you're just starting on this journey. Uh, for those of you logging in now, we're talking about Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich, going over the second step, which is faith, discussing how to grow it in spite of the naysayers. This is where it takes multiple points of positivity placed around you on a daily basis. You can't get around having these little reminders until it becomes something that you do automatically through the principle of autosuggestion. So autosuggestion, again, we'll talk more about that next week, but the brevity, the brief real snapshot of it is that you're saying these things over and over. So yes, to put it in super simple terms, you're talking to yourself. Talking to myself? Yes, talking to yourself. Now, if you don't think that talking to yourself is gonna bring about any sort of results, think about the things you've been saying to yourself in previous times. Where, for those of you who are sports players, you just knew that you were gonna win that game. I know I'm gonna win. I know I'm gonna do well, right? And then you ended up winning. You actually coached yourself into winning. Or the person that says, well, I know that I've gotta get up and go to the gym, and you actually say, you know what, I can't let anything else stop me. I'm gonna go and do this, right? I'm doing this thing. You talk yourself into things all the time, whether it's positive or negative, whether it's believing or deceiving. Right, yourself. You talk yourself into things every single day. For those of you that get up and go to work, right, when you shut that alarm clock off in the morning, "Oh, I don't wanna go," and "I've gotta go," and then you go. But you go because of that last statement that you make, "Oh, I've gotta go." Now, conversely, there are people that have gotten up, hit that alarm clock, and said, "You know what? Not today. Not going into the office today." The snow is coming down, it's 4 feet outside, 4 feet of snow, and all of us that are— anybody that's watching from Chicago understands this especially. We've got all that snow outside, you wake up, you look outside, you roll over, you say, "Mmm, not today." You've convinced yourself to take an action. Again, which is why the title of these talks are called Act and Grow Rich, because they take action in order to make the thing happen. There's no substitute for acting. Thinking is amazing. Believing is that next step, right? Taking that desire from just something you want to something that you know you'll have inside, right? It's just here. And from that point in which it's here, in which you know it, it's already done. It's just a matter of time before you get there. But that action is actually going to take it from that burning desire and that belief to you being able to hold it in your hand, right? To pick it up, hold it, feel it, touch it. To drive that new car, to have that home, right? To be in that new position. That you want to be. So it takes again for you to get past the naysayers, for you to repeat these things to yourself, and then continuously keep yourself in a positive mindset or environment. Now, why a lot of times we don't have it is for a lack of confidence, and there's a formula for that. Anybody that emails me at paul.flowers13@gmail.com, I'll send you a PDF of this confidence formula. It's actually here in the book. I can send you an electronic copy of the book too if you don't have it. Again, that email address is paul.flowers13@gmail.com. Flowers13@gmail.com. So in order to get to a point of confidence where you can block off the naysayers, continue to grow your faith into actual belief, and thereby take action on it. Again, if you don't have that self-confidence, there's a very brief formula that I've got here. I'm going to read it verbatim as to make sure that we drive every point and letter and period and comma home. But again, I will send this to you if you email me at paul.flowers13@gmail.com. @gmail.com and say, hey, I want it. Self-confidence formula. 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 30 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 10 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 have— excuse me— until I shall have developed sufficient self-confidence for its attainment. And 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 attracting 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 by 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. Again, email me at paul.hflores13@gmail.com and I'll email you a copy of that so you can take it and print it out for yourselves. Now that's powerful, right? That's how we're wanting to develop that confidence in order to take that faith and actually start to put it into action. So a quick recap of it all. Again, you have to have desire. There's something that you want to have that you actually want, right? If you want nothing in life, then just go through life peaceful and happy, zen out as you will. But if there's something that you want, If there's something that you desire to have, right, you have to take those steps from last week. Fix it in your mind, determine what you'll give, establish a date by which you'll have it, create a plan for its attainment, write it out, meaning what it is that you want, what you'll give for it in exchange, and when you'll have it, and then read it aloud twice a day for just understanding that you have to do that thing, and then focus on believing. Focus daily on that confidence that you will actually do and be the person that you want to be, and you will do the things that it takes in order to have that which you desire. You'll grow your confidence on a daily basis by repeating aloud the formula that I've just read out loud here. And again, I'll send a copy of the formula and a digital copy of the book to anyone listening in, watching in, who will email me at paul.hflowersjr@gmail.com and saying, hey, I want that formula I'll go ahead and send that to you. And then how to again overcome all those people in life is gonna come through developing that confidence. It just will. At the point in which you develop confidence that is so strong, meaning the belief in yourself, and you know that whatever it is that you're gonna do, it's already done, and there's not a person that can stand in the way. I've heard that you can have faith that can move mountains, right? That's the type of faith that you want to have. That's the type of desire that will be there within you as long as you desire to have it. So, mm, wrapping up this week, grow your confidence, that will grow your faith. You grow your confidence, it will grow your belief. You have your desire in place, you actually have something that you're working towards, and that's done through the principles of autosuggestion, which is, yes, in short, talking to yourself. So we're going to wrap this week up by saying that faith will grow and it will show itself as long as you know and tell yourself that it's on the way. Thank you guys for listening in. Tune in next week for Wednesday's Words of Wisdom when we go over the third step in Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich, which is autosuggestion. Have a great day, great evening, and enjoy the rest of your week. Bye for now.