AUTOSUGGESTION

CHAPTER 5: OVERVIEW AND ANALYSIS

THE MEDIUM FOR INFLUENCING THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND
This chapter opens with Napoleon Hill stating the basic principle that
autosuggestion is the way your conscious mind communicates with
your subconscious mind. Because you can control what you consciously
dwell on, you can influence what is in your subconscious mind, and that
affects every idea you have.

EDITOR'S COMMENTARY
The editors note that there is considerable research to support Hill's
theory that the subconscious receives the same information as the
conscious but it does not judge; it just stores it. The editors then draw
the comparison between the process of intentionally planting an idea in
your subconscious and the way that emotionally charged circumstances
produce fixations and phobias. The more you emotionalize your burning
desirej the.stroFiger it -is burned into your subconscious.
82 THINK AND GROW RICH: THE 2I ST·CENTURY EDITION WORKBOOK

SEE AND FEEL MONEY IN YOUR HANDS

Your thoughts do
In this section Hill recaps the six-step plan for planting your desire,
remain stored in and he restates the point rhat your desire will only fix itself in your
subconscious if it is attached ro a sttong emotion.
the subconscious,
and they remain HOW TO STRENGTHEN YOUR POWERS OF CONCENTRATION
Hill stresses the importance of repetition in planting an idea firmly in
just as they were
your subconscious. He again refers ro the six-step plan as he explains
when they were the theory behind repeating positive affirmations ro burn them into
your subconscious, and he introduces the concept of doing the same
first input.
with creative visualization.

The more highly EDITOR'S COMMENTARY

The edirors provide an extensive Commentary explaining about Emile
emotionalized the Coue's early work with affirmations and how he developed the phrase
"Every day, in every way, I am getting better and better." They also note
thoughts are when
the modern resurgence and acceptance of the technique.
they are input, the The editors then devote equal emphasis ro visualization as a moti-

more influence vational rool and as a technique for treating certain medical conditions.
They note that it is now used in every field from business training
they exert on to Olympic athletes ro NASA astronauts. The Commentary closes with

your attitude and notes about some of the bestsellers written by medical professionals
who have researched affirmations and visualization.
behavior.
STIMULATE YOUR SUBCONSCIOUS MIND
Hill explains how to use the written statement of your aim or purpose as
Autosuggestion a spoken affirmation, and how to use it as a guide ro visualizing yourself

gives you the achieving your aim Ot purpose.

The editors suggest that you can also influence your subconscious
power to control by posting written copies of your affirmations and visual illustrations
which thoughts symbolizing your desire.
Hill closes this chapter by acknowledging that some readers may be
are burned into skeptical of these techniques, bur he also reminds the reader that it is
your subconscious. these techniques that have made millionaires.
 AUTOSUGGESTION 83

CHAPTER 5: THE WORKBOOK NOTES & COMMENTS

Because the four-leiter prefix auto has the same meaning as the word
self, technically the words autosuggestion and self-suggestion mean the
same thing. However, as Napoleon Hill uses the word, autosuggestion
doesn't just mean self, it is also meant to convey the idea of an auto-
matic or repetitive action that happens as habit.
A definition of each of the words appears in the previous chapter,
and the definitions make it clear that self-suggestion is a prompt to
action that you give to yourself, while autosuggestion is any suggestion
that has become so deeply fixed in your subconscious that it is the
response that flashes into your mind without even thinking.
The following explanation from Hill's co-author, W. Clement Stone,
will help to make the differences clear.
Stone developed a number of short phrases that he used to moti-
vate himself. One such phrase was the simple statement "Try to do the
right thing because it is right." In the following, Stone uses that same
phrase to explain how it can be used to demonstrate all three forms of
suggestion:

Suggestion comes from the outside. It is anything you

see, hear, feel, taste, or smell. If I say to you, "Try ro do
the right thing because it is right:' that is a suggestion from
me to you.

Self-suggestion is purposefully controlled from within.

It is a suggestion you give to yourself that you can see in
your imagination, say to yourself, or write down. Each
time you think or say to yourself ''Try to do the right thing
because it is right," that is self-suggestion.

Autosuggestion acts by itself, unconsciously, like a machine

that always reacts in the same way from the same stimulus.
84 THINK AND GROW RICH: THE 21 ST-CENTURY EDITION WORKBOOK

Each time your subconscious flashes to your conscious

NOTES &COMMENTS
mind "Try to do the right thing because it is right;' that is
autosuggestion.
If, for the next week, every morning and every evening
and frequently throughout the day you repeat this phrase-
"Try to do the right thing because it is right"-when you
are faced with temptation, that phrase will flash from your
subconscious to your conscious mind. In this way, through
repetition, you will form a habit-a good habit-that will
help make your future a success.

AUTOSUGGESTION: TURNING DESIRE INTO HABIT

Napoleon Hill first published his theories on the use of autosuggestion in
his 8-volume masterwork, Law of Success, which became a bestseller
in 1928, nine years before the publication of Think and Grow Rich. At
that time he approached it from the point of view of techniques that
can be used to change your habits. The following is adapted from Law
of Success, Volume III, Lesson Twelve:

There is a close relationship between habit and autosug-

gestion. Through habit, an act repeatedly performed in the
same manner has a tendency to become permanent, and
eventually we come to perform the act automatically or
unconsciously. In playing a piano, for example, the artist
can playa familiar piece while his or her conscious mind
is on some other subject.
Autosuggestion is the tool with which we dig a men-
tal path, concentration is the hand that holds that tool,
and habit is the map or blueprint that the mental path
follows.
 AUTOSUGGESTION 85

The following are the rules through which you may NOTES & COMMENTS
form the habits you desire:

1. At the beginning of the formation of a new habit, put

all the force and enthusiasm you can muster into expressing
what you want to become. Feel what you think. Remember
that you are taking the first steps toward making your new
mental paths, and it is much harder at first than it will be
afterward. At the beginning make each path as clear and as
deep as you can, so that you can readily see it the next time
you wish to follow it.

2. Keep your attention firmly concentrated on your new

path-building, and forget all about the old paths. Concern
yourself only with the new ones that you are building to
order.

3. Travel over your newly-made paths as often as possible.

The more often you go over the new paths, the sooner they
will become well-worn and easily traveled.

4. Resist the temptation to travel over the older, easier paths

you have been using in the past. Every time you resist a temp-
tation, the stronger you become and the easier it will be for
you to do so the next time. This is the critical time. Prove
your determination, persistency, and willpower now, at the
very beginning.

5. Be sure you have mapped out the right path as your goal
or aim, then go ahead without fear and without allowing
yourself to doubt. Select your goal and make good, deep,
wide mental paths leading straight to it.
86 THINK AND GROW RICH : TH E 2p'T-CENTURY EDITION WORKBOOK

NOTES & COMMENTS Because the subconscious mind does not distinguish between what
is real and what is vividly imagined, if you convincingly plant an idea in
your subconscious, it will accept the idea as though it were a fact.
If you have planted the new idea strongly enough, when your
thoughts run in that direction, your new idea will be the first thought that
comes to mind. It will have become your new belief, and eventually it
will be your habit.
In Law of Success, Napoleon Hill goes on to propose a specific
technique for breaking habits and making new mental pathways. Hill
calls the process concentration.
Concentration is defined as planting in the mind a definite
aim, object, or purpose, and visualizing and repeating that
objective over and over until ways and means for its reali-
zation have been created. Concentration is the principle
through which you may build your habits to order.
When focusing on your aim becomes a habit, your sub-
conscious will constantly look for ways to translate your
aim into its physical counterpart. And your subconscious
will try to do that through the most practical and direct
methods available.
Nothing was ever created by a human being that was
not first created in the imagination, through desire, and
then transformed into reality through concentration.

This technique that Hill dubbed concentration is actually an amal-

gam of two separate but interrelated techniques which today are most
often called positive affirmation and creative visualization.
Positive affirmations rely upon the idea of summing up your desire
in a short phrase that you repeat over and over to yourself. It is the
repetition that wears away at your old thinking until it makes a new
mental pathway.
 AUTOSUGGESTION 87

Creative visualizations rely on creating such a vivid mental image NOTES & COMMENTS
of your desire that you can experience it just as if it were reality.
By making it so real in your mind you are adding emotion which,
as we stressed in the previous chapter, is what is needed to burn
it into your subconscious, creating a new mental pathway.
The way in which you create affirmations and visualizations is vir-
tually identical. The only difference is that one is verbal and the other
is visual, but it is completely natural and easy to do both at the same
time. In fact, it is not only natural to do them simultaneously, but it
may also be easier for you to create a mental image while saying
a phrase that describes it. Or, to state the obverse, keeping a vivid
mental image in your mind may give more passion and meaning to
the words you use to state your desire.
We will examine each technique separately so that you can focus
on certain aspects of each that deserve special attention. We will begin
with affirmations.

POSITIVE AFFIRMATIONS
A positive affirmation is a short phrase that clearly states the change you
want to make in yourself. If you emotionalize that phrase with total faith
and belief that you are capable of changing yourself, and if you repeat
the phrase over and over to yourself until thinking that way becomes
your natural habit, then you will make the change you desire.
When French psychologist Emile Coue devised the positive affir-
mation "Every day, in every way, I am getting better and better," his
intent was to create an affirmation that could be used by many different
patients suffering from a wide range of psychosomatic disorders. This
general, nonspecific phrase was designed to give the subconscious
a positive instruction, but was still open enough that it did not tell the
subconscious a specific problem to deal with, nor did it try to tell the
subconscious how to do it.
88 THIN K AND GROW RICH : THE 2 1ST-CENTURY EDITION WORKBOOK

NOTES & COMMENTS Although Coue's affirmation may indeed make you "better and
better" in general, the downside is that because it is so general and
does not define what "better and better" means, it leaves the interpre-
tation up to your subconscious, which is exactly the kind of thing that
the nonjudgmental subconscious mind does not do very well . Most
affirmations are directed at improving a more focused aspect of your
character. Here is a list of affirmations that deals much more directly with
specific issues related to self-motivation and personal achievement:

Whatever I can conceive and believe in my mind, I can achieve in

reality, as long as it does not go against the laws of nature.

I do it now. Whenever I set a definite goal, I take immediate action

to get it done. I do it now.

I am a powerful and charismatic leader. My thoughts are creative.

My decisions are fair. I lead with confidence and certainty.

What I desire is more important than the difficulties along the way.
I will overcome them to reach my goals.

I am like a mental and financial magnet, attracting to myself all that

I need to prosper.

I maintain my enthusiasm and motivation throughout today's ups

and downs.

I am a person who thrives on challenges. Every setback gives me

new opportunities for success.

In every failure I can find the se.ed of an equal or greater success.

My conscious mind is wide open to my subconscious mind, which

sends me hunches, premonitions, and flashes of insight.

When I speak to others, I look them straight in the eye and my voice
sends a message of streAgth ar:ld confidel'1ce.
 AUTOSUGGESTION 89

It may be that in the preceding list you found one or more affirma- NOTES & COMMENTS
tions that you might like to use to deal with certain issues, but the editors
suggest that you will have even greater success if you use the following
proven techniques to create your own affirmations that are tailor-made
to deal with your life and the specific issues you want to improve.

DECIDE WHAT YOU WANT TO CHANGE

The first step in creating a personalized affirmation is to clearly identify
what it is that you desire. In Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill offers a
formula for defining and writing out a statement of your aim or purpose.
Hill's version is reprinted here so that you may compare it with today's
style of affirmations:

How can the original seed of an idea, plan, or objective

be planted in the mind? The answer: write out a statement
of your desire, purpose, goal, or objective, commit it to
memory, and repeat it out loud, day after day, until these
vibrations of sound have reached your subconscious mind.

1. To begin the process. write a clear. concise statement

of the amount of money you intend to acquire. Fix in
your mind the exact amount of money you desire. It is
not sufficient merely to say "I want plenty of money." Be
definite about the amount.

2 . Determine exactly what you intend to give in rerurn

for the money you desire.

3. Establish a definite date when you intend to possess the

money you desire.

4. Create a definite plan for carrying out your desire and

begin at once, whether you are ready or not, to put this
plan in~o action.
90 THINK AND GROW RICH: THE 2I ST·CENTURY EDITION WORKBOOK

NOTES &COMMENTS For example. suppose that as a general goal you

intend to accumulate $50.000 by the first of January. five
years from now. and that you intend to give your personal
services as a salesperson in return for the money. Your
written statement of your purpose should be similar to
the following:

By the first day of January _ _ • I will have in my

possession $50.000. which will come to me in various
amounts from time to time during the interim.
In return for this money I will give the most efficient
service of which I am capable. I will give the fUllest possible
quantity. and the best possible quality. of service as a
salesperson of _ _ _ _ _ _ _ (describe the service
or merchandise you intend to sell).
I believe that I will have this money in my possession.
My faith is so strong that I can now see it before my eyes.
I can touch it with my hands. It is now awaiting transfer
to me at the time and in the proportion that I deliver the
service in return for it. I am awaiting a plan for getting this
money. and I will follow that plan when it is received.

Signed ..................................... .

Place a written copy where you can see it. and read it
before retiring and on arising. until it has been memorized.
Speak your written statement aloud at least twice daily.
Go to a quiet spot where you will not be disturbed. Close
your eyes and repeat aloud (so that you may hear your own
words) the statement of the amount of money you iatend
to accumulate. As you speak, see and feel and believe your-
self already in possessiol'l of the money.
 AUTOSUGGESTION 91

In the reprint of Napoleon Hill's version that is provided above, NOTES &COMMENTS
the resulting written statement is quite long and uses a formal style of
language that few people would feel comfortable using today. However,
you should bear in mind that when Hill instructs his readers to memorize
their written statement, he was giving that instruction at a time when
school students were regularly called upon to stand up and declaim
long heroic poems from memory, and stem-winding public lectures were
considered popular entertainment. Times were very different then and it
would not have been unusual for Hill's readers to follow his instructions
and learn the statement by heart.
Today, the intent in creating your affirmation is not quite so all-
encompassing. Now the challenge is to take just one aspect of your
aim or purpose and use that one idea to create a short, easily remem-
bered phrase that sums up what you desire. By narrowing the focus, it
is quite likely you will find that it will require more than one affirmation
to properly address each issue.
Because of these changes, the editors of this workbook now view
the creation of an affirmation as a three-step process:

1. Identify your desire.

2. Follow Hill's template to create your formal written statement.

3. Use the information from your statement along with the techniques
explained below to create a short, memorable affirmation.

You may choose to create one overarching affirmation that you

feel encapsulates your major purpose or aim, or you may create a
group of different affirmations that deal with the individual goals and
objectives which must be accomplished in order to achieve your over-
arching purpose or aim.
You might also create additional affirmations that are not directly
related 10 your chief aim or purpose, but which deal with general
92 THIN K AND GROW RICH: THE 21 ST-CENTURY EDITION WORKBOOK

NOTES & COMMENTS improvements such as overcoming procrastination or eliminating the

fear of criticism. Chances are that as you work with them you will find
reason to create affirmations for all of these purposes.
When you start working with your completed affirmation(s), you
will read your written statement at least twice each day and repeat
your memorized affirmation(s) many times a day. Your formal written
statement should be read once every night, and you should follow
the reading by repeating the affirmation(s) derived from the statement
at least ten times. Every morning you should again read your formal
statement as the introduction to the repetition of your affirmation(s).
And again, you should repeat your affirmation(s) at least ten times.

SEE IT IN YOUR MIND'S EYE

Once you are completely satisfied that you clearly know your desire,
you must visualize a simple but vivid image that represents things as
they are now and as they will be when the aim is accomplished or
the change has taken place. It's like mental before-and-after snapshots.

WRITE DOWN THE WORDS

When you can clearly see in your mind's eye the manifestation of your
desire, you then create a short, simple, easy-to-remember phrase that
is like a verbal accompaniment to what you feel when you bring the
before-and-after images to your mind. Following are some rules of
thumb that are important when formulating affirmations:

Affirmations should always be stated as a positive. Affirm what you

do want, not what you don't want.

Affirmations work best when they are about a single goal. Take the
time to rewrite and polish your affirmation until you can express your
desire in a short statement of precise and well-chosen words.
 AUTOSUGGESTION 93

Make the words memorable and make it feel right for you. Use
NOTES & COMMENTS
powerful and inspirational words that stimulate your mind. Make
up your own catch phrases or rhymes that make it easy to say.
Remember, your affirmation is not just a statement; it should be
an expression of your inner desire that gets you psyched-up no
matter how many times you've said it.

Keep your affirmation in the present even if saying it does not

represent your reality as it is right now. You are training your sub-
conscious mind to make your aim or purpose your new habit. By
repeating an affirmation that states something is true now, your
mind will begin to search for ways to make it happen.

Affirmations should be specific about the desired goal but not about
how to accomplish it. Infinite Intelligence working with your subcon-
scious knows better than you what it can do and how it can do it.

Do not make unreasonable time demands. Your subconscious

can't make anything happen "suddenly" or "immediately."

SAYING IT WITH FEELING

Just saying the words will have little effect. When you affirm your desire
you must do it with such faith and conviction that your subconscious
becomes convinced of how important it is to you. As you affirm your
desire to yourself, visualize it so that in your mind's eye it is as big as
a billboard. Make it big, powerful, and memorable. More will be said
about this in the section on visualization.

SAYING IT OVER AND OVER

Repetition of your emotionalized affirmation is crucial. At this time it is
your habit to think one way, but by repeating your affirmation often every
day, your new way of thinking will begin to be your automatic response.
94 THI NK AND GROW RICH: THE 21 ST-CENTURY EDITION WORKBOOK

NOTES & COMMENTS Keep reinforcing it until it becomes second nature to you, and your
habit will become to think the new way-the way you want to think.
If you have reservations about the value of repeating affirmations,
we suggest that you consider the billions of dollars spent to run the same
commercials over and over and to place the same print ads day after
day. Or give some thought to the reason why astronauts and athletes
train over and over, why pianists and golfers practice over and over,
and actors rehearse over and over. It is why Pavlov's dog salivated
when the bell rang and why Skinner's rats learned to navigate the maze.
It has been scientifically proven in the laboratory, every motiva-
tional expert acknowledges it, and you prove it to yourself every time
you hum to yourself "You deserve a break today" or you remember that
it's the jeans with the little red tab on the back pocket that are the real
ones. Repetition makes things stick in your mind. Things that stick in
your mind change the way you think. Change the way you think and
you change your habits.

SAYING IT OUT LOUD

Although the most common method of using an affirmation is to silently
repeat the phrase to yourself a number of times each day, Hill advises
that it is most effective when you say the words out loud:

Speaking it aloud sets into motion the vibration through

which the thought behind your words reaches and embeds
itself in your subconscious mind. This is why you are
instructed to write it out, commit it to memory, and
repeat it out loud, day after day, until these vibrations of
sound have reached your subconscious mind. There it
takes root and grows until it becomes a great moving
force in your outward, physical activities, leading to the
transformation of the thought into reality.
 AUTOSUGGESTION 95

Speaking an affirmation out loud while looking at yourself in a NOTES & COMMENTS
mirror can be especially effective. You can either look yourself in the
eye and talk directly to "you" or, as Andrew Carnegie advised Hill, you
can use the mirror to observe how convincing you appear making the
statement.
Carnegie told Hill to look into his mirror every morning and declare:
"Andrew Carnegie, I am not only going to equal your achievements in
life, but I am going to challenge you at the post and pass you at the
grandstand ."
This is a very well-conceived affirmation. It is a clear statement of
the goal, it is short enough to easily memorize and say with feeling, and
it creates a clear and colorful image that is easy to visualize.
It is worth noting that at speaking engagements Napoleon Hill often
told his audiences about that affirmation and he said that it had a pro-
found impact on him and did just what it was supposed to do. In 1962,
at a lecture in Chicago, Hill said this about Carnegie's affirmation:

The first few times I said it, I felt like a fool. But you
know, eventually I commenced to believe it, and then, after
I started to believe it, I knew I was going to succeed. And
modestly, may I state that I have reached the place in life
where, in terms of the l1lunber of people I have influenced
to become millionaires, my achievements far excel those
of Andrew Carnegie.

Experts on visualization techniques, Shakti Gawain, author of Creative

Visualization, and Marilee Zdenek, author of The Right-Brain Experience,
both use a variation on the technique that you might try from time to
time. They suggest that as you repeat your affirmation, you change
from saying it in the first person to saying it in the second person, and
then to saying it in the third person.
96 TH INK AND GROW RI CH: T HE 2I'T-CE NTURY EDITION WORKBOO K

NOTES & COMMENTS The following illustrates the technique using the affirmation "In
every failure I can find and use the seed of an equal or greater success."

1. First you would say: "In every failure I, [insert your name], can find
and use the seed of an equal or greater success.
2. Then you would restate it as: "In every failure you, [insert your name],
can find and use the seed of an equal or greater success."As you
say this, think of it as being said by someone close to you who
is encouraging you.
3. The third time you would say: "In every failure he/she, [insert your
lJE.IM], can find and use the seed of an equal or greater success."
This time, as you say it, think of it as being said by someone in
authority whom you admire, and they're praising you.

SAYING IT WHENEVER YOU CAN

Another technique that will help to fix your goal or desire in your
subconscious is to make it a part of your daily vocabulary. Look for
ways to include your affirmation in your normal everyday activities.
The opportunity may not come up often, but by keeping the possibility in
mind and looking for the chance to use a variation of your affirmation
in conversation, you also keep it forefront in your mind.

WRITING IT WITH FEELING

You will have already written a version of your affirmation when you
followed Hill's directions to create a formal written statement, and again
when you refined and polished the words that you used in creating
your affirmations. The suggestion here is simply that occasionally, in
addition to repeating your statement and affirmations out loud, you sit
down and write the words over and over.
Although this could be done at the computer, taking pen in hand
and writing out your affirmation over and over makes a different kind of
 AU T OSUGG EST ION 97

impression on your subconscious. In some way the act of actually writing NOTES & COMMENTS
your thoughts compels you to turn the words over in your mind. Anything
that helps to distinguish the words makes them more memorable, and
therefore plants them more firmly in your subconscious.
Just as saying your affirmation in the first, second, and third person
can be very effective, writing these three versions over and over can
make an even stronger impact. As you now know, your subconscious
does not question or evaluate the information it receives. By presenting
your subconscious with a written version, you have reached your sub-
conscious through another sense. Seeing your own name written out
and repeated as second- and third-person statements is a powerful
way to reinforce the message.

WRITING IT TO BE SEEN
Another value in writing out your affirmations is that you can place the
written versions where they will act as reminders. Write your affirmations
on cards or Post-its and put them in your wallet, on your desktop, or
stick them on your mirror, the refrigerator door, or anywhere else where
they will catch your eye.
A variation on the idea is to surround yourself with books, pictures,
m~ttoes, and other things that symbolize and reinforce the idea of you
succeeding at your goal. Hill suggests that you constantly add to your
collection of visual motivators, and move your pictures and reminders
to new places where you can see them in a different light and in asso-
ciation with different things.
Some people clip pictures of the cities they want to visit on vacation,
the dream car they want to be able to afford to buy, or clothes they want
to be slim enough to wear. We know of people who compile magazine
clippings illustrating an idea, put them into book form, and regularly flip
through it as a visual version of an affirmation. Some use computer
programs such as PhotoShop to insert their likeness into the pictures.
98 THINK AN D GROW RICH: THE 2 I ST-CENT URY EDITION WORKBOOK

NOTES & COMMENTS Bestselling motivational authors Mark Victor Hansen and Jack
Canfield are perfect examples of how well visual affirmations can work.
They tell the true story about the unique way they kept focused while
working together to write a book. After they came up with a title they
liked, they had it typed out in the same font as is used for the New York
Times bestsellers list, then they pasted their mock-up into the number-
one spot and hung copies of their version of the list in their office where
they could see it as they worked on their new book.
Incidentally, the book they were writing was Chicken Soup for the
Soul, and as the whole world must know by now, it wasn't long before
they were able to replace their visual affirmation with the real thing.

Can you really make something happen just by focusing on it in your

mind and repeating your affirmation over and over? Well, as we have
already said, the saying it over and over doesn't make it happen, but
saying it over and over does make it a part of you and your personality.
When your affirmation becomes a part of you and the way you
think, your subconscious will begin to pull together bits and pieces of
information that you otherwise might have missed, and you will find that
you are coming up with more and better plans and ideas to accomplish
your desires.

CREATIVE VISUALIZATION
The following description of the process of visualization is excerpted
and adapted from the directions for writing a formal statement of your
desire that appears in Think and Grow Rich: The 21 st -Century Edition.
To begin the visualization process, write a clear, concise
statement of the amount of money you intend to acquire.
Fix in your mind the exact amount of money you desire.
It is not sufficient merely to say "I want plenty of money:'
 AUTOSUGGESTION 99

Be definite about the amount. As you read, see and feel NOTES & COMMENTS
and believe yourself already in possession of the money.
When you concentrate on your aim or desire, visualize
yourself as you will be. Look ahead one, three, five, or
even ten years. See yourself as a person of influence, due
to your great ability. See yourself engaged in a life-calling
in which you will nor fear the loss of your position. See
yourself in your own home thar you have purchased with
the proceeds from your efforts as the success you wish
to be. See yourself in possession of a nice bank account
for your retirement. See yourself, in your imagination, in
possession of the money you wish to receive.
When you begin to "fix in your own mind the exact
amount of money you desire," close your eyes and hold
your thoughts on that amount until you can actually see
the physical appearance of the money. When visualizing
the money you intend to accumulate, see yourself render-
ing the service or delivering the merchandise you intend to
give in return for this money.
Make your subconscious believe that this money is
already waiting for you to claim it, so your subconscious
mind must hand over to you practical plans for acquiring
the money that is yours. When the plans appear, they
will probably "flash" into your mind in the form of an
inspiration or intuition.

CAN VISUALIZING SUCCESS REALLY MAKE IT HAPPEN?

Napoleon Hill is a convincing advocate for the theory, but is there any
proof that by holding a mental image in your mind it will subconsciously
change the way you think?
100 THINK AN D GROW RICH : T HE 2 1ST-CENTURY ED IT ION WORKBOOK

NOTES &COMMENTS A dramatic illustration that most readers will be able to relate to is
what would happen if you were walking along a garden path and you
suddenly catch a glimpse of something coiled in the grass at your feet.
Or what would happen if someone frantically points at your shoulder
and shouts, "Ohmygawd, it's huge and hairy!" Fear messages race to
your hypothalamus, your heart rate increases, your breathing becomes
rapid, your endocrine system fills your blood with increased adrenaline,
and in a split second your body is prepared for flight or fight.
It doesn't matter that what you saw was a garden hose, or that the
person pointing at you was just joking. In your mind's eye you saw a
snake in the grass or a spider on your shoulder, and that thought, that
visualization was enough to cause your whole body to change.
The reason you react so strongly to the snake or spider is that
you have attached a strong emotional charge to those images. If the
vision in your mind is vivid and real, then the meaning of that image
will be burned into your subconscious. The more often you visualize
that image, the deeper it will penetrate, until it becomes your natural
habit to respond that way. Your subconscious reacts to what is vividly
imagined as if it actually happened. So if your visualization of yourself
succeeding is as real to you as your mental image of the snake, then
the new mental pathways will come as quickly and naturally as your
flight or fight response.

CREATING THE MENTAL IMAGE

Creative visualization is like seeing in reverse. In real life, when you
look at something, "seeing" it is an interaction that takes place between
your eyes and your brain. If you see a real image in the real world and
then close your eyes, you can still see the picture of it inside your mind
as a mental image of what you saw. That is visualization.
However, what we refer to as creative visualization is like taking
the process of seeing and reversing it.
 AUTOSU G GESTION 101

Instead of seeing an image outside of you and re-creating it in NOTES & COMMENTS
your mind, creative visualization is seeing something inside your mind
and re-creating it in reality. Obviously that does not mean you can
visualize something physical, such as a book or a Rolls-Royce, and
suddenly make it appear in the real world. However, what you can do
is visualize something such as success, courage, or leadership and
have it appear within yourself.
Can you really make something happen just by focusing on it over
and over in your mind?
As we have said previously, visualizing it over and over doesn't
make it happen, but it's the visualizing that makes it a part of you
and your personality. Then it's up to you to take the visualization of
your desire-and your faith that you can accomplish it-and tum that
visualization into reality.

There are two areas in modern life where changing the way you
think about yourself is crucial, and in both of those areas you will
find that visualization is widely used and accepted.
In medicine it can literally mean life or death. In sports it can mean
fame and wealth. Because of the long and successful history of using
visualization in both sports and medicine, these two areas also have
the best documentation and the most convincing statistics.
In Think and Grow Rich: The 21 st-Century Edition, the editors
note that in the time since Napoleon Hill wrote about what he called
concentration, his technique of visualizing yourself succeeding has
become an accepted part of athletic and sports training. In fact, if you
read any book by a winning coach, sports star, or Olympic medalist
written since the 1970s, you will find that they all mention the use of
some form of visualization.
When you consider how much the skill levels have improved for
individual competitors in every sport, and how much of that improvement
102 THI N K AN D G ROW RICH : TH E 2 1ST-CENTURY EDITIO N WORK BOO K

NOTES &COMMENTS is attributed to visualization, it is only logical that creative visualization

applied to other nonathletic areas should have similar results.
Most athletes use this technique like a mental dress rehearsal of
a skill or talent that they have already developed. But as persuasive
as the athletic achievements are, even more impressive is what has
been achieved in medical science. It is especially true of the work that
is being done with the autoimmune system, the treatment of cancer,
and the field of pain control, where the most stunning advances are
not in improving performance but in changing performance by actually
altering the way the mind thinks and the body operates.
Although Napoleon Hill and a few others were writing about the
connection between the brain and the body at the beginning of the
twentieth century, it wasn't until the 1960s and 1970s that the concept
began to have a serious impact on the way medicine was practiced in
America. Two of the medical professionals who were instrumental in
introducing the technique were oncologist Dr. O. Carl Simonton, who
was teaching the technique to cancer patients, and Dr. David Bresler,
who was heading up the research at the UCLA Pain Control Unit.
At that time Dr. Simonton was beginning to document the success
he was having teaching cancer patients to visualize their cancer and
imagine an army of healthy white blood cells swarming over it like white
knights riding to the rescue and carrying off the malignant cells. When
used in conjunction with regular cancer treatments, Dr. Simonton's
spontaneous remission rate far exceeded nonnal. Dr. Bresler was having
similar success using visualization to help patients manage the pain of
backache, migraine headaches, and arthritis.
The books and academic papers written by Dr. Carl Simonton,
Dr. David Bresler, and a growing group of other pioneers in the field
began to attract the interest of not only the medical establishment
but also the media. This idea of self-healing was just the kind of thing
that appealed to the personal-growth movement that was becoming
 AUTOSUGGESTION !OJ

influential in America. The media picked up on it, and terms such as NOTES & COMMENTS
holistic medicine and body-mind connection became more and more
common in their reporting. The concept of the body-mind connection
was soon a part of the popular vocabulary and by the 1990s various
visualization techniques had found their way into mainstream medical
practice.
Today there are hundreds of books citing thousands of case histories
where patients learned to manage an acute medical condition, went
into long remission , and in some cases were cured through the use of
visualization. The method has become so accepted in the medical field
that it is no longer categorized as alternative medicine; it is now a part
of what is called integrative medicine.
If there are any lingering doubts in your mind that visualization
works, the editors urge you to investigate the books written about the
medical use of visualization. The authors are irrefutably credible and the
stories will convince you beyond question that visualization can have
a powerful impact on the way you think and how you succeed in life.

THE FIRST STEP IS TO RELAX

The first step in the process of visualization is to allow your body and
mind to relax into a calm, open, and receptive state of mind. So the first
thing to do is to select a time and a place where you can let yourself
relax and you won't be disturbed.
Choose a comfortable place to sit where you can rest your feet flat
on the floor.

Loosen any clothing that you find binding or constricting and let
your arms hang loosely with your hands resting in your lap.

Now close your eyes, place one hand lightly on your abdomen,
and take a deep breath, breathing the air in through your nose and
lelling it out through your mouth.
104 THI NK AND GROW RI CH : T HE 21 sT _CENTU RY EDITION WORK BOOK

NOTES &COMMENTS As you breathe in, do not try to fill your chest. Instead, as you take
each breath, think of the air filling your whole body so that both
your chest and abdomen expand.
If you are breathing as you should, each time you breathe in,
the hand you placed on your abdomen will be lifted out as your
abdomen expands along with your lungs.
Continue to breathe deeply as you let your breathing settle into a
slow, relaxed rhythm and you slowly count down from ten to one,
releasing all stress and tension in your body. As you count each
number, envision yourself on an escalator; with each number the
escalator takes you down to a deeper level of relaxed receptivity.

That simple exercise, which shouldn't take more than a few minutes,
will put you in a state of relaxed but receptive attention. At the end of
this chapter you will find a more detailed explanation of the ideal mental
state for visualization. However, at this point, knowing the relaxation
technique explained above is quite sufficient in order to move on to the
next step in the process.

WHAT PICTURES DO YOU SEE?

Although there is no one right way to use the technique of creative
visualization, most people find that the method works best if you can
hold the images in your mind and show your subconscious what you
want it to learn by moving from scene to scene.
Some people find that their visualizations are like movies, while
others don't see "pictures" at all. Instead, they see in visual symbols
that represent the idea behind their goal.
Napoleon Hill said that nothing has ever been created that did
not start as a thought. You cannot bake a cake or build a skyscraper
without first thinking about it. When you have a goal, you automatically
 AUTOSUGGESTION 105

form a picture in your mind. Research indicates that about 70 percent NOTES & COMMENTS
of people say they can easily create mental images, while the remain-
ing 30 percent feel that although they may have some trouble, they
can strengthen their ability with practice. The difference may be that
what they visualized was not what they expected.
What each individual person actually "sees" when they visualize
can vary greatly. Some people find that their visualizations come in full-
color mental movies, while others say that what they see is more like
a single scene that dissolves or morphs into something else. Others
report that they can create pictures but the scenes won't stay on
subject. It is also not uncommon for people who see pictures and scenes
to be concerned that their visualizations are more like something they
have made up or constructed rather than a picture of reality. And some
people don't see "pictures" at all. Instead, their mind 's eye presents
them with images or visual symbols that are metaphors for the idea
behind their goal. Some people report that their visualizations are more
like having a thought or an idea, rather than what it is like when they
see something.
If you are concerned that you won't be able to use the visualization
technique because you don't think you can create clear mental pictures,
you can set your mind at ease. All of these examples and practically
any other variation you can think of can be worked with and intensified
by practice. It is a matter of taking whatever comes to your mind's eye
-whether it is a full-blown movie; a shifting, flickering snapshot; or a
symbolic image-and visualizing it often enough that it will naturally
start to come into clearer, cleaner, sharper focus.
What if you fall asleep, or your mind wanders, or you can't make
heads or tails out of what you see, or you get so many images so fast
it doesn't make sense and you can't control it? The answer to all of
those questions is just give it time. Your pictures are there. You just
have to find them and give yourself a chance to understand them.
106 T HI NK AND GROW RICH : TH E 2P' -CENT URY EDITION WORKBOOK

NOTES & COMMENTS Professionals who teach visualization courses say that even if your
first attempts only produce vague images or flashes, in time virtually
everyone can leam to visualize in mental images. Many people who see
in symbols to begin with, find that as they work with their visualizations
the symbols just naturally make the transformation into realistic mental
pictures. The same is true for those who initially see only flashes of
indistinct single images. If you practice consistently you will find that
the images last longer and become clearer each time you repeat the
visualization. It is a matter of practice and familiarity.

MAKING MOVIES IN YOUR MIND

One technique that many professionals suggest is to visualize your
mental images as though they are literally the scenes in a film that is
appearing on a movie screen. Some believe it works best when you
treat it as a very personal experience in which you envision it as your
own private screening and you imagine the screen as though it is just
behind your eyelids. Others take exactly the opposite approach and
suggest that you visualize it as though you are seated in a movie theatre,
watching on a huge, towering screen that fills your entire mental field
of vision.
Whether your visualizations are something that just happen inside
your head, or whether you tum them into a widescreen spectacular, you
will likely find that your visualization allows you to use movie techniques
such as zooming in when you want to add details to your mental image,
or creating a mental match-dissolve when you want to impress upon
your subconscious the difference between the way things are IilOW

and how they will be when you have achieved your desire. Another
especially helpful film technique is the use of slow motion to slow things
down so that you can study every frame and make sure it is captured
and imprinted on yeur subconscious.
 AUTOSUGGESTION 107

Changing the point of view is another technique that will help burn NOTES & COMMENTS
the message of your visualization into your subconscious. Many people
naturally visualize in wide shots. Even if they zoom in when they are
filling out details, their master shot is to stand back and look at the
complete picture of themselves having accomplished their desire.
The most effective visualizations are those that focus on vivid mental
pictures that resonate with you on a personal and emotional level. Some
people create visualizations that focus on the process and play like a
plot that takes time to advance to the point where the aim has been
realized. Others focus on the goal and create a single panoramic scene
that illustrates their concept of having achieved success, and they zoom
in or cut to specific areas to focus on the details.
If your visualization is like a movie that moves from scene to scene,
see yourself in the scenes acting exactly as you would want to be if
you were overcoming obstacles and succeeding at your goal. Project
yourself and your personality so that you are acting as if you already
are the person you want to become.
If your style of visualization is to create a symbolic panoramic scene,
visualize your aim or desire in the present tense, as already existing the
way you want it to be. Use your imagination to form the picture as if it
were already a fact, and see yourself as an integral part of your vision,
feeling as though you have already accomplished your desire.
As you create the visualization of your desire, fill in every detail
that you can think of. If your visualization involves going somewhere
or doing something, create images of your actions right down to the
last detail. Where do the scenes take place? Is it outside or indoors?
Is it hot or cold? Is it bright or dark? If it's inside, how are the rooms
furnished? If it's outside, are there trees or pavement? Can you hear
traffic or birds? Do the sounds annoy you or soothe you? Keep building
up your visualization and giving meaning to every detail until it is so
complete that it looks like reality and feels like a real experience.
108 T HI NK AND GROW R ICH: THE 2 1ST-CENTURY EDIT ION WORKBOOK

NOTES &COMMENTS The more real and complete the visualized experience, the more
power your visualization will have to influence your subconscious.
One technique that can strengthen the impression is to talk to your
mind when you visualize the images-as though you are talking to
another person . Whether you do it mentally or out loud , if you use
words to accompany the images, it will help impress upon your sub-
conscious the mental picture you are visualizing and the idea behind it.
To keep your visualizations fresh and interesting, you should change
your point of view from time to time-similar to the affirmation technique
of saying your affirmation in the first, second, and third persons. If your
natural style is to create a broad picture of your success, you might
switch to seeing the entire success scenario in close-up. Or you could
get a sense of what it feels like to succeed by making yourself the
central figure in the scenario and looking out through those eyes to
see it from that pOint of view. Then see it from someone else's point of
view, as though you are standing beside someone you respect and that
person is watching the scene and cheering you on.
Jack Canfield, co-author of the Chicken Soup series of books,
teaches another three-step variation on the movie-theatre technique that
covers all the bases. He suggests that first you view your visualization
as though you are watching a movie playing on a theatre screen. Then
you walk up to the screen, open a door, and step inside the movie,
which plays again, but now you are in the movie and seeing it from that
point of view. And as a final step, you walk out of the screen, shrink the
screen down until it is like a cookie that you break into pieces and
swallow, making the whole visualization literally a part of you.

WHAT VISUALIZATION CAN OR CAN'T DO

Visualizing your desire can't put actual dollars in your bank or park a
Rolls-Royce in your driveway any more than it can make a cup and
saucer suddenly materialize on the desk in front of you. When you
 AUTOSUGGESTION 109

visualize yourself acquiring money, a car, or any other real object, what NOTES & COMMENTS
you are really doing is confirming to yourself the belief that you are
capable of making it happen. The vivid images that you create of your
desire are burned into your subconscious where they connect and
interact with other bits of information so that you automatically start
coming up with more and better ideas of how you can earn the money
to put in your bank so you can buy the Rolls-Royce.
Visualization doesn't create concrete objects; it creates attitudes
and ideas. When you change your attitudes and ideas, you go from
living inside your head to making things happen in the real world , and
then it is you, not your visualization, who takes action and makes the
concrete things come true.

VISUALIZATION AND NEGATIVE SELF·TALK

You are who you are because of what you keep in your mind and what
you tell yourself about yourself. And we all are talking to ourselves all
the time. Our minds are filled with mental chatter as we constantly flip
through our memory banks of thoughts and ideas-some important,
some nonsense-and a great many of which are remembrances of past
failures, embarrassments, criticisms, humiliations, doubts, and fears.
This negative self-talk, which some motivational experts refer to as
"rerunning old tapes," has a powerful effect on your self-confidence
and your faith in your abilities as you take on new challenges.
Visualization is one of the most effective ways to counteract the
effect of negative self-talk and feelings of failure, and it does so by
tapping into your positive self-talk. Just as recalling past embarrass-
ments will cause you to cringe even now, recalling past successes
and triumphs will do the same in reverse.
No one ever forgets what it felt like when they were on top of the
world. It's a rush of confidence, enthusiasm, and pride that is almost as
much physical as it is mental and emotional. Recapturing that winning
ll D THI NK AND GROW RI CH: T HE 21 sT_CENTU RY EDITION WO RKBOO K

NOTES & COMMENTS feeling is one of the greatest motivators you can tap into, and that is
what visualization can do. By mentally reexamining in detail the thoughts
and emotions going through your mind when you were exhilerated with
success, you can take those feelings and use them to overcome the
sabotaging negative self-talk. In effect, you can remake the way you
are feeling now by infusing it with the confidence and faith you felt
when you were a winner.

IMPROVE YOUR PERFORMANCE

Earlier we commented on the extensive use of visualization in the
medical profession, and we noted the ways it has been used by Olympic
athletes and sports stars, but two of the most influential pioneers in
using the technique were associated with the space program. Charles
Garfield, Ph.D., who wrote the bestseller Peak Performance, and Dennis
Waitley, author of The Winner's Edge, were consultants to NASA.
The intention of the program they worked on was to rehearse the
astronauts in every possible way so that they would be totally familiar
with everything they were to do while in space and every possible
disaster that might happen. This program included using leisure time
to visualize coping with emergencies. When tested, it was found that
those who had visualized the tasks handled their simulated disasters
most effectively. The astronauts were not just mentally convincing
themselves they could do something, they were actually rehearsing the
doing of it, and by rehearsing they were also improving their skills.
Because visualization allows you to zoom in for close-ups or slow
down the action, it is ideally suited to doing mental practice runs or
dress rehearsals to polish almost any kind of skill or talent. In addition
to motivating success and inspiring personal achievement, visualization
can be used to change behavior and improve performance in a wide
range of areas including reducing anxiety about public speaking; getting
rid of the fear of flying; improving reading speed and comprehension;
 AUTOSUGGESTION III

tackling weight control; eliminating bad habits such as substance NOTES & COMMENTS
abuse; improving any skill, talent, or sports ability; and improving your
interpersonal skills and your relationships with others.

EDITORS' RECOMMENDATIONS
The editors recommend the following list of books which are particularly
helpful in developing the technique of creating powerful mental imagery;
most are also available as audiobooks: Visualization: Directing the
Movies of Your Mind by Adelaide Bry; Creative Visualization by Shakti
Gawain; Psycho-Cybernetics by Dr. Maxwell Maltz; Peak Performance
by Charles Garfield; The Psychology of Winning by Dr. Dennis Waitley;
The Power of Visualization by Lee Pulos, Ph.D.; The Secret by Rhonda
Byrne; The Success Principle by Jack Canfield; Awaken the Giant
Within by Anthony Robbins; The Silva Method by Jose Silva; and
the collection of audiobooks featuring the Silva Method trainer Hans
Dejong, which includes an unusual method of quieting the mind using
an audio tone that is designed to put the mind in the alpha state.

PROGRESSIVE RELAXATION EXERCISE

Earlier we noted that to close this chapter we would present a description
of a more advanced relaxation technique. It is called a progressive
relaxation exercise, and it will take quite a bit longer the first few limes
you work with it, but once you have learned the method you will be able
to achieve a deep state of relaxation quickly and easily.
The human brain produces certain brain-wave patterns that can
be measured with an EEG machine. There are four different wave
patterns: Beta waves are what you produce when you are wide awake,
and theta and delta are the waves produced while deep asleep. Alpha
describes the brain-wave pattern produced when you are relaxed,
daydreaming, or when you are just drifting off or just waking up from
restful sleep. The ideal state of mind for working with visualization is
the alpha state.
Il 2 TH INK AND GROW R ICH : T H E 2 I ST_C ENT URY EDITION W ORKBOOK

NOTES & COMMENTS You can bring yourself to this ideal state of mind for visualization by
following the progressive relaxation process described below. Although
we have written it in a certain sequence to convey the idea of moving
from one muscle group to another, our version is not a special formula
that you need to memorize and follow to the letter. This relaxation exer-
cise is simply a sequence of breathing and releasing muscle tension
that follows an obvious progression that you will quickly recognize and
easily understand.
To begin, loosen any clothing that you find binding or constricting.
Sit in a comfortable place where you can rest your feet flat on the
floor. Let your arms hang loosely with your hands resting in your lap.

Now close your eyes, place one hand lightly on your abdomen ,
and take a deep breath, breathing the air in through your nose and
letting it out through your mouth.

As you breathe in, do not take the air in so you swell out your chest.
Take it in so that you fill both your chest and your abdomen.

As you take each breath, think of the air filling your whole body. If
you are breathing as you should, each time you breathe in, the
hand you placed on your abdomen should be lifted out as your
abdomen expands along with your lungs.

Breathe deeply as you settle into a relaxed rhythm. Release and

relax all stress and tension in your body. As you inhale, breathe in
the stillness around you. As you exhale, breathe out any tension.

As you quiet down, take notice of how your body feels, starting with
the toes on your right foot. Curl your toes, then let them uncurl and
relax. When you feel you can recognize the difference between tensed
and relaxed, shift your attention up to your right ankle and again
stretch and flex, noting the difference. Move further up, tighten and
relax the calf muscles, then bend and straighten your knee, noting the
 AUTOSUGGESTION 113

difference as your muscles contract. Move up to your thigh muscles, NOTES & COMMENTS
your hips, and finally your buttocks, tensing and releasing all the
way up until your whole leg is relaxed from your toes to your hip.
Now move to your left leg, tightening and releasing the muscles
until your left leg too is completely relaxed and comfortable.
Then work the muscles of your stomach and chest, tensing and
releasing. Now move your focus to your lower back and spine.
Next focus on your arms and upper torso. Work each arm individ-
ually, being aware of the muscles working as you curl your fingers
and close your thumbs, swivel your wrists, then progress up your
forearms, work your elbows, tighten and release your biceps,
and continue working all the way up to your shoulder blades,
your upper shoulders, and your neck muscles. With each set of
muscles, tighten and release until you can feel the tension leave,
allowing warmth and relaxation to fiood in and spread throughout
your body.
Now pay special attention to your face and scalp. Begin by making
yourself aware of how relaxed your body has become and let that
feeling of relaxation rise upward until it engulfs your neck, your
throat, and spreads across your cheeks, temples, forehead, and
scalp. Release your frown and allow your forehead to relax. Ease
the tightness in your jaw and let your mouth open a bit so the
tension can fiow out. Breathe deeply and release all tension. Now
let go completely and enjoy the release as all tension drains away.

If you repeat this progressive relaxation exercise at the same time

and in the same place every day, both your body and mind will soon
learn the technique and what it is intended to accomplish.
It will not be long before you will have only to take those first few
deep breaths, and your body and mind will automatically go to the alpha
level of deep relaxation and receptivity.