Those close to me for the past two years have seen a remarkable turnaround.
I went from a reckless college freshman with poor grades to a graduate of the Starter League with a growing startup. It is early days, but no one from my old school can believe it now I use my time constructively, stopped partying, and wear Ralph Lauren.
One of the main reasons this has happened - bar adversity and going back to church - is a principle called Autosuggestion. Autosuggestion is really self-suggestion or talking to yourself.
Now this already sounds crazy, and it is. It is the weirdest thing you will read all day. But interesting enough, it works.
"If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed." ~ Hitler.
Now Hitler was a bad guy. This cannot be disputed. And he used the principle of autosuggestion for evil. But that is not the only use of this principle.
Excerpts: Napoleon Hill, Think and Grow Rich
NO THOUGHT, whether it be negative or positive, CAN ENTER THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND WITHOUT THE AID OF THE PRINCIPLE OF AUTO-SUGGESTION, with the exception of thoughts picked up from the ether. Stated differently, all sense impressions which are perceived through the five senses, are stopped by the CONSCIOUS thinking mind, and may be either passed on to the subconscious mind, or rejected, at will. The conscious faculty serves, therefore, as an outer-guard to the approach of the subconscious.
Being an earnest student of psychology, I knew, of course, that all men have become what they are, because of their DOMINATING THOUGHTS AND DESIRES. I knew that every deeply seated desire has the effect of causing one to seek outward expression through which that desire may be transmuted into reality. I knew that self-suggestion is a powerful factor in building character, that it is, in fact, the sole principle through which character is builded.
Your ability to use the principle of auto-suggestion will depend, very largely, upon your capacity to CONCENTRATE upon a given DESIRE until that desire becomes a BURNING OBSESSION.
So this is what I did.
- Listed set of goals, character traits, and skills I'd like to possess
- Went to my computer and went to the voice recording application
- Recorded myself repeating that goals, character trait, or skills for 45 seconds to one minute
- Said the statement is a personal, positive, and present form ("I have all A's this semester)
- Converted audio files to MP3s and made myself the artist
- Put them on my iPhone
- Every morning in the car repeated them to myself as my voice was saying them in my ear
- Achieved goals and added new ones
Again, this is insane, weird, mystical, you name it. But it works, and I do it all the time. Try it.
This post was written by Mike Adeleke, Founder of Edopter. Edopter aims to be the Klout for early adopters. We are building an exclusive club for us early adopters able to interact with startup companies like never before. For early access, sign up for our beta (Edopter) and catch us on Twitter (EdopterHQ) on Twitter to stay posted. We're Hiring!
