CHAPTER SUMMARY
Lesson 12 — Concentration
Defining Concentration
Concentration is the act of focusing the mind upon a given desire until ways and means for its realization have been worked out and successfully put into operation
There are two important laws to keep in mind when engaging in the act of Concentration. One is the law of Auto Suggestion and the other is the law of Habit.
Uncovering Auto Suggestion
Auto Suggestion is a process of relative ease. It’s simply this “ write down the object of your desire then read it aloud several times every day until it is impressed in your subconscious mind.” This is one of the core concepts in Napoleon Hill’s book. It’s a way of conditioning or reprogramming your subconscious mind. The subconscious mind has all the resources to make things happen for you.
If you’re NOT conditioning your subconscious mind, then you’re probably either getting the same old thing or worse, opening yourself up to negative or self-destructive programming from outside sources like TV and other media outlets. The subconscious mind is the intermediary between the conscious thinking mind and infinite intelligence.
HUH, Infinite Intelligence!?
YES! Infinite intelligence. The highest intelligence born through the spirit. So far, man hasn’t learned how to appropriate this use of intelligence. There are a few expectations, men such as Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Confucius and a comparatively small number of others of their type have uncovered and accessed this great truth.
Hill suggests Infinite intelligence can be invoked with the aid of the sub-conscious and giving it clear instructions via your definite chief aim. Infinite intelligence works by giving you the moral framework and the courage needed to pursue your dreams in service of others. Money isn’t the goal of infinite intelligence, it’s merely a by-product of the value you bring to society.
Another way to say it:
The subconscious mind has one outstanding characteristic. It records the suggestions which you send it through Auto-Suggestion and invokes the aid of infinite intelligence in translating these suggestions into their natural physical form, through natural means which are in no way out of the ordinary
Another outstanding characteristic of the subconscious mind is that it accepts and acts upon all suggestions that reach it, whether they are constructive or destructive, and whether they come from the outside or your self-conscious mind.
Law of Habit
Habit is the act of doing the same thing, thinking the same thoughts over and over again in the same way.
The following are rules of a procedure through which you may form the habits you desire:
- Use force and enthusiasm into the expression of your new habit e.g. Sitting at your desk and writing. Make yourself sit there for at least 1 min and open your book and start writing. Don’t try to make sense of what you writing just write what you’re feeling in the moment, it may even be what’s in your visual cue at the time. Describe your book, what did you do today? whom did you meet? what was said on social media?. Be enthusiastic, at least have a smile on your face as your writing, imagine all the things you hate doing and realize that they’re not what you’re engaged in. BE IN THE MOMENT.
- Keep your attention firmly on the new path and to building it connections, and keep your mind away from old paths as you’ve learnt your lessons from what you’ve tried and failed.
- Use this newly built routine as often as possible. Carve out a section of time each day where you’ll sole focus will be to travel this new path. Go over this new path often and soon they will become more natural and be instilled into your character.
- Planning from the very beginning is crucial, it will require you to say NO! and you will often be pulled into venturing down the older paths, but you MUST RESIST and stay true to your Chief Definite Aim. Using tools such as the “Do not disturb” mode on your phone to block out social media is recommended as well as creating a quiet space for yourself when creating a new habit. Every time you resist a notification, social media post or youtube video, your programming your mind towards something more important (Your Chief Definite Aim), this will only become easier with repetition. Likewise, every time you yield to temptation, you’re only making it easier to yield again and more so, you’re reducing the value of the work that you’re engaged in. You will have to fight in the beginning, proving to yourself what you’re worth. FIGHT ON! Prove your determination, persistency and will-power now, at the very beginning.
You might’ve noticed that there is a close relationship between Habit and Auto-Suggestion.
Habit, an act repeatedly performed in the same manner through which it tends to become permanent, and eventually, we come to perform the act automatically or unconsciously.
Auto-Suggestion, a tool with which we dig a mental path; Concentration is the hand that holds this tool; and Habit is the blueprint which the mental path follows.
“An idea or desire, to be transformed into terms of action or physical reality, must be held in the conscious mind faithfully and persistently until habit begin to give it permanent form.”
Attention on Environment
Our environment has a direct influence on our personality. We must prioritise its creation and development. In doing this, we can draw out only that which is fit to the purpose, our Chief Definite Aim in life.
The mind feeds upon that which we supply it, or that which is forced upon it, through our environment. Therefore, let us select and control our environment, as far as possible.
Where to Look
Your Daily Associates
Here, you’ll find the most important and influential parts of your environment. Those whom you choose to spend your time with must show sympathy for your aims and ideals. Their mental attitude should inspire you with enthusiasm, self-confidence, determination and ambition.
Remember that all which registers in your brain can influence you.
Your Clothes
How you look and what you wear says a lot about your character before you even speak your mind. Therefore, it’s important to have a wardrobe worthy of your character and that which allows you to have confidence in the things that you’re engaged in. Loose and shapeless clothing can have the same effect on your mindset and likewise, compact and well-fitted clothing will allow you to work steadily with purpose.
Your Work Environment
A well-organised desk indicates a well-organised brain. Enough said.
Another Notable Influence: Memory
The principles through which an accurate, unfaltering memory may be trained are few and comparatively simple:
- Retention: The recording of an impression, in an orderly fashion, in the mind. A comparison to files and the folders which they are in, within your computer.
- Recall: This is a process which can be developed through a card index and pulling out a card on which information had been previously recorded.
- Recognition: The ability to recognise a sense impression when it is called into the conscious mind, and to identify it as being a duplicate of the original impression, and to associate it with the source from which it came when it was first recorded. This process enables us to distinguish between “memory” and “imagination”.
How to apply these principles:
First: When recalling a name or process, be sure to make the impression vivid by concentrating your attention upon it by using the law of habit.
Second: Associate that which you wish to remember with some other object that you can already recall with ease, as to categorising it for retrieval at a later date in a space which is easy to access. For example, the name of a person whom you know will automatically include the characteristics of that person which have been left with you through the interactions that you had with them.
Third: Now, attach a time, place or event to this recall and repeat the recall whilst you’re at that time, place or event.
Final Thoughts:
Your ability to train your memory, or to develop any desired habit, is a matter, solely, of being able to fix your attention on a given subject until the outline of that subject has been thoroughly impressed upon the mind.
Concentration, itself, is nothing but a matter of control of the attention!
From this lesson, this is what I want from you -
From a mental stimulus, created by will-power, You progressed in habit building. Day after day, You practised Concentration of thought. When you found comfort in repetition, that is when you knew that you had won.
Take Care,
Sai Penukonda
Summarized works: The Law of Success by Napoleon Hill: https://amzn.to/2ycdhjE
