As A man Thinketh by James Allen is a quick read that everyone needs to have in their library.
It's a book that's recommended by all of the self-help guru's, including Tony Robbins, and many of the worlds most influential leaders and entrepreneurs. The message is simple and it's a boko that you can easily read in an hour.
As you think, you shall become.
That little phrase is the underlying message of the book. James Allen was one of the first to discover this simple fact.
The theme of all of Allen's works is that each one of us has the power to form our own character and to create our own happiness. The conditions of our lives are closely related to our inner state. Allen encourages his readers to think positive thoughts, which will inevitably lead them to take positive actions.
This concept is also what the book The Secret and the whole “law of attraction” is based on. By focusing on the positive, you attract more positive in your life. By focusing on the negative, you attract the negative. But, this book is a lot deeper than that. James Allen also talks about how disease and health are related to your thoughts. In fact, everything about WHO YOU ARE is made up by your thoughts.
Disease and health, like circumstances, are rooted in thought. Sickly thoughts will express themselves through a sickly body. Thoughts of fear have been known to kill a person as speedily as a bullet, and they are continually killing thousands of people just as surely though less rapidly. The people who live in fear of disease are the people who get it. Anxiety quickly demoralizes the whole body and lays it open to the entrance of disease; while impure thoughts, even if not physically indulged, will soon shatter the nervous system.
I've heard crazy success stories of people with only a few weeks to live, and through the power of their thoughts and psychology, they manage to overcome death. On the other hand, some people when they're told they have a few weeks to live, they accept their fate and die. That's the power of our thoughts.
That same person with only a “few weeks to live” could end up living 10+ more years, if the person wasn't told that information. It's when you believe that you will die, you will die. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy.
We should conceive of a legitimate purpose in our hearts and set out to accomplish it. We should make this purpose the centralizing point of our thoughts. It may take the form of a spiritual ideal or it may be a wordly object, according to our nature at the time. But whichever it is, we should steadily focus our thought forces upon the object, which we have set before us. We should make this purpose our supreme duty and should devote ourselves to its attainment, not allowing our thoughts to wander away into ephemeral fancies, longings, and imaginings. This is the royal road to self-control and true concentration of thought. Even if we fail again and again to accomplish our purpose, the strength of character gained will be the measure of our true success, and this will form a new starting-point for future power and triumph.
Powerful stuff. Absolutely amazing. This book is a MUST!
In my own case, I have a special time management system that I use which is designed to keep me focused on proactive towards my purpose and vision everyday. By virtue of creating my purpose and focusing on it everyday, I achieve. If you're interested more about this, check out My Life Plan video blog.
And no doubt what James Allen says about failure. There is no failure, only learning. Every failure or experience makes us STRONGER in some way, whether you believe that or not.
All that we achieve and all that we fail to achieve is the direct result of our own thoughts.
This is why we must learn to manage our thoughts and psychology. 80% of anything is psychology. We literally have the power to shape our own destiny – our own lives. Anyone that has become successful with anything has taken control of their thoughts and created what they now have. This is the most important step, above anything.
Cherish your visions; cherish your ideals; cherish the music that stirs in your heart, the beauty that forms in your mind, the loveliness that drapes your purest thoughts, for out of them will grow all delightful conditions, all heavenly environments; of these, if you but remain true to them, your world will at last be built.
The greatest achievement was at first and for a time a dream. The oak sleeps in the acorn; the bird waits in the egg; and in the highest vision of the soul a waking angel stirs. Dreams are the seedlings of realities.
As A Man Thinketh by James Allen is by far one of my favourite books and as mentioned earlier, a must-read for anyone seeking a better quality of life. Click this link to check it out on Amazon.