Concept: Your subconscious tricks
Over the last 100 or so years, we as a people have been going back and forth as to what, exactly, the subconscious is. Many have devoted a lifetime to this, yet there is still no conclusive answer. We have, however, learned a few neat tricks along the way that are worth knowing.
One of the most common analogies is that the subconscious is much like a super computer. It can process things at an unbelievable speed, but it just can’t make up its own mind. If you have ever gone to a large group-awareness training seminar, you will have heard the genie analogy. In this analogy, your subconscious is like a genie that grants wishes. You think to yourself: make me a million dollars. The genie says “ok.” The next minute, you think to yourself: this is never going to work. The genie says “ok.”
It’s not this black and white, and many people confuse this biological process for “The Law of Attraction.” The prevailing view is that you do not have superpowers that let you control the universe as a whole. You do, however, have the ability to trick your brain into doing some pretty amazing things. For example, when you are thinking about buying a new car, suddenly there are new cars all over the place.
Remember, we learn by emotional impact or by repetition. So if you want to become a millionaire, you have two options: You can have the love of your life break up with you because you don’t have enough money. (Make sure that she makes a big, dramatic scene about it and that you are utterly devastated.) Or you can repeat to yourself 100 times a day “I am millionaire.” It should be noted that this is no guarantee. All that these two techniques are doing is convincing your subconscious of what you want. Your subconscious will then devote quite a bit of brain power to getting you what you want…until one day you wake up and find a very clever way to make a million dollars. This is why so many things have been invented in dreams.
(insert picture of a man repeating to himself “I am a millionaire” and a picture of a woman walking out the door saying “you’re too poor”)
Before you traumatize yourself or repeat some goal until it and you are one and the same, be warned that you can accomplish anything to the exception of everything else. It is unfortunate to be rich without love, and inconvenient to be in love with out money.
One thing that some of the greatest speakers always say is “admire successful people.” This isn’t just so that you learn from them and buy their same speech on CD at 10 times the price as you can find it on ebay. The admiration of success is a powerful thought, if you make it part of your very existence. If you truly admire successful people, what you are telling your subconscious is that to be successful is a good thing: “I would like to learn how these people have achieved their success, and I would like such success for myself. I would like to abandon the notion, which many of us were brought up with, that to be happy, healthy, wealthy and wise is a bad thing. It is a good thing if I am more successful. Then I can use my success to help myself and those around me.”
(insert chart of good things a person has cut off by success ceiling and the things they could have if they broke through it)
There is an obstacle called the success ceiling. Your brain has a defensive mechanism that prevents you from taking too big a risk. Your subconscious does this by finding a capping point (a ceiling) at which you should stop. At a certain point, your brain thinks “Ok, at least I am well fed. That will have to do. Let’s not do anything stupid that will get us back to being hungry.” What you want to do is convince yourself that it is easy, and not at all risky, to strive for something greater. If you successfully achieve this, your brain will be on the lookout for the next great thing that will make you even more likely to survive. The trick is to have no excuses. Never say to yourself that because you are white you can’t be an amazingly successful rapper; or that you can’t be the best golfer ever because you are black; or that you can’t write a book because you are dyslexic.