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I was once involved
in project with a man who was a real wizard at tackling problems.
When a very difficult situation arose, something that had me
completely baffled, I went to see him, announcing, "We have a
problem!" To this, he astonished me by saying,
"Congratulations!" But, I declared, "No fooling!
This is a very tough problem." Still, he was unimpressed and
said cheerily, "In that case, double congratulations."
Then, he added, "Always remember, that for every disadvantage
there is a corresponding advantage."
I began to
outline the situation. He listened carefully, his keen mind
concentrating on and sorting the material as I spoke. He grasped
the essence of the problem and proceeded to deal with it expertly.
First, he asked,
"Have you made a complete and detailed study of all the
factors involved? Do you honestly feel you're knowledgeable?"
He put my knowledge of the problem to the test by asking several
searching questions. Then, he asked me, "Is the organization
of your material as clear and concise as it should be? Let's
regroup it." He then engaged in a strange procedure, the
effectiveness of which I have recalled many times and have used
creatively on many problems.
He walked around
the table making a kind of heaping motion with his hands—as
though to bring all the elements of the problem together. Then, he
started poking at the accumulated problem with a long, narrow
forefinger. He had some arthritis, which had curved the finger and
caused knobs to develop on the joints. But, with that crooked
finger, he could point straighter into the heart of a problem than
most people can with a straight finger.
Finally, he said,
"There's a soft spot in every problem. All you've got to do
is to keep looking until you find it. Come here. I've found the
soft spot in this problem." He then worked his finger into
that problem, sort of the way a dog sets his teeth into a bone,
until he broke it into pieces. But, there was now an orderly
pattern in those pieces, and he found the answer. It proved to be
a good solution, too. "Just use you head, son, when a problem
comes along," he advised. "Study it until you're
completely knowledgeable. Then, find that weak spot. Break the
problem apart, and the rest will be easy."
It seems that all
successful problem solvers have a few things in common. They don't
allow themselves to be overwhelmed by problems, and they certainly
don't get frightened by them. Instead, they coolly and factually
study the problem in depth and from all angles. They get advice
from experts and others who have faced similar problems. They
probe and examine and take the problem apart until there's nothing
that they don't know about it.
Your mind is a
great tool. If you learn to exercise mental calmness, plus will
and persistence, you can think your way through anything. When
you're in the midst of a challenge, you may not realize it, but
deeply buried in the unconscious, a process of problem solving is
going on. Ideas for meeting the situation are trying to float to
the surface.
Remember that
your mind always wants to help you, and will, if you permit it to
do so. But panic, hysteria, even relatively mild emotions keep the
surface of the mind in a state of disturbance, making it
impossible for sound insights to rise from the deeper levels of
consciousness.
When a problem
arises, here's what to do. Take a deep breath. Take yourself
resolutely in hand and insist upon reacting calmly. Achieve
emotional balance and then firmly maintain it.
I once read a
story about an American sailor during the Korean conflict who
really showed that he could think even in the most desperate of
situations. It seems that an American destroyer laid anchor in
harbor one clear moonlit night. The quartermaster making a routine
check of the ship suddenly stopped short. He saw a big black
object floating not far off. Aghast, he realized at once that it
was a floating contact mine which had broken loose from a mine
field and was slowly drifting with ebbing tide toward the ship.
Grabbing the
intercom, he quickly summoned the captain and duty officer to the
scene. A general alarm was sounded. The entire ship went into
action. Officers and men stared fearfully at the slowly
approaching mine.
Feverishly, the
situation was appraised as disaster hung in the balance. Various
suggestions were rapidly put forward by the officers: Should they
up anchor? No. There wasn't time. Start the engines and shift the
position of the ship? No. That wasn't feasible, for the propeller
wash would only suck the mine inward more rapidly. Could the mine
be exploded with gunfire? No. It was too close to the ship's
magazine. What then should be done? Launch a boat and push it away
with poles? This wouldn't work, for it was a contact mine and
there was no time to disarm it. Tragedy seemed imminent.
Suddenly, an
ordinary seaman out-thought all his superior officers. "Get
the fire hoses," he shouted. Everyone instinctively realized
that his suggestion made sense. A stream of water was played into
the sea between the ship and floating mine, creating a current
that carried the mine into waters where it was safely exploded by
gunfire.
Quite a man, that
ordinary seaman. He had within himself the ability to think cool
and straight in a crisis situation. Such abilities are definitely
built into each of us, perhaps to a greater extent in some more
than in others, but no normal human being is lacking in creative
potential.
No matter what
difficulty or crisis affects your life, you can handle it if only
you think you can. Thinking positively about your ability tends to
release positive mental forces that produce effective action.
Sigmund Freud
once said, "The chief duty of a human being is to endure
life." At first sight, that statement sounds heroic, and
perhaps it is. Certainly, it contains an element of profound
truth. But, if that were the whole story, life would be bleak
indeed.
I would rather
take the position that the chief duty of a human being is to
master life, and despite all its pain and difficulty, one can do
just that—if he will think and work and study and believe and
pray, too.
If you're
hampered by doubt, the cure begins when you decide that you really
want to change. When you become very determined and are able to
say, "I do want to believe in myself."You never really
know what you can do until you try. And, if you keep moving ahead
with determination, thinking positively at all times, trying over
and over again, you will not fail.
If you feel you
could improve your ability to believe, here are a few suggestions.
They are simple concrete things that you can do each day. With
repetition, thinking in this manner will become natural to you and
you will find that you are feeling more confident that you do
believe in yourself.
Whenever a
negative thought about yourself comes to mind, deliberately voice
a positive thought to cancel it out. Don't build up obstacles in
your imagination—minimize them instead.
If you want to
eliminate a difficulty, study it thoroughly, but always see it
realistically. See it for what it really is. Never inflate a
problem by fearful thoughts. Never think of yourself as failing.
Such thinking can be very dangerous, for the mind always tries to
complete what it pictures. Instead, stamp indelibly on your mind a
mental picture of yourself succeeding. Repeat to yourself over and
over and over, "I can. I can. I can." That message will
soon extinguish all thoughts to the contrary.
Now, we've all
seen how people can sentence themselves to failure by constantly
telling themselves all the things they can't do. But, here's an
example of a young man who never let such notions keep him down
for long.
His story began a
long time ago in Kansas City. He was a young fellow with an urge
to draw, and he went from newspaper to newspaper trying to sell
his cartoons. But each editor informed him coldly—and perhaps a
bit cruelly—that he had no talent and advised him to forget it.
And, yet, this young man couldn't forget his dream, for it had
grabbed him and wouldn't let him go.
Finally, a pastor
employed him for a pittance to draw advertising pictures for
church events. Needing a place to sleep and to draw, he was told
that he could stay in a room over the church garage—a
mouse-infested attic.
And, what do you
know! One of those mice became famous around the world—as did
the young artist. This was the birth of Mickey Mouse and the
beginning of Walt Disney's legendary career.
It was
Demosthenes who observed, "Small opportunities are often the
beginnings of great enterprises."
In those early
days when he had scarcely two nickels to rub together and everyone
was giving him the brush-off, it would have been easy for Walt
Disney to become sour and bitter. But, he didn't. He just kept
believing in himself and imagining and working until his dreams
became quite real. He expected a miracle, and finally that's what
he got.
The technique
used by Walt Disney and by countless others to make their dreams
become reality can be broken down into what I call "The law
of successful achievement." And, here's how it works: First,
you have to have a goal. Not a vague, fuzzy goal but a sharply
focused objective. You must know where you want to go and what you
want to be, and have no doubt about it.
From what I've
seen from all sorts of people, the ones who make the grade
creatively and who come up with the greatest accomplishments are
those who might be described as "organized individuals."
And, here, I'm referring to inner organization in which mind,
spirit, and purpose operate in harmonious unity.
Failure comes
most often to people who are shattered—unable to focus
themselves. Everything seems to elude them. Their grasp is weak.
Their direction vague. Their impact uncertain.
If you want to do
something and do it well, you have to get pulled together. That
means organizing your entire being so that every element of your
personality is operating harmoniously.
With inner
conflicts resolved and clarity established, all your talents get a
"go" signal to function in a unified manner. People who
are pulled together waste little energy. They never keep
themselves from getting what they want.
To get anywhere
in life, you have to be motivated, and that motivation must be
directed or channeled. You have to know what you want to do. What
you can do best. Where you want to go and how to get there. This
is a big part of being focused and organized. And, to all this
must be added "deep desire." A driving force and the
willingness to work, work, work, and never, never give up.
The second step,
a very practical part of this process, is to pray about your goal.
You need to be sure that your objective is the right one, because
if it isn't right, it's wrong, and nothing wrong ever turned out
right in the long run.
The third part of
this law of successful achievement is to picture your goal clearly
and hold this image tenaciously in your conscious mind. Don't let
it slip or fade.
After a while,
the goal sinks into your subconscious, and when you have it firmly
fixed there, you've arrived. You have it! Why? Because, it has
you—all of you. Your hopes. Your thoughts. Your efforts.
Dynamic thinking
like this affects the outcome of a situation because there is a
deep tendency in human nature to become precisely like that which
we habitually imagined ourselves to be.
The word
"imagination" actually implies "imaging," and
that is a very important part of achieving your goal. When you
form a concrete image of yourself in the place or situation you
long for and continually see yourself there and feel yourself
there as if it were happening this minute, without a doubt, one
day you will be there.
Another term for
the imaging procedure is "creative anticipation." The
first time I heard this phrase was from a psychologist trying to
help a young man who was caught in a spiraling pattern of repeated
failure.
He explained that
the trouble with this young man is that subconsciously he always
expects the worst to happen. With that expectation, his mind tends
to picture that failure situation and then create it.
To halt this
process, he must be taught to expect the best and to confidently
imagine successful outcomes. After a while, the practice of
creative anticipation should teach him to believe in his own
potential. And, indeed, once the man learned to think confidently,
he began expecting good things to happen, and they did.
Gradually, this
became his pattern. The person who visualizes himself achieving,
rather than failing, and who is willing to pay the price of
intensive study and sustained effort, is the person who advances
toward his goal.
That mental
vision is vital, for what we become is closely related to our
basic self-image. What we think and what we visualize is to a
large degree what we are bound to become.
Years ago, I
heard a story that has stayed with me because it confirms both the
power of the self-image and the creative anticipation principle.
It seems that a famous trapeze performer had a group of
students—young people who were eager to become performing stars.
The class went through all the lesser stunts. Now the time came
for each to perform on the high trapeze bar. All but one got
through this test satisfactorily. This student looked up at the
bar, and at once a negative self-image took over. He visualized
the worst. One slip and he would plunge to the ground. He froze.
He couldn't move a muscle. His imagination prevented him from
performing.
Terrified, the
boy stammered, "I can't. I cannot do it. I see myself
falling. I just cannot do it." The older man stepped in,
"If I did not know you were capable, I would not ask you to
do this. Look. I'll tell you how. First, throw your heart over
that bar up there, and your body will follow."
He meant, of
course, to throw faith and confidence and an image of achievement
over the difficulty, and the material part would follow along
naturally. It was very wise advice.
The boy's
thinking unfroze. The mental image was changed, and he was finally
able to pass his test without incident.
Now, for the
fourth element of successful achievement—put strong positive
thoughts behind your goal. Never let negative thoughts surround
you, for the negative thinker unleashes destructive forces that
can destroy him . It's the law of attraction at work. Light
attracts light. Thoughts of a kind have a natural affinity.
By sending out
negative thoughts, the negative thinker activates the world around
him negatively. He t ends to draws back to himself negative
results. The positive thinker, on the other hand, sends out
optimistic thoughts and, thus, activates the world around him
positively.
On the basis of
the same law of attraction, he draws back to himself positive
thoughts. He works and keeps on working. He thinks and keeps on
thinking. He believes and keeps on believing. He never lets
up—never gives in. He gives the effort the full treatment of
positive faith and action. Result: His dreams comes true. He can
because he thinks he can.
As you encounter
life's challenges or as you dream your dreams, never write off
anything as impossible. Remember, you have the mental capacity to
think your way through any problem if you draw fully upon your
mind. Think hopefully. Get your mental powers really working, and
things can turn out better than they now appear.
Everyone
encounters defeating factors in life. But those who think they can
do not give in. By drawing upon their inner powers of mind and
spirit, they simply refuse to be defeated. They know that even the
most difficult situation can be overcome. So, they proceed to
overcome them. The hopeful thinker projects hope and faith—both
miracle elements—into the darkest situation and lights it up. As
long as you keep the crippling thought of defeat out of your mind,
defeat cannot defeat you. You can be a winner.
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