Russell H. Conwell

I have in my awareness, right now, everything that I need to create the success that I want. The question is if I value it. The metaphorical story of Acres of Diamonds is that a man sold his land to go out in search of new opportunity for wealth. After struggling for years, he soon found that that the land that he sold was filled with diamonds. In other words, he had access to the opportunity, but because he did not take the time to really value what he had, to educate himself on what he had, he was not able to recognize the truth: That the answers are always in front of my face

My own Acres of Diamonds

• Each of us is right in the middle of our own Acres of Diamonds
  • I must go within and remove old subconscious programming and replace it with empowering, possibility-based success consciousness-based programming
  • When I do this, I will be able to recognize that the circumstances, the situations, the environment, that I have right now is actually an opportunity. Each of these contain within it knowledge and wisdom that, when acquired, will transform the current circumstance into success and propel me, if I wanted to be so, out of that circumstance into another circumstance in which I will learn and repeat the lesson over and over again creating for myself more and more success
• Napoleon Hill, Think & Grow Rich
  • A great many years ago I purchased a fine dictionary. The first thing I did with it was to turn to the word "impossible," and neatly clip it out of the book. That would not be an unwise thing for you to do
• Opportunity is there all the time
  • When I change the way I look at things, the things I look at change
  • Opportunities multiply as they are seized - Sun Tzu
• In life, when I go searching for "something," I should know what that "something" looks, smells, and tastes like so that I can recognize it when I find it
• Faith (Think and Grow Rich)
  • In connection with this, consider again the statement, all thoughts which have been emotionalized, (given feeling) and mixed with faith, begin immediately to translate themselves into their physical equivalent or counterpart
  • My belief, or faith, is the element which determines the action of my subconscious mind
  • The subconscious mind will transmute into its physical equivalent, by the most direct and practical media available, any order which is given to it in a state of belief, or faith that the order will be carried out
  • A mind dominated by positive emotions, becomes a favorable abode for the state of mind known as faith. A mind so dominated may, at will, give the subconscious mind instructions, which it will accept and act upon immediately

Begin where I am and what I am

• Maintain a ready mind. Be open to the possibilities around me
• Learn what people want, then give it to them
  • How can I speak to them, based on where they are and what they may or may not know what they are looking for?
  • What are their emotional hot points an dhow could I tie them into the benefits of doing business with me?
  • How can I get more personal, one on one in tone and show them that I understand them?
  • How can I take my entire marketing and selling and design it in a way that is easier for them to comprehend?
  • How can I leave them better off now that they have crossed paths with me?
  • How to increase and demonstrate my trustworthiness?
  • How does my story relate to theirs?
  • How can I be more clear on the step is want them to take?
  • What create ways can I quantify my value proposition?
  • What are better ways that I can turn the risk around
• I become what I think about (The Strangest Secret)
  • Marcus Aurelius said "A man's life is what his thoughts make of it"
  • Disraeli said "Everything comes if a man will only wait, I've brought myself by long meditation to the conviction that a human being with a settled purpose must accomplish it and that nothing can resist a will that will stake even existence for its fulfillment"
  • William James said "The greatest discovery of my generation is that human being can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind. We need only in cold blood act as if the thing in question were real and it will become infallibly real by growing into such a connection with our life that it will become real. It will become so knit with habit and emotion that our interest in it will be those which characterize belief. If you only care enough for a result, you will almost certainly attain it. If you wish to be rich, you will be rich. If you wish to be learned, you will be learned. If you wish to be good, you will be good. Only you must really wish these things and wish them exclusively and not wish at the same time a hundred other incompatible things just as strongly."
  • Dr. Norman Vincent Peale said "This is one of the greatest laws in the universe, fervently do I wish I had discovered it as a very young man. It dawned upon me much later in life and I found it to be one of the greatest, if not my greatest, discovery outside of my relationship with God. The great law briefly and simply stated is that if you think in negative terms, you will get negative results. If you think in positive results, you will achieve positive results. That is the simple fact which is at the basis of an astonishing law of prosperity and success. In three words: Believe and succeed.
  • George Bernard Shaw said "People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want and if they can't find them, make them."
  • The human mind is much like a farmer's land. The land gives the farmer a choice. He may plant in that land whatever he chooses. The land doesn't care what is planted. It's up to the farmer to make the decision. The mind, like the land, will return what I plant, but it doesn't care what I plant. If the farmer plants two seeds and a seed of corn, the other nightshade, a deadly poison, waters and takes care of the land, what will happen?
• Persistence is a state of mind, therefore it can be cultivated. Like all states of mind, persistence is based upon definite causes, among them these:
  1. Definiteness of Purpose. Knowing what one want sis the first and, perhaps, the most important step toward the development of persistence. A strong motive forces one to surmount many difficulties
  2. Desire. It is comparatively easy to acquire and to maintain persistence in pursuing the object of intense desire
  3. Self-Reliance. Belief in one's ability to carry out a plan encourages one to follow the plan through with persistence
  4. Definiteness of Plans. Organized plans, even though they may be weak and entirely impractical, encourage persistence
  5. Accurate Knowledge. Knowing that one's plans are sound, based upon experience or observation, encourages persistence; "guessing" instead of "knowing" which destroys persistence
  6. Cooperation. Sympathy, understanding, and harmonious cooperation with others tend to develop persistence
  7. Will-Power. The habit of concentrating one's thoughts upon the building of plans for the attainment of a definite purpose, leads to persistence
  8. Habit. Persistence is the direct result of habit. The mind absorbs and becomes a part of the daily experiences upon which it feeds. Fear, the worst of all enemies, can be effectively cured by forced repetition of acts of courage. Everyone who has seen acts of service in war knows this
• Overcoming Fear (Think & Grow Rich)
  • Before I can put any portion of this philosophy into successful use, my mind must be prepared to receive it. The preparation is not difficult. It begins with study, analysis, and understanding of three enemies which I shall have to clear out. These are Indecision, Doubt, and Fear!
  • Indecision is the seedling of Fear! Remember this, as I read. Indecision crystalizes into Doubt, the two blend and become Fear! The "blending" process often is slow. This is one reason why these three enemies are so dangerous. They germinate and grow without their presence being observed
  • Do not be deceived by the habits of these subtle enemies. Sometimes they remain hidden in the subconscious mind, where they are difficult to locate, and still more difficult to eliminate

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