Success Means Having Arrived

Many people reading so-called personal development or self improvement articles or, indeed, any of the vast number of self help books that continue to proliferate will know all about the concept known as the Law of Attraction – that, by your state of mind, you attract into your life the things that you want out of life. Many such articles or books tell great feel-good stories about how the whole process has worked, seemingly effortlessly, for some people – shining examples of people who live the dream.

And yet I’d be very wealthy if I had a dollar for every person who asked me “Why doesn’t it work for me?” More often than not, the answer is blindingly obvious – either they don’t know exactly what they want or they keep changing their minds. The normal adult is like a kid in a sweetshop – all those goodies, so much to choose from “I want some of these – no, can I have some of that instead!”

You see, the problem with all those feel-good stories in those self-help books is that you are rarely given step by step instructions on how to set about getting what you want – or, perhaps, more to the point, getting what will be the very best for you. Getting what you want out of life requires a precise definition of success – unique, obviously, to you – and, thereafter, being ruthlessly single-minded. I don’t mean being ruthless towards others in terms of walking over them as you climb the hill towards your dream. I mean being ruthless with yourself in terms of mental discipline. And discipline is what is required because the normal mind is notoriously undisciplined. For starters, just consider how many times your mind has wandered today – or even whilst reading this article. Just consider how often what you think you want out of life changes – it’s as variable as the Irish weather (well, maybe not that bad!)

Come up with your definition of success and stick to it – single-mindedly. However, herein lies another problem because the last thing you want to do is tie yourself down. In other words, I don’t mean that, in defining what success means for you, that you started thinking along the lines that “I must have this” or “I must have that” in order to be happy and successful. That’s just plain stupid. In taking this approach you’re cutting off all your other options – options that may well be more wonderful than your normal perspective could imagine. You see normal people tend to think that you define success in terms of what you have – we’re back to that sweetshop again! On the contrary, success is how you feel. Success comes from within, not from having lots of nice things. Again, don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying nice things are bad – nice things are, well, nice! But success is something else altogether – it’s about peace of mind, what it feels like to “have it all” whatever “having it all” means just for you in terms of feeling just perfect about yourself and your life.

You need to picture what living the dream would look like, feel like, sound like, smell like and taste like when you have, actually arrived. This is the five sensory language that turns your subconscious mind on – the way your mind was captivated as a child and the basis on which your subconscious mind works for or against you today, as an adult. You need to know what your picture of success is like – as if you have it already. A powerful way to grab your subconscious mind’s attention – and grabbing that attention is all important if you’re going to get what you want out of life – is to write down that picture, using all five senses, writing only in the present tense, as if you’re already there. This must be handwritten – your laptop or PC won’t fit the bill.

This “perfect picture” must be visualized without any preconditions. In other words, you’re not going to tie yourself down to having a specific job or career. You’re not going to talk about a specific business, home or place. You must ensure that you discard your normal preconceived notions about success. Similarly, you must not make any assumptions about how you have got to this perfect moment – consider how often, in life, things work out in ways in which we could never have expected.

Simply write, what the trees, sky, scenery, glass of wine in your hand, children laughing, loved-one being happy actually look like – what you see. Write about the warmth or chill that you feel, what that glass of wine feels like in your hand, how the sun beats down or your shoulders – whatever. Expound upon the beautiful sounds of the birds or the breeze rustling through the trees or the crackling sound of the logs on the fire. Taste the explosion of fruit in your mouth as you take a gulp of your wine (sorry, I’m into my wine!) – or the taste of the barbecued steak. Immerse yourself, through your handwriting, in the smell of pine on the air, the way your nostrils are filled with the wood smoke – again, whatever you have in mind.

Excite your subconscious – it needs to be excited to grab a firm hold of the image that it will then believe to be an integral part of your way of life. This is how your subconscious has always been working throughout your adult life – it’s just that you’ve never given it the direction that it needs. But once you have given your subconscious that direction, once it has imbibed that five sensory experience of what it’s like to have arrived, you will have set out on a journey to real, true inner happiness and success. Then, when you do actually arrive, that’s true success.