The Power of an Idea

   It’s amazing how ideas affect all of us. Most of the things and people you like are based on the idea of them you have in your own head. By the same token, most of the things and people you don’t like are based on the idea of them in your head. The key ingredient here is that your perception of people, places and things—indeed, your view of the world—is always a creation of your own thinking. That’s why how you think and what you think about are so crucial to your success as an entrepreneur.

   Successful entrepreneurs are open-minded and relate well to people without branding them good or bad. They have come to understand that people are just like them—sometimes good and other times not so good; sometimes dependable and sometimes not so dependable, and the list goes on.

   But what successful entrepreneurs have learned is that they can be good more often than not and dependable more often than not by controlling the thoughts they think and the ideas that they allow to come into their heads. There are many ideas that you can use to control your thinking habits, but there are four powerful ideas which have the power to move you from scarcity to plenty and from surviving to thriving.

   The first of these powerful ideas is deliberately deciding to have and keep a positive mental attitude. You can form this habit by mentally willing it to be so and thinking of this idea every day. Instead of complaining about something that looks like a disaster that has confronted you, you can rather look at your situation as an opportunity to learn how to cope with and overcome adversity. This powerful idea, this decision to have and keep a positive mental attitude regardless of your circumstances, will keep you upbeat, grateful and thankful. Without gratitude for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and thankfulness for being alive, you cannot succeed either in business or at living life in general.

   The second of these powerful ideas is determining to stay in sound physical health. Physical health has more to do with the content of your thinking than you imagine. Scientists tell us that negative ideas that you persistently think about—worry, anger, resentment, hatred, revenge—lead to physical (and sometimes mental) illness. On the contrary, they tell us that positive ideas that you persistently think about—love, joy, music, appreciation, praise, beauty—lead to the maintenance of physical health. By all means, go to the gym and work out, but don’t neglect to work out of your mind the negative ideas that will keep you from living the abundant life of a successful entrepreneur.

   The third powerful idea is keeping harmony in your personal relations. One problem that always arises in most human relationships is the belief that one person must be wrong if the other person is right. You have the power to solve this dilemma for yourself quite easily, if you adopt the position that you will commit to listening to people for the sole purpose of understanding them from their point of view. You are not a judge who condemns people who disagree with you. You don’t have to agree or disagree with any person. You only need to hear, understand and communicate to that person that you have heard and understood their position.

   When you speak to people, you should be trying to communicate as clearly as possible so that they understand you from your point of view. You don’t need people to agree or disagree with you. You only need to be sure that people understand what you communicated to them. You should always avoid arguing or debating people with whom you intend to do business. Wait until you’re ready to run for political office to do that!

   The fourth powerful idea is having a hope of future achievement. This is an extremely powerful idea because it will get you through the disappointments, delays and disasters that happen on the way to your success. As you keep your hope alive that your business will prosper and bring you the financial rewards you deserve, then you can smile when you must deal with disagreeable people and circumstances.