We have been digging into this book for a whole month now. I’m getting great feedback from you all about the project. Influence – How to Exert it.
In my life, I do projects. Projects take time and deep thought. When I am done, I have something unique and of value that others value/want/are intrigued by. I have influenced them.
My projects include businesses, marketing or selling programs, products, buildings, physical spaces, books, movies, audio programs, training classes, and Think Daily.
So what is Lesson Ten on how to exert Influence about? –
“By the Prestige Gained from Concentration”.
“Concentration is one of the most marvelous forces that can be conceived. Without concentration, no success is possible.”
Fidelity to an idea is always the initial step to all success.
Thoughts are things. It is easy to imagine how true the saying is, seeing that in thinking deeply on a subject we succeed in picturing it to ourselves in an almost tangible fashion.
“There is no doubt”, says Yoritomo, “that concentration develops all our senses and brings them to a degree of remarkable acuteness.”
He says that once we have created something in our mind first, it is easy to create it in reality.
“It stands to us in the stead of knowledge, for by the means of concentration we acquire the gift of realizing readily and easily the things of which we have formed a conception.”
“There is no work, even manual, that concentration does not lighten for us. If a man is to lift a heavy mass, do you think that he will do it as well if he is occupied with some other thought?”
“They think of the act alone, to concentrate everything and forget everything outside of it, there is the secret of so many successes, the explanation of so many good fortunes, and of the immense influence which certain men exert over their fellows.”
My happiest times have been when I get into a “flow state” and am thinking of one thing and only that. It’s almost to be obsessed and undistracted. I remember when I was writing my book “The Highest Calling” in 2008. I was obsessed with the story. I wrote 5-6 hours a day and knew I had to finish the book while my mind was so concentrated.
Our eyes are where we take in the most information. Our brain processes all that information. So often, to concentrate, we close our eyes to stop the inputs of more information, so our minds can work on a problem or a creation. Lately, I find myself waking up in the middle of the night sometimes, in the quiet and dark, with my brain processing what I know, and creating new things.
More tomorrow on concentration…
Speaking of writing your book, do you have another book in you? I have bought cases of “The Highest Calling” and give them to people I think will resonate with the story. To a person the feedback it awesome. Maybe it’s time for the next installment!