1003. The Formula For Self-Confidence by Napoleon Hill pt. 1

All right, three, two, one, let's get it. There is a formula for self-confidence. I never knew that. Isn't it nice to know that there is a formula for self-confidence? All thanks to the legendary Napoleon Hill, and I came across this this morning in my random reading, and reading out of his massive book, those of you who are watching this on video. His book is massive, man. The Laws of Success, about 600 pages, but it's not your normal 600 pages,'cause this is a, it's a wide book. And so, you know, it's probably, if you condensed it into a regular-sized looking book, it's probably more like, I don't know, 1,200 pages. Probably double that, and that's probably why they widened the pages so it wasn't quite so intimidating. Book's pretty intimidating as it is. There is a formula for s- self-confidence. And, you know, if you think about self-confidence, when it comes to other people, we think they just, like, have the trait. Like, they're just naturally self-confident. And then when it comes to, you know, me and you, w- we kinda look at self-confidence as luck, and that's not what it is at all. There's actually a formula that I'm going to walk you through for developing self-confidence. Because sometimes, man, we lose self-confidence, and I hope by listening to this you'll realize where you've lost it. Self-confidence is something that has to be reinforced daily, and it's not predicated on something out there. Self-confidence is an internal game. It's an internal job, and I know it sounds kinda cliche, but it really is so there's five ways to develop self-confidence, and we're gonna go f- through the first three today, And then we'll bang out the other two on the, on the next episode. So, Let's begin the formula for self-confidence and you don't have to hear all five of them in order to begin practicing self-confidence. You just start working the formula. And again, it's got nothing to do with out there. It's got nothing to do with the external results. It's got everything to do with you. So the first piece of the formula for developing self-confidence. Napoleon Hill writes, "I know I have the ability to achieve the object of my definite purpose. Therefore, I demand of myself persistent, aggressive, and continuous action toward attainment." Okay? So first thing he says, let's break this down."I know that I have the ability to achieve the object of my definite purpose." You do. You already have everything that you need to get started. You might not have everything you need to achieve what you wanna achieve, but you got enough to get started. You got enough in the tank. You're not, you're not done, but you have enough to get started. So I know that I have the ability to achieve the object of my definite purpose." Now, what is definite purpose? Napoleon Hill talks about definite purpose all the time. Basically, in a nutshell, you're aligned. Everything lines up. So when you have a definite purpose, it means that You have a clear, specific, unwavering, unwavering, unwavering chief aim In life. You know exactly what you want, and you organize your thoughts, your desires, and actions around that. So let's just stop right there. You have very little self-confidence because, number one, you don't have a definiteness of purpose. And so that's the first thing that we have to do is you have to have a definite purpose. And look, let me tell you something. It took me... It wasn't until I got, basically in 2017, so almost 10 years ago, I didn't, I didn't realize, I didn't know what my purpose was. And so that's okay. Like, if you don't really know, head in a general direction. There's some internal yearns, and I think as you start sitting with yourself, which he talks about this here in just a second, as you start getting to know yourself more and start sitting with yourself, then you're going to start... Your purpose is going to line up. I already know what my definite purpose is. Okay, my definite purpose is to teach the life skills of selling. Those skills, communication, curiosity, creativity, continuous learning, and action, and productive confrontation to handle the three problems we all face in life, adversity, uncertainty, and complacency, across the five domains in life, your faith, your family, your fitness, your finances, your fulfillment. Look, I didn't come out of the womb knowing this. I didn't start the podcast back in 2017 knowing what my definite purpose was. I just knew what I didn't want anymore. I wanted peace, and I wanted clarity, and I wanted control back over my life. And so I headed in that direction, and slowly but surely, these things began to bubble up. So you gotta have a definiteness of purpose. Now, that definiteness of purpose, it's also gotta be clear. The actions will make it more clear. You're not gonna come out with, like, crystal clear thoughts, okay? It's gonna be muddy, 'cause you gotta get through some of this inertia. You gotta get through some of this bog down, this fogginess, this past. You gotta work through those things, okay? So then it's gotta be clear, it's gotta be specific, an unwavering chief aim. I love that right there, unwavering. Meaning that no matter what comes up, no one, no thing is gonna stand in my way. I'm unwavering in those things. Y- you don't get rocked. Like, people think y- y- you're crazy, like you're still doing this. I mean, you look at anybody who has achieved- massive success, the people that you read about, like on all the shelves back here, people thought they were crazy. I mean, they absolutely thought they were just loony Because they had a definite purpose, and they were unwavering about it. They were a dog on the bone. They, they, they didn't let up on that. So back to the book, he says, "With that definiteness of purpose, I demand of myself," that's key. Like, we're n- we're not negotiating here. I demand it. Like, if you tell your child to do something, "Man, I demand that you do this." It's not up for debate. And so you gotta put a demand on your life."I demand of myself," it's got nothing to do with anybody else,"persistent, aggressive and continuous action toward its, uh, uh, toward its attainment." I'm gonna be persistent. I'm going to be aggressive. Love that. This is internal. Persistent, aggressive and I'm gonna have continuous action toward its attainment. Unwavering. I'm just consistent. Bang, bang, bang. Second formula for success."I realize that the dominating thoughts of my mind eventually reproduce themselves into outward bodily action, And gradually transform themselves into physical reality. Therefore, I will concentrate my mind for 30 minutes daily upon the task of thinking of the person I intend to be, by creating a mental picture of this person and then transforming that picture into reality through practical service." All right, so I know that kinda sounds kind of woo woo. This sounds very Napoleon Hill-ish, okay? But let me, let me break this down in real-life terms for you,, so the first part."I realize the dominating thoughts of my mind eventually reproduce themselves outwardly." Okay? What are the dominating thoughts in your mind? If you don't have dominating thoughts with a definite purpose... See, if you don't... Okay, let me just put it like this. If you don't have a definiteness of purpose, then you don't have dominating thoughts. Boom. So that, that definiteness of purpose, clear, specific, unwavering, chief aim Like, don't worry about how something's gonna happen. That's what happens. We put these prerequisites on there like, "Well, you know, uh, you don't understand my past. You- I'm starting off with nothing. I've just been on the skids. People laugh at me. I've got no education," blah, blah, blah. I mean, we make up all the... Like, none of that. None of that even matters, okay? So how you're gonna get there is, is not up to you. Don't figure all that out. You just gotta know what you want, and you gotta earn it. Like, again, if you don't know what you want, just head in a direction. Or, so let me, let me, let me clear it up even more. What do you not want in life, I was, uh, watching a documentary, The Defiant Ones, and Jimmy Iovine, who, he was the co-founder of Beats by Dre. They, him and Dre became billionaires. A famous producer also. But he was like, "My dad was a longshoreman there in New York." And he's like, "I didn't know what I wanted to do in life, but I knew what I didn't wanna do in life, and so I worked against that. That's not... I didn't wanna be on the docks." So sometimes, like, if you don't know what you want in life, work from what you don't want in life."I don't wanna be that." Okay? So work against that and start heading in a d- in a direction. I mean, hell, he became a producer. You know? And he didn't, he didn't really know. He kind of stumbled in that, and that's what's gonna happen. It... You- you're gonna, you're gonna fall into something. You're gonna find your drift. You're gonna get into something. That's what podcasting is for me. It's a natural love. I love to read. I love listening to podcasts. I love sharing a message. So it all just naturally came together, so you don't have to fight to find it. It's going to come to you. And if you don't have it right now, okay, you gotta head, again, I hate to be redundant, but you gotta head in a, in a general direction. So back to what he said."The dominating thoughts in my mind eventually reproduce themselves outwardly." So once you start heading in a direction, think about, let's just use fitness, 'cause we can all relate to that. When, when the times that you've tried to get in shape, bro, that's... Y- I mean, you dominate. Like, everything you talked about, everything you did, everything you looked on Instagram about, like, everything was dominating that thought,'cause you're like, "Bro, I'm, I'm, I'm about to get chiseled." Okay? And so it dominated so much that that's, that's all you talked about. And then that manifested outwardly. Same thing with what Napoleon Hill is talking about here. When you have dominating thoughts, that manifest outwardly- you're gonna start to see those things. So it, it's gonna manifest in physical action, and then gradually, so your actions are gonna line up with this, and gradually transform themselves into a physical reality. Remember the timeline we're on, okay? Eventually and ultimately. So eventually, you keep doing this, dominating thoughts, and like this is... You eat, sleep, and drink it, these things are going to... Your, your, your physical reality is going to start, you're gonna start, it's gonna start shaping up. You're gonna start seeing that. Continuing on, he says, "Therefore, I will concentrate my mind for 30 minutes daily upon the task of thinking of the person that I intend to be." The 30 minutes, man, l- this is arbitrary. Okay? I get it. First thing, "Man, I ain't got 30 minutes." , Start somewhere. Start with 10 minutes. Start with five minutes. The point is what he's saying in this is that you sit alone in your thoughts and you have a mental picture of the person that you wanna become. Can you even see that? Bro, I had the hardest time for years seeing who I wanted to be, because we get so clouded in our past, in our mistakes, in our embarrassments, in our blowups, in, in our, in our cutthroat actions we did. I mean, we get so bogged down in all those things that that's the only person we can see. But when you develop a definite aim, a definite purpose, unwavering, your thoughts begin dominating., And you start this, you reinforce this every day. Just get up. Sometime- At first, man, it's gonna be kinda cloudy. Keep doing it. Keep doing it. I am living proof. I've been doing this since 2017 nearly every day. The days I don't, I am not cool to be around. So probably if I had to score, I'm probably about a 93% over nearly a 10-year period. I have to do it. It's my lifeblood. So if you will set some time aside, thinking of the person you intend to be by creating a mental picture of this person and then transforming that picture into a reality through practical service. So basically what he's saying is you can sit there and you can think about, and you do need to. Sit, sift through your thoughts. Get a mental picture of the person that you wanna be. What does your life look like? Who do you look like? But then also, it ain't gonna come to you by, and then you get out of the chair and then you just go blow up your life. No. He says then you gotta go give practical service, means it ain't theory. You're putting it into practice, not only are you investing in yourself, but you're contributing to society as well. All right, third piece of self-confidence formula. I know that through the principle of autosuggestion, any desire I persistently hold in my mind will eventually seek expression through some practical means of realizing it. Therefore, I shall devote 10 minutes daily to demanding of myself the development of factors named in the 15 lessons of reading this course on the laws of su- of success. All right, let's break this down. Okay, so I know that through the principle of autosuggestion, autosuggestion is a conditioning of the mind. It's self-directed conditioning. It's what it is. So through autosuggestion, it's the habits that you start developing. It's the way that you talk to yourself. It's the way that you communicate w- to yourself. It's the way that you're being curious and creative, exploratory, naive, experienced, all these kind of different things that we've been talking about over the last few weeks. I mean, it's, it's basically self-directed hypnosis, man. You're hypnotizing yourself into the person that you intend to be. I know it sounds woo-woo. Just hang in there with me. Keep an open mind. If you get a closed mind, then you're not gonna achieve anything in life that you really wanna achieve. So you gotta open that mind up, so through the principle of autosuggestion, any desire that I persistently hold in my mind, there's that, there's that thing again, definite purpose, dominating thoughts, persistently hold in my mind, like I ain't letting go. So when you're persistent, it will eventually seek expression through some practical means of realizing it. It's gonna come out. It's what he's saying. So what you gotta do is you gotta devote 10 minutes daily to demanding of myself the development of factors of the law of success, okay? It can be literally the laws of success. You can read out of this book for 10 minutes. Here we go. The random reading. Didn't know I was gonna come across this today, okay? I've been practicing the random reading, I don't know, probably six, seven years. And so the random reading is where I devote 15 to 20 minutes every single day. I pick a random book off my shelf I go to the table of contents, I pick a chapter that most resonates with me, and I read that one chapter, and then I write about it. Okay? That's what he's saying right here. You put it, put aside 10 minutes. Start right there. 10 minutes, and read something that aligns, that strengthens, that educates you into the person that you wanna become. The reason why I like the 10 to 20 minutes of random reading is because it's small enough to reflect on it, and it's also manageable enough to be able to go outside and go live it that day. That's just the game for the day. So instead of me just, "Well, I don't know what I'm gonna come across today," no, I'm primed. Like, I'm, I'm gonna work the formula, one through three today, of self-confidence. And then I'm gonna tune in for the next episode for the, the last two pieces of self-confidence, unless you run to Books-A-Million and go buy this book and you already know where I'm going. But we'll talk about it anyway. So here's what I love about this, is with self-confidence, when it comes to self-confidence, number one, the reason why you don't have it is because you're not working a formula. You're just hoping it just kinda comes to you. Or you're just kinda dismissive and you think it's for everybody else and not for you. Self-confidence has got nothing to do with anyone or anything else. It's got everything to do with you. And th- that's why it's called self-confidence. It doesn't necessarily have to do with the result. The results are gonna take care of themselves. So sometimes when you get all butt hurt and it didn't... Look, you can do everything right and it still goes wrong. You can do some things wrong and it still comes out right. I mean, we've all lived those kinda different things. So you can't necessarily hang your hat, your confidence should not be tied to the direct result. It should be tied to the effort that you put in to influence that result, and when it doesn't come to fruition for you, you analyze it. You figure out why it didn't happen. Sometimes it's protection, because maybe you're not ready for that. So don't get all butt hurt about it. Sometimes you don't have enough knowledge there, so life is telling you, "Man," like, "look, we need to, we need to keep you in this holding pattern. You gotta be persistent. Keep working this. You're on the right track, but you're not ready yet." Sometimes that's what those things are. But that's all self-confidence is. And so what I really love about this is you can begin developing your own self-confidence. How many times have you looked at self-confidence and thought, "Well, I need this. I need somebody else to do something for me"? There's a Chinese proverb, let me read it to you. I love this. The wise person demands everything of himself, while the insignificant person demands everything only from other people." I love that, and that speaks to the self-confidence, the wise person demands everything of himself. This is a Chinese proverb that's talk- Napoleon Hill might, might've got it from the Chinese proverb. It's that demand of yourself. So this is how you create your independence. This is how you create your freedom. This is how you create your self-confidence, because you're, you're not dependent on anything else. While the insignificant person, meaning the person that ain't doing nothing, that nobody even i- is even considering, it's because that person is demanding everything from everybody else. So what you're doing is, is, "Woe is me." You're, you're demanding of other, You know, if only I could have this kind of money., He could've given me the job. That family member could've wrote me a check and got me out of that situa-" I mean, the list goes on and on. The insignificant person, that's what they do. Instead of taking account for themselves and working the formula of self-confidence, they just, it's easier to just blame everybody else. All right? So that's Self-Confidence Formula one through three. Next episode, we'll do number four and five. With that, remember, keep it simple. Keep it moving. Never settle. Stay tough. Peace.