Negative Thought Fuels Negative Results

It is spiritless to think that you cannot attain to that which you have seen and heard the masters attain. The masters are men. You are also a man. If you think that you will be inferior in doing something, you will be on that road very soon.

Confucius was a sage because he had the will to become a scholar when he was fifteen years old. He was not a sage because he studied later on. This is the same as the Buddhist maxim, ‘First intention, then enlightenment.’

Hagakure

Every time I read another passage in Hagakure or The Book of Five Rings, it makes me wonder if the Tony Robbins’ of the world didn’t just read these books and copy down the principles inside.

Every person is basically born equal. Equipped to master or conquer anything they set their hearts on doing. So everything you need to succeed already lies within you. I put my pants on one leg at a time…just like every successful person I ever read about. Just like every successful person I dreamed of becoming one day. And when I speak of success, it’s not only about work. It’s success in any area of life.

‘If you think that you will be inferior in doing something, you will be on that road very soon.’ If you think you can’t be as good as someone, you never will be. If you think you won’t succeed, you won’t. It is very rare that you meet a successful person that is extremely negative. And that’s not a chick-egg issue. A lot of negative people are unsuccessful for a reason…negative thought fuels negative results.

Now, just believing won’t get you all the way there, but if you don’t believe, you will definitely never get there. In addition to belief, you also need an honest understanding of what it’s going to take to get there, and then the work ethic to make it happen. Miyamoto Musashi wasn’t born a master swordsman. No one in the world was.

And, ‘First intention, then enlightenment,’ is a fantastic statement. As for all those people that you consider ‘lucky’…they aren’t. There are no lucky people in this world. People set out to do something and then they achieve it. Yes great timing and opportunity may have helped them along the way, but windows don’t open by themselves. They get yanked open by people who set their intentions and get after it.

The premise is easy. State your intentions. Gain an understanding of what it takes to get there, by talking to people and researching it. Then go get it.

If you don’t want to work your ass off to get something, don’t have expectations to be successful and don’t complain because you’re not successful. Greatness is simply a choice followed by a lot of hard work.