3 Ways To Unlock Your True Potential
A summary of “The Power of Your Subconscious Mind”
Last month, I had to fight an unexpected software bug put my job in jeopardy.
Three engineers, and ten hours of brainstorming was not enough to defeat the issue. That day, we logged off from work having serious reservations about our capabilities.
But I woke up to a pleasant surprise the next morning.
When I came in to work, it turned out that my colleague had already fixed the bug. She alleged that she’d seen the solution in a dream.
It was incredible to me — what four highly trained professionals couldn’t fathom, a sleepy mind solved in a few seconds. That’s how I found out about the hidden power of the human subconscious.
My colleague attributed her success to Joseph Murphy’s bestseller, “The Power of Your Subconscious Mind”.
It’s an intriguing book, full of anecdotes about the power of belief. Murphy presents examples of how people used subconscious power to achieve real results.
Synopsis
The world has an infinite amount of treasure for the taking.
Subtle opportunities that present themselves every day. You need only to open your mental eyes to recognize them.
Murphy touts this as the “master secret of the ages”. Those that learn to use their subconscious become “magnetized” — just by existing, they attract success.
You can bring into your life more power, more wealth, more health, more happiness and more joy by learning to contact and release the hidden power of your subconscious mind (Murphy, 5)
The way you can unlock this hidden potential is through belief. Great success comes to those that place great faith, in themselves and in their efforts.
Murphy calls this phenomenon the “universal law of action and reaction”. You need to take action on your subconscious: make it believe that you can achieve greatness. When you drill this in, you will begin to automatically manifest behavioral traits that lead you to success.
Unlocking the hidden wellspring of potential within you is what TPOYSM is all about.
You Can Program Your Own Mind
Human consciousness consists of two parts: the rational or thinking mind and the irrational or feeling mind.
The rational mind controls our expressed traits. It’s responsible for forming complex thoughts and handling logical problems. For example, you use your rational mind when you talk to someone, or you’re studying something. It also makes your decisions: like choosing a particular book.
On the other hand, the subconscious handles our automatic actions. It controls bodily functions like breathing and behavioral patterns like our personality.
An important fact about the subconscious is that it only understands emotions. There isn’t any cognitive capacity in it. In other words, all it can do is react to stimuli.
Put this way, the subconscious seems meek and insignificant. But that couldn’t be farther from the truth.
The subconscious is powerful because of its simplicity. The conscious makes decisions based on logic. The subconscious evaluates the emotions those actions invoke. It remembers what made it happy, and seeks to repeat those patterns.
This is how habits form: you try something new, and if that makes you happy, your subconscious wants to repeat it.
And herein lies the secret to success: you want to program your subconscious to drive you towards good habits. Once you master this technique, success becomes a byproduct of your existence.
Autosuggestion
Autosuggestion is the best way of programming your brain. It is a mind game you play on yourself by planting hints within your subconscious.
Start by thinking of a specific goal or desire. Whisper it to yourself everyday: before you go to sleep and after waking up. Keep this up for a long time, and your subconscious will end up accepting it as true.
That desire or goal becomes a part of your core identity, and your behavioral patterns adapt to it.
Let’s take an example of an impulsive buyer that’s trying to be more responsible with money. Whenever they get the urge to splurge, they should whisper to themselves, “I don’t need this. I am a frugal person.”
This gives their conscious mind time to catch up to their unconscious desires. It clarifies their thought process. With repetition, they will be able to overcome their bad habits completely.
Your Mind Can Program You
Autosuggestion is how the rational mind can direct and mold your subconscious behavior. Let’s discuss the converse: using the irrational mind to guide conscious decisions.
Let’s go back to how the brain functions. The conscious mind is dominant when you’re awake and actively using your head. But handling the daily trials and tribulations of life is taxing. It’s not surprising that people get overwhelmed.
To recharge, you need to withdraw from the objective world for a time. That’s what sleep does for you. While the conscious takes rest, the subconscious takes over.
When you sleep, the subconscious analyzes the information you absorbed during the day. You experience reality for a second time, now through a metaphorical lens. This lets you filter out the noise of your waking hours, and make sense of complex problems.
Murphy alleges that several scientists have exploited this fact over the generations. In particular, he describes how Dr. Frederick Banting discovered insulin through a dream. Even pseudo-scientists like Nikola Tesla were aware of this, and would often take advantage of it.
By its very nature, the subconscious dreaming up of answers is random and rare. However, there are ways you can accelerate the process.
- Start by relaxing your body. Investing in a good pillow and mattress is super helpful here.
- Let go of your worries, and clear your mind. Consider putting on ambient music to help you focus.
- Reassure yourself that you’re on top of things. Think about the problem you want to solve, and tell yourself that you’ll do it. This technique is called “affirmation”.
- Now you can go to sleep, and let the subconscious work its magic.
You’ll get great sleep with this process, much better than you normally do. It’ll also fill you with motivation the next day. And it’s guaranteed to yield results over time.
Three Steps to Success
Success is subjective. While some people are happy driving their one-man food cart around town, others dream of fame and riches.
Most of us tend to attribute success to external factors. We stress over the number of likes our photos get or about stock market valuations. Of course, these issues have their place. But they can’t give you true satisfaction in life.
In order to live happily, one has to build a fulfilling life. You can achieve this is three steps —
- Determine what you love doing and begin building a life based on that goal. Doing a job will burn you out; following your passion will make you happy.
- Specialize in a particular branch of your chosen field. Mastery is its own reward. And the best part is that making a name for yourself also attracts economic success.
- And finally, remember that society can only progress when everyone in it moves forward. That’s why you must find a way to uplift the whole of humanity through your work.
Final thoughts
In the age of unfettered social media marketing, it’s easy to get lost in FOMO and misinformation. Every platform has hundreds of shills vying for attention. Though we all crave success, only a few ever make it.
And that’s why TPOYSM is compelling: it shows you ways to conquer the world using only the tools you were born with.
- Techniques like autosuggestion help us in clearly visualizing our goals. One can build a mental roadmap to success using it.
- Through affirmation, you can train the subconscious to solve problems while you sleep.
- And finally, one has to be able to manage expectations and find their own happiness in life.
I hope this summary will be helpful for you. Do let me know what your favorite tip is.
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