Creative Thinking inspires amazing results

The Actual Process Used by Successful Entrepreneurs They Don’t Teach in Business Schools

What I learned from 2 psychiatrists made me a successful independent businessman for 25 years.

David Ferrers
The Startup
Published in
5 min readNov 26, 2021
Photo by Jeremy McGilvrey on Unsplash

When I’ve questioned other entrepreneurs I’ve discovered they use exactly the same process I use.

They all say you have to be the control centre of your own personal empire. I don’t mean you have to be a control freak. I mean you have to be in command of yourself.

That was the lesson I learned from the two New York psychiatrists Mildred Newman and Bernard Berkowitz. In their book, How to Be Your Own Best Friend they say:

“People will go to a lot of trouble to learn French or physics or scuba diving. They have the patience to learn to operate a car but they won’t be bothered learning how to operate themselves.”

When I first read those two sentences I was gripped by the idea of operating myself. “How do I operate myself?” I wondered. And, “Why has nobody ever taught me to do this?” It was the start of the most valuable quest of my life.

When you’re the one operating yourself you can make yourself do whatever you need to do to achieve your goals.

You have to think in these specific ways

It’s no good allowing your thoughts to wander around like autumn leaves being scattered by the wind.

You have to take command of your thoughts and you have to do it the right way.

The centre of your life

You have to make your goal the centre of your thoughts. It has to be there, right bang in the middle of everything. You must place it where you cannot miss it. It has to constantly demand your attention.

Kick doubt out

It seems like doubt is something of a default programme. Doubt keeps cropping up with questions like, “Can I really do this?” Or, “What if something goes wrong?’ Or what will people think?”

--

--

David Ferrers
The Startup

I have coached over 1,000 people and I write about how Zen can empower your life, add meaning, happiness and prosperity https://ThePowerOfZen.substack.com