Personal Growth - Failure Consciousness Versus Success Consciousness

After hearing a number of recommendations for the book Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, I downloaded a copy to listen to in the car. One of the first things the book says is to take it one chapter at a time, really absorb each one and integrate the ideas slowly, making them your own. Having to spend the next 2 hours in the car I initially scoffed at listening to just one chapter. The first profound statement hit me as the book unfolded in the first chapter. It said 'the goal of this book is to help you move from a failure consciousness to a success consciousness'. I did indeed stop the book after the first chapter and give it some thought, which quickly made me realize how much of my life I have spent with a failure consciousness.

A little over a month ago, I attended a seminar through work called 'PowerCamp'. PowerCamp is a program that helps people to find their own voice, their own power within, to strengthen their own lives in the workplace and at home. Before going to the seminar, I had put some ideas in place for what I needed to work on. These were primarily around overcoming fears - not only fears that kept me from moving forward in many areas of my life, but I also what I called my 'fear of discovery' - that someone would uncover at some point that I had no idea what I was doing. I needed to overcome the thoughts that what I accomplished on a day to day basis was not worthy of recognition.

During the seminar while discussing with one of the coaches what I was hoping to accomplish with my experience at PowerCamp, she stopped me in the middle to make a point. I had been talking about how I had swum competitively most of my young life, from 5 years old to 18 years old in various swim clubs as well as in high school. She very astutely pointed out that had been wired in my formative years to measure my success by swim times, placement in races, and the opinions of coaches and parents always telling me to work harder - good was not good enough. Wired so much for so many years that I still look for similar validation today. However there are no times or race placements to validate what I do with my life outside of swimming. I realized that I viewed so many things I did as sub-par or failures, because I was trying to measure against something that did not exist anymore. This revelation was the beginning of freeing those thoughts of failure and underachievement.

Now looking back on life, I see so many more successes than failures. It has taken time to turn these views around and it is a daily process. Add the profound statement this morning of failure consciousness and success consciousness, I am also seeing my successes so much clearer. When I graduated high school in 1980, I chose not to go to college. I went to work in a few odd jobs, and ultimate got a great entry level job in computers that over the next 25 years enabled me to build a very successful career in the Information Technology industry. Throughout that career, I always felt less competent and less talented than those that had college degrees, yet I knew I was running circles around most of them at work.

That thought of failing to acquire a college degree kept me minimizing the success in my career for over 25 years. Now looking back, I see nothing but success. The fact that I was able to, on a C-average high school education, establish a long and well respected career in the computer industry, manage and lead large teams of people, and hold over 5 completely different and challenging positions, shows me that I have had huge success - and in no way was it a failure. The lesson was a long time coming, but now that it is positive instead of negative, I am embracing the feeling of that success.

About 15 years ago, I made a significant career change. I moved from being an independent computer programmer to being an instructor for a big time software company. When I decided to make such a big leap, I knew it was life changing and I had the confidence that I could make the change. But because of the insecurities around my missing degree, fear of failing motivated me for years to work hard and be very successful at the company. If I had gone into such a big career change with a success consciousness instead of failure consciousness, I may have had even more success. No regrets, but the profound statement of today has made me realize that having a success consciousness will only bring that success to you in greater amounts, because you believe you will be successful and that failure is not an option - or even a word that should enter your mind.

I now embark on another new challenge, altering my career path by becoming an entrepreneur and starting my own business. Instead of going in, hoping that I do not fail, I have gone in knowing that I will be successful. I feel it, sense it, and own the feeling of success and it is mine for the taking. Take it upon yourself to ask - do you operate under a failure consciousness or a success consciousness, and what do you need to do to move to the success side of that question?

Scott Ewart is a worker in corporate America and an entrepreneur. To read more on this subject and others, visit http://MeetScottEwart.com or http://ThinkLikeaRichPerson.com.

Achieving Prosperity Consciousness Versus Accepting Poverty Consciousness

Most people believe that to become wealthy you must get good grades, get a good education, find a job, get a promotion in your job, and rise to the top of your business. Others think that to become wealthy, you need to have a PhD, or at least a Master's to do well. Many more will think that in order to become wealthy, you have to work the hardest, and even if you do end up working the hardest, it doesn't guarantee you wealth, but at least you gave it your best.

It feels like deep down all of us would like to do what we want to do when it comes to making money in the world, but because of the social conditioning in our surroundings, it can make it nearly impossible. There is a fear that if we do not follow the same pattern as everybody else, then we are doomed to failure, causing us to take any potential risks and putting us back into our mainstream "safe zones".

When it comes down to how much money you are having in your life, I believe that it really comes down having one of two mind frames - prosperity consciousness or poverty consciousness.

Even if you land a six figure job, would this be considered wealthy? Most people would, considering that 2/3 of the world's population is in poverty. To them, this would be a blessing. But what if you were earning ten million dollars in income, and all of a sudden it became six figures a year. You would be really angry, maybe even depressed, because you are now only earning a mere 1% of what you had before. This, to you, would be considered "poverty".

When being prosperity conscious or poverty conscious, it's all a matter of your perspective. To somebody who has always been used to poverty all their life, they will accept the state they're in and think that six figures a year has made their life. A person, who is always prosperous, will think that six figures a year is not nearly enough to give them the real financial freedom to literally do whatever they want at any given moment in their life.

My dad has worked in the same tool's business for most of this life. He owns a shop in a rundown neighborhood and is unnoticeable if you drive by it fast. There are some days where he only gets a few customers a day. To him, these are just "bad days" as he has gone through many of these days for many years in his life - 30 years in fact.

If I ever told him to be positive, positive in the sense that it would be wise to figure out what's wrong and change what he's doing, he would tell me to be realistic, realistic in the sense that it's because the economy is bad and some days you just won't get customers. That's just how life is.

My mom would be in support of my dad, but she takes it to another level. It's really sad seeing her sometimes because is always so obsessed with the fear of the economy, from people losing their jobs to companies going bankrupt to housing foreclosures. These things added, onto her already conservative mind frame, makes her entire life belief into principles of not spending money on useless things, save receipts, count every penny spent, always study, always get an education, always prepare for jobs, etc.

Don't get me wrong. I love my parents to death, but when it comes down to how much money one person deserves in life, they both have a related poverty consciousness.

If I ever asked them what if would feel like to drive a Mercedes-Benz (instead of a Honda CR-V), they would probably chuckle and say, "Maybe in another lifetime..." They are so accepting of their financial status that even the mere idea of a wealthy thing coming into their lives would seem unimaginable.

I'm sure a lot of people not just family members, but friends put them "back into their place." Are you one of these people? If you told your friend today, "Hey, I'm going to do what I love, create a business out of it, and become wealthy." Would they be cool with it?

Or would they say something like, "Good luck..." which really means, "Yeah right but I'm really going to say good luck to you just out of courtesy to make you feel good at this moment."

Or would they really support you? You know your friends best but when it comes down to how much money you intend to make, it comes down to you, and only you.

So look around you. Look in your pockets right now. Look in your bank account. Are you in debt right now?

Whatever financial circumstance, you can choose to achieve prosperity consciousness or accept poverty consciousness. It's as simple as making that decision in life.

So how do I see a poverty consciousness?

To me, it would be someone who cuts out every coupon available in the newspaper for them to get discounts. It would be someone who never spends money on anything that involves pleasure, leisure, or entertainment, someone who doesn't take risky chances but rather plays it safe by taking years of education imploding their brains with everlasting information, someone who is willing to take any type of job from even the meanest boss because at least they are getting paid, and someone who thinks money is hard to come by, so being grateful for what they have helps them cope with everyday life.

This would be an example poverty thinking.

And how do I see a prosperity consciousness?

To me, it would look like someone getting annoyed by money hitting their head from the sky like how rain falls from the sky. It would be someone who sweeps the piles and piles of money that overflows the inside of a football stadium, or a person who walks through the beaches of money lying around like the sand laying around. It's a person who swims across the entire ocean of money and cannot sink because there is too much of it, and somebody who beliefs that there is so much money in their possession that they will never run out of it as it comes from everywhere and every imaginable source possible.

This would be an example of prosperity thinking.

Many people would believe that this type of prosperity consciousness is deemed as "unrealistic" or "unreasonable." Who cares what other people think. Ultimately, you're the only one who chooses to believe what is realistic and what is not. Everything in the world is just based on one's perception of something, and if you choose to belief that something is real, then it is. So learn how to develop achieve a prosperity consciousness even if takes wild imagination, rather than accepting a poverty consciousness, and you'll be able start attracting the riches from inside your thinking and transform it into outwards physical reality.

For more articles on self-improvement and personal success, please visit Tristan Lee's Blog