What is the definition of ‘SUCCESS’? Success means different things to different people. What ever be our definition of success, one thing holds true for most of us- the elusive nature of success. Yes, we are always almost there, never really reaching the summit. Why is it that we don’t always make it? What holds us back?

Recent scientific research has determined that there is no limit to achieving success in life; we are limited only by our own imagination. The commonsense notion, 'You are as good as you think you are’ has deep implications.  The TRUTH is that our success story is actually scripted by our thoughts.

What is a thought? It is an impulse of energy and information. There was a time when we used to regard thoughts as harmless, abstract activities of an over-active mind, but we have been proven wrong by science. In effect our thoughts are electrochemical triggers that produce positive or negative chemical reactions. Once we understand that our thoughts are potent and have tremendous power, we are more careful of what we think. An ancient proverb conveys this message very well; 'No one deceives us more than our own thoughts'.

My god-fearing mother has her own way of making this point. She tells us that God knows only one word, and that word is 'Tathastu' or 'Amen', in other words, 'So be it'. According to her, our thoughts are our constant, unconscious prayers to God. What ever we think or say to ourselves (our inner God), He utters 'tathastu' in response. Thus our thoughts get materialised in our lives by the divine willpower. Now science has corroborated her simplistic theory that our thoughts are indeed creative. They possess an inherent power to create. All we have to do is, understand this creative process and harness its power to achieve success in our lives.

Harvard University psychologist David McClelland believes that if a man can change his thoughts about his performance, he can change his actual performance.

Our thoughts depend upon our internal programming. Unfortunately most of us have been negatively programmed in our growing up years. This early programming has led us to a habit of negative self-talk. When these negative thoughts get repeated over and over in our subconscious mind, they get recorded on our internal tapes without our being aware of the process, and create failures in our lives. Sociologist Robert MacIver says, "All of us carry on a constant dialogue with ourselves. We are constantly making
predictions about what we can and cannot do. And there are quite a few of us who could do a lot more if we simply expected more of ourselves."

What programming is holding you back? Have you ever been told that you are not good enough? That so and so is better than you? That you can't do anything right? That it won't work? That you don't deserve it? That you don't have it in you? Are you frequently feeding such negative inputs into your hard disc? Most of the under-performers in this world suffer from this bad habit of re-playing internal tapes, saying that they will never amount to anything, re-enforcing these negative thoughts and thus increasing the
potency of such thoughts.

There is this story about a pumpkin farmer. Once he put a small pumpkin hanging by the vine in a glass jar. At harvest time he saw that all other pumpkins had grown big, but the pumpkin in the glass jar had grown equivalent only to the shape and size of the jar. Just as the pumpkin could not grow beyond the boundaries restricting it, human beings cannot perform beyond the boundaries of their self-concept, whatever it may be. Richard Bach writes, 'Argue for your limitations and sure enough they are yours.'

Most of us think we know our own limits. But what we 'know' isn't knowledge at all; it is belief-erroneous, self-limiting belief. And such self-limiting beliefs are the biggest obstacles to high-level performance.

For many years everyone 'knew' that running a mile in less than four minutes was 'impossible'. Articles published in the journals of physiology 'proved' that the human body couldn't do it. Then, in 1954, Roger Bannister broke the four-minute barrier. Within two years ten other athletes had followed suit.

This doesn't mean that there are no limits to human endeavour. The point is: we rarely really know what these limits are. Thus too many of us actually set our limits far below our true potential.

Think about your current pattern of thoughts. If you are unsure, keep a log of every negative, self-limiting thought for a week. You cannot keep track of all the thoughts that enter your mind but you can register the thoughts that you dwell upon frequently. These repeated thought patterns determine whether you are in a positive or negative programming cycle. Positive programming cycles boost your 'will’ power, while negative programming cycles give a fillip to your 'won't' power.

The good news is that the negative programming cycles can be re-set. Yes, these patterns can be corrected. Scientific studies have proven that all habits can be changed, if we are aggressively committed to change them.

Norman Vincent Peale has said, “If you paint in your mind a picture of bright and happy expectation, you put yourself into a condition conducive to success.”  So as a first step imagine yourself as a person, who must have success, responsibility, challenge and variety. Now write down all your negative thoughts and rephrase them into positive statements.

Your subconscious is extremely literal. It takes every message at face value. So once you start re-programming your thoughts with positively worded self-talk, your subconscious will interpret it literally.

Autosuggestions alter our belief system by influencing the subconscious mind.  And our belief system influences our behaviour.

What is autosuggestion? As the name suggests it is a suggestion made by you, about yourself, to yourself, for yourself. How can we use autosuggestion to eliminate self-limiting beliefs and develop positive ones? Autosuggestion is a tool to programme and condition our mind to change a statement into a self-fulfilling prophecy. It is a repetitive process through which we feed our subconscious with positive statements, which translate into reality.

It seems easy but this paradigm shift requires a consistent effort. At first your mind will reject these autosuggestions because these new thoughts are alien to your belief system. You will feel ridiculous. Your old programming will cry foul and say 'not true' to your entire positive self-talk. Success will depend upon your ability to keep practicing it. You will need to be patient with yourself and keep repeating this process. The self-discipline to finish what you start is a key element.

If thinking positive thoughts does not come easily to you, you can write them down. Make a list of your autosuggestions in the present tense. Repeat these in your mind at least twice a day. Our subconscious is most receptive in the beginning and at the end of a day. In the morning the mind is fresh and at night you can drift off to sleep thinking of positive outcomes. This process should be repeated at least for a month or until it becomes your habit.

The most immediate benefit of this exercise will be a boost in your self-esteem. Within three weeks you will notice other positive changes. Eventually your thoughts will materialise into positive strokes of success.

These positive autosuggestions work best if you can charge them with emotions and feelings. So when your thought reads-'I have received a raise in salary.' You must feel the emotions that would surge if it were true. You must visualise the whole process. It is like watching a film, in which you are the star. Some people dismiss such reverie as 'day dreaming' or 'wishful thinking'; and they won't be very wrong if you think that just visualising these happy thoughts is the road to success. These autosuggestions are a power packed supporting tool to all the hard work you are putting in to get there. Purposeful, single-minded pursuit of your goal encompasses hard work and positive autosuggestions.

Believe with the bottom of your heart that you will achieve success and work
incessantly to achieve it.

Remember-

Our thoughts are causes.
You sow a thought, you reap an action.
You sow an action, you reap a habit.
You sow a habit, you reap a character.
You sow a character, you reap a destiny.
It all starts with a thought.