I’m in the process of reprogramming my mind…
And in my own personal story and reflections, I believe I can show you where YOU can develop your own personal mental superpowers.
Here’s the story…
Somewhere along the way, I let myself slip.
Somewhere along the way, I let myself focus too much on the negative, on what I didn’t want.
It’s a constant risk and possibility when you’re always working on yourself.
You look at where you are, and where you want to be. You look at what you’re doing well, and what you want to improve. And you get to work.
The thing is, it’s easy to keep up with where you are, and what you’re doing well. You just have to keep doing what you’re doing to stay on that path.
So you turn your attention to where you want to be, and what you want to improve.
And there’s nothing inherently wrong with this.
But our minds are funny things.
Because we tend to magnify and multiply what we focus on…
And so if all you’re focusing on is what you haven’t achieved and where you come up short… You start to feel like a loser.
The more you embody this feeling of being a loser, the more you start acting like one. And the more you act like a loser, the more you actually become one.
“Wait a minute Roy,” you may be thinking. “You’re a successful copywriter, marketing consultant, and publisher of Breakthrough Marketing Secrets. If you’re a loser, what does that make me?”
I know. I AM still incredibly grateful for where I’m at, and all that I’ve accomplished, and all the success I’ve had.
But let me put it in perspective with a quick metaphor. I grew up playing hockey. I was pretty dang good, but always played “house league” — the default league for anyone that paid to play. Even in the years where my team won the championships, there would’ve been no way where we would’ve beaten the worst NHL team. In the NHL, they could’ve been total losers — and in our league, we were champions — but we still looked up to them, no matter what.
Feeling like a loser is always in the context of your life, from your perspective. Not how good or bad you are relative to others, but how good or bad you are relative to what you feel is your potential.
Anyways, I’d let this feeling of being a loser build up — and I couldn’t put my finger on it.
In fact, adding another metaphor to the mix, it was like getting your car stuck in the mud. The more you jam on the gas to get yourself out, the faster the tire spins and the deeper you sink. It takes a push from outside to get moving again.
My push from the outside came in the form of a podcast…
I’ve mentioned a few times before that Joseph Rodrigues is my coach. And that he has a YouTube Channel and podcast (iTunes, Stitcher, RSS, or — my favorite — Pocket Casts).
Well, despite the fact that we meet every Friday and he is frequently sharing insights and perspectives from the podcast, I’d let myself get behind on the episodes.
I know, loser, right? 😉
Then one day, I was looking for something to listen to, and I just added a bunch of episodes of his show to my Up Next list…
And I started listening.
Now here’s the thing. Joseph’s videos (in audio form in the podcast) are all book discussions. He reads a book on entrepreneurship and personal development. He creates a mind map of the best quotes from the book. And he shares his insights and perspectives based on these quotes from the book.
And the longer he’s done it, the more of his own personal perspective he’s integrated.
Now Joseph isn’t necessarily a “Law of Attraction” guy. But he half-jokingly calls Think and Grow Rich his “Bible.”
And he very much believe — and coaches me on — the principles Napoleon Hill laid out in that bestselling book.
Including setting definite goals, and visualizing your way toward the success you desire.
But somehow that’d been lost on me. Somehow I’d gotten caught up in needing to fix my sh*t first, before I could get back to those goals. Somehow I’d gotten lost in the loser feelings of dealing with my baggage.
But as I listened to episode after episode from Joseph, something became clear…
By focusing so intensively on the negatives, I was multiplying their power over me!
I could feel myself getting frustrated when I needed to be calm… I’d feel anxiety where I’d never felt it before… I struggled to focus on my most important goals…
It was a spiral of negativity — and it was getting out of control.
As I listened to episode after episode of Joseph’s podcast, it became clear: I needed to focus on the positive again.
One of Joseph’s episodes was about Neville Goddard’s book, Feeling is the Secret.
(Get that book on Amazon here, or better, do what I did and get Neville’s collected works in the form of Neville Goddard: The Complete Reader — and yes, there’s an audiobook version.)
I’d also heard recently that this was one of legendary copywriter Gary Bencivenga’s favorite books.
As I listened to Joseph — and later Neville — talk about this, it really resonated with me.
The core lesson is that when we “assume the feeling of our wish fulfilled,” that’s what we get in our life.
Now, you don’t have to believe all the metaphysical, manifestation stories of this for it to be useful.
After all, by constantly assuming the feeling of being a loser, I was producing evidence of this lesson’s power! I was feeling like more and more of a loser, and finding all sorts of evidence for it in my life. This is confirmation bias, and it’s a heuristic studied by psychologists that shows up in all humans’ thinking patterns. By thinking about it more and more, I was finding it to be more and more true.
“What if,” I thought, “I simply tried to feel like a winner instead? If I can assume the feeling of my wishes fulfilled, that will impact my thoughts, my behaviors, my results, and my life — even without magic.”
I actually remembered Gary Bencivenga telling his own story of feeling his wish fulfilled!
He said that even before he was the legendary copywriter he became, he used to imagine this scenario.
He’d imagine that he’d go out to the mailbox, to check his mail.
He’d try to make it as vivid as possible in his mind.
He’d imagine opening his mailbox, and seeing an envelope from his client. Knowing it was a royalty check, he’d imagine tearing it open.
In the envelope, he’d find an excited note from his client, celebrating his big control.
And he’d look at the check and see a huge number on it!
He’d imagine his heart racing, excited, for just how much money he’d made with his copy.
And he’d imagine running in the house to show his wife, Pauline, and celebrate with her. And he’d even go so far as imagine deciding with her where they’d go out to dinner to celebrate — and then imagine that dinner in his mind.
All the while, making this imagined picture as vivid and full of feeling as possible.
Which is exactly what Neville Goddard recommends.
Here’s what’s unique — and especially powerful — about this approach…
Often when we think of success or failure on a certain task, we think of ourselves in the thick of it.
As a copywriter, we may think of ourselves going through the motions of writing the copy.
In sports, we may imagine ourselves playing the game.
In whatever area, most often when you imagine it, you’re imagining the process, not the result.
But here’s the thing. The process is full of steps, and work to be done. It’s full of action items, and challenges, and obstacles.
And yes, of course, you’ll have to do all the things and overcome all the challenges to succeed. But when that’s what you imagine, it’s easy to slip into the negative.
What I love about imagining the feeling of the wish fulfilled is it takes you past these things. When you’re imagining getting that big royalty check in the mail, it assumes you’ve already overcome every obstacle.
It’s easy to feel great about it, because those things are behind you. You know you can overcome them, because in your imagination you already have!
I’ve been using this lesson to tap into my mental superpowers — and you can, too…
In the last couple weeks, I’ve doubled down on imagining all the best positive outcomes I want, in many areas of my life.
And I’ve been taking time to visualize — and feel — my wishes fulfilled in these various areas.
So, for example, I’ve come up with a personal visualization where I imagine logging into my bank’s website, and see all the deposits that just keep piling in, as a result of my copy and marketing. The money keeps coming in, faster than ever before, and much faster than I can spend it.
In fact, I imagine — and this is fun and silly but also deadly serious — that I’m being called Roy “Fire Fingers” Furr for how fast and furiously I’m able to crank out the hot copy generating all this cash.
(Makes me wonder when, exactly, Gary Halbert started using the name “The Prince of Print.” And for whom?)
Since starting, I’ve noticed an instant shift…
First and foremost, I’m happier every day. I’m excited about what I’m doing again. And that loser mentality has slipped away.
When I speak to myself, I use positive and affirming language, assuming success and achievement.
I’m getting more clarity on what I’m working on, and where I’m going.
When I notice myself slipping into the negative, I notice it and edit my language to focus on the positive outcomes I want to create in my life.
It doesn’t make problems and challenges disappear — the other day my bike tire blew out two miles from home, on what was supposed to be a quick 30-minute ride. But I’m instantly able to frame those problems and challenges into something useful. (”Oh good, now I get more time to listen to Neville’s collected works as I walk home! And I gave myself enough time that even this won’t make me late for my scheduled phone call…”)
It’s easier to do the little tasks every day that add up to big results.
And I can feel those imagined states coming closer and closer to reality.
Instead of focusing on where I want to be and what I want to improve, I’m imagining myself already there and having already made those improvements. And by really embracing that, with feeling, it’s strange how quickly some of those improvements are already taking root in my life.
Put this to work in your life…
Let me give you an assignment, if you choose to accept it.
First, I want you to consider what would be true or what you would experience if you fulfilled one of your current goals.
Next, imagine yourself in that scenario or situation, not as an observer, but as a participant — feeling it as real, from your own perspective.
Repeat this over and over again, each time, embracing the feeling of your wish already fulfilled — as evidenced in this specific situation.
Do this often. In the evening is good, before going to sleep. Or any time you can get into a contemplative or meditative state.
Keep doing this until you feel with total faith and conviction that what you’re visualizing and feeling is simply an event from the future that is as real as any event from the past.
And see for yourself what happens.
You may just discover that you have some incredible mental superpowers!
Yours for bigger breakthroughs,
Roy Furr