Lately, a lot of people have been asking the question, “what the heck’s going on out there?” We are all fully aware that there’s a whole lot going on out there, outside of the four walls of our own little world.
I’ll share my view. Back in 1937, a book was written by Napoleon Hill called ‘Think and Grow Rich’. The first chapter of the book was titled ‘Thoughts Are Things’. Essentially, what you think about most will translate itself into the physical reality of what you’re experiencing. Where your focus goes, where your attention goes, is what you realize as the reality.
With that said, it did not specify whether those thoughts are positive or negative. Understand that positive thoughts need to be conditioned. We need to be clear on exactly where we want to go. If we’re not conditioning our mind positively, we’re leaving an empty vacuum to suck up whatever else is out there, which unfortunately is plenty of negative news.
There was another book that Napoleon Hill wrote in 1937, however, was not published in 2011. It sat hidden for almost 80 years because it was felt that the book was somewhat too controversial. The name of the book was called ‘Outwitting the Devil’.
What is transcribed in the book was, Napoleon Hill actually had some dark years after he did his research for ‘Think and Grow Rich’. And he had to escape out into the mountains because someone was out to actually murder him. Hill spent several years in the mountains where he really began to reflect as he was in a somewhat dark place personally.
The book he wrote in that time, ‘Outwitting the Devil’, has 10 chapters specifically centered around an actual interview with the devil.
At the start of the interview, the devil mentioned, “Listen, if you’re going to interview me, you need to address me as your majesty.” Hill, being startled challenged him with, “Why should I address the devil as your majesty?” The devil replied, “Because I have control of 98% of the minds of the earthbound people. That’s why!” Wow, quite a scary statement, I thought.
So, what is this book all about? What did I get from this book? Most importantly, how does it relate to what’s going on? Right now, the devil is hard at work. In addition, he has all these tools at his disposal to work with. The media, politics, social media platforms, and all the noise to get into our little heads to influence us.
There are three Important factors to understand that Hill points out in this book. The first is the habit of drifting, the second is the law of hypnotic rhythm, and the third is the element of time. Let’s look at this. The habit of drifting, there are drifters and there are non-drifters. Non-drifters are clear on their definite purpose of what they bring to this world for the better good. They’re so crystal clear on where they’re going and what they’re doing that they have no room for the noise to get in. The non-drifter, because that person is not intentionally clear on where they’re going, unfortunately, leaves a vacuum for all the negative noise to filter in. The devil likes that because he can manipulate their thoughts. Because he knows, what you’re thinking about most will direct your full attention to how you show up.
The second is the law of hypnotic rhythm. If you’re a positive thinker, a go-getter, the type of individual that wants to achieve, wants to create, wants to give more, wants to share a purpose that impacts the world positively. That hypnotic rhythm, that daily balance of thinking that way, along with the third element of time, creates a zone like state, that nothing disturbs your peace of mind.
The flip side of hypnotic rhythm. If you are not definite on your purpose of what you’re bringing into this world and you’re just drifting, you leave room for all the noise to seep in. Unfortunately, every single day, you’re letting the wrong stuff in, you’re watching the news, you’re scrolling the negative slants on social media, you’re taking in everyone else’s negative views. This starts bringing you down, day after day, along with the element of time, compounds to get you stuck and places your mental state in a bad place where the devil now has control of your thoughts.
The lesson from this book is if we are not clear on what we bring to the table, how we show up, what we want to bring to the world for the better good, we’re unfortunately and unknowingly leaving room for the wrong stuff to seep in.
An important lesson that I’ve been sharing with my clients for the last several months is to ‘keep it simple’. There are only four things we really need to focus on. We focus on ourselves, making ourselves the best we can possibly be. Spiritually, physically, mentally, be sure to get plenty of rest, drink lots of water, exercise, think right, read the right books, put the right stuff in. Take care of our family as they are the ones, we love the most. Take care of our business because our business is the entity, which is going to supply us the freedom to do what we want and take care of our clients.
You take care of yourself. You take care of your family. You take care of your business. You take care of your clients. Everything else will eventually take care of itself.
I encourage you to take full control of your mind. Decide what you’re going to focus on. Because the only thing we can truly control in our life is our thoughts. And if you’re not controlling your thoughts, unfortunately, somebody else is, and that just might be the devil.