You Are What You Think You Are! - part 2

Articles In This Section:

· You Are What You Think You Are! - part 1

· You Are What You Think You Are! - part 2

· You Are What You Think You Are! - part 3

· WHY ARE YOU AS YOU ARE? - part 1

· WHY ARE YOU AS YOU ARE? - part 2

· YOUR IMPORTANT CHANGE-OVER

· A WARNING TO PARENTS - part 1

· A WARNING TO PARENTS - part 2

· A WARNING TO PARENTS - part 3

What kind of mental picture does the successful business executive hold of himself? Does he see himself as a poor businessman? Not by a jug full! He has reached the heights in his field because he saw himself as a success.

When I had a house designed, I explained to the architect the type of structure I wanted. He reflected a moment, then said: "I think I know just what you want." Did that architect have faith in his ability? Or did he see himself as a poor architect? This question is actually silly, because the answer is so obvious.

Here is some extremely good news! If there is something you have always wanted to do, but felt you couldn't, all you have to do is to gain an awareness that you can do it, and you'll have no difficulty in doing it.

I tried an experiment in my own household to prove the truth of this assertion.

My precious wife—the girl to whom this book is dedicated— had always maintained that she was not a bit artistic. She had never tried to draw or paint a picture, because she thought she couldn't do so.

I started on a subtle campaign to establish in her mind an awareness that she could easily become an artist. In the selection of wearing apparel, I would compliment her on her taste in color—how well all her garments harmonized with each other— then drop a gentle hint that she would make a good artist.

When taking pictures she would be complimented on how well she placed her subjects to get the best balance. This, of course, all added to the thought that she possessed artistic ability.

At Christmas, my gift to her was a complete outfit for painting and drawing. There were sets of oil colors, crayons for pastel work, pencils of all degrees of hardness. The outfit included canvases, sketching pads, easel, etc. From this complete set of materials, she could choose the medium in which she would like to work.

The first attempt was a 14 x 20-inch oil painting of the famous wind-blown cypress tree at Monterey, California. Without any training whatsoever, she did exceedingly well with this first canvas. Throughout our home there are many evidences of the artistic skill developed after she became aware that she had artistic ability.