I am just pondering about this observation:

“Henri Fehr, the famous Swiss scientist, said that practically all his good ideas came to him when he was not actively engaged in work on a problem, and that most of the discoveries of his contemporaries were made when they were away from their workbench, so to speak.”

― Dr Maxwell Maltz, writing in his Psycho-Cybernetics classic;

Amusingly, I recall this intersting finding in the book, What a Great Idea, by creativity expert Charles 'Çhic' Thompson:

Creative sparks come from while doing the following tasks, counting down from the top ten idea-friendly activities:

x) while performing manual tasks;

ix) while listening to church sermon;

viii) upon waking up in the middle of the night;

vii) while working out in the gym;

vi) during pleasure reading;

v) during a boring meeting;

iv) while falling alseep or waking up;

iii) while commuting to work;

ii) while taking a shower or shaving;

i) while sitting on a toilet bowl!!!

Hey, folks, what do you think?

From my own personal experiences, I must say that the last three and #vii have had been my numerous eureka moments.

In contrast, Steven Johnson, writing in his book, Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation, argues that good ideas do not for the most incidences come from inside someone's head.

Instead, as he puts it, they come from outside, specifically social interactions.

I will write a separate post on his findings.

Just as Dr Maxwell Maltz of the Psycho-Cybernetics fame had asserted back in the early sixties:

"You will act like the sort of person you conceive yourself to be.”!

To me, this smart advisory captures the essence of the power of self-image psychology, and the imperativeness of self-improvement as the name of the game to strengthen yourself, as postulated by Dr Maxwell Maltz of the Psycho-Cybernetics fame!

 

To me, this smart advisory captures the essence of the power of self-image psychology, and the imperativeness of self-improvement as the name of the game to strengthen yourself, as postulated by Dr Maxwell Maltz of the Psycho-Cybernetics fame!

Dr Maxwell Maltz of the Psycho-Cybernetics fame had been absolutely right with this astute observation which he had made back in the early sixties:

"Self-improvement is the name of the game, and your primary objective is to strengthen yourself,... "!

More importantly, for a professional who wants to stay relevant in today's VUCANT world, he or she needs to pursue relentlessly what the WEF has had termed as CURE: Cross-skilling, Up-skilling, Re-skilling and even Expert-skilling initiatives, via the continuous cycle of Learning, Unlearning and Relearning!

What Dr Maxwell Maltz had asserted below is absolutely true!

Tony Robbins shares an interesting anecdote:

“My teacher Jim Rohn taught me a simple principle: every day, stand guard at the door of your mind, and you alone decide what thoughts and beliefs you let into your life.

For they will shape whether you feel rich or poor, cursed or blessed.”

He adds:

“The secret of living an extraordinary life is to take control of the mind, since this alone will determine whether you live in a suffering state or beautiful state."

He adds a warning, though:

"When you get in your head, you're dead!"

What he means is this:

"Self-doubt and limiting beliefs kill dreams and they start and end in the mind.

The brain is an incredible tool but sometimes you need to use your heart, embrace your passion and act on it in order to move yourself forward."

Thanks, Tony, for the lesson!

Drawing intellectual ectual cues from Dr Maxwell Maltz, writing in his Psycho-Cybernetics classic:

"I am a firm believer in 'negative thinking' when used correctly. We need to be AWARE of negatives so that we can steer clear of them.

A golfer needs to know where the bunkers and sand traps are - but he doesn't think continuously about the bunker - where he doesn't want to go.

His mind glances at the bunker, but he DWELLS upon the green."

He added:

“Our errors, mistakes, failures, and sometimes even our humiliations, were necessary steps in the learning process. However, they were meant to be means to an end - and not an end in themselves.

When they have served their purpose, they should be forgotten. If we consciously dwell on the error, or consciously feel guilty about the error and keep berating ourselves because of it, then - unwittingly - the error or failure itself becomes the "goal" that is consciously held in imagination and memory.”!

“Remember you will not always win. Some days, the most resourceful individual will taste defeat. But there is, in this case, always tomorrow - after you have done your best to achieve success today.”

More from him:

“Live in the present.

The past is gone; the future is unknown -- but the present is real, and your opportunities are now. You must see these opportunities; they must be real for you.

The catch is that they can't seem real if your mind is buried in past failures, if you keep reliving old mistakes, old guilts, old tragedies. Fight your way above the many inevitable Traumatizations of your ego, escape damnation by the past, and look to the opportunities of the present.

I don't mean some vague moment in the present -- next week or next month, perhaps. I mean today, this minute.”

What I have learned:

Perspective Matters! So much of our happiness depends on how we choose to look at the world.

Frankly, life is all about perspective. Sometimes, all it takes is a tiny shift of perspectve!

Enjoy! Godspeed.

Just sharing a vital lesson by re-reading an insightful passage in the Psycho-Cybernetics classic by Dr Maxwell Maltz:

"... You are basically an "actor" - not a "reactor". Throughout this book we have spoken of reacting and responding appropriately to environmental factors.

Man, however, is not primarily a "reactor", but an "actor".

We do not merely react and respond, willy-nilly, to whatever environmental factors may be present, like a ship that goes whichever way the wind happens to blow.

As goal-striving beings we first - ACT.

We set our own goal, determine our own course. Then, within the context of this goal-striving structure - we respond and react appropriately, that is, in a manner which will further our progress and serve our own ends... "!

Henceforth, we have a choice.

Drawing intellectual cues from the famed Austrian psychologist Dr Viktor Frankl:

"Between stimulus and response there is a space.

In that space is our power to choose our response.

In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”

[Author's Note: It is good to learn about the 7 Levels of Awareness as postulated by the late Bob Proctor. You can go to the PGI corporate website to look for it.]

Against the backdrop of these pearls of wisdom from Dr Maxwell Maltz, writing in his Psycho-Cybernetics classic, I am appending herewith a nice chart showing you 37 habits to embrace for stopping negativity in your life: **

• "I am a firm believer in 'negative thinking' when used correctly. We need to be AWARE of negatives so that we can steer clear of them. A golfer needs to know where the bunkers and sand traps are - but he doesn't think continuously about the bunker - where he doesn't want to go. His mind glances at the bunker, but he DWELLS upon the green."
• "Your present negative beliefs were formed by thought PLUS feelings. Generate enough emotion, or deep feeling and your new thoughts and ideas will cancel them out."
• “In fact, it is literally impossible to really think positively about a particular situation as long as you hold a negative concept of your “self.”
• "Once the mind sees a positive self-image, it will use every resource at its disposal to make that image a reality. It has the same effect on a negative self-image, making it come real and leading to failure and despair."

Enjoy your reading, experimentation and assimilation!

Hey! As I read the fascinating quote appended below, that's what I call living up to the ideal of what Dr Maxwell Maltz talked about in his Psycho-Cybernetics classic!

“Develop an enthusiasm for life, create a need for more life, and you will receive more life.”.

Just my random musing on drawing lessons from this elegant quote of Dr Maxwell Maltz:

• Action creates traction, and with traction you get momentum, and that's when you start to move forward;
• Hence, as you keep taking action, you are overcoming inertia;
• Gaining traction and building momentum generate confidence;
• Consistent action is the best traction to achieve your goals;
• There are indeed risks and costs to action, but they are far less than the long range risks of comfortable inaction;
• Action is the foundational key to all success, for it creates results and feedback, and that's how we improve;
• Present action creates future results;
• The moment you take responsibility to initiate action, you take your power back and create phenomenal opportunities for yourself;
• Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy (Dale Carnegie);
• Taking bold focused action creates explosive results;
• We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths (Walt Disney);
• If you can't fly then run, if you can't run then walk, if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward (Martin Luther King);
• Anyone can talk about being an entrepreneur or starting a business, but very few do. The difference is found in those that choose to take action;
• Progress matters, no matter how much, not perfection, for every bit of progress matters, look how far you've come!;
• When there's no action, there's no progress;
• First steps are always the hardest but until they are taken the notion of progress remains only a notion, and not an achievement (Aberjhani);

Enjoy!

Just sharing (reiterating, to be more precise!) a fascinating insight from the Psycho-Cybernetics classic by Dr Maxwell Maltz:

BUILD YOURSELF A QUIET ROOM IN YOUR MIND

"One of the most beneficial prescriptions that I have ever given
patients is the advice to learn to return to this quiet tranquil center.

And one of the best ways that I have found for entering this quiet center is to build (it) for yourself, in (your) imagination, a little mental room.

Furnish this room with whatever is most restful and refreshing to you:

• perhaps beautiful landscapes, if you like paintings;
• a volume of your favorite verse, if you like poetry.
• The colors of the walls are your own favorite "pleasant" colors, but should be chosen from the restful hues of blue, light green, yellow, gold.
• The room is plainly and simply furnished; there are no distracting elements. It is very neat and everything is in order.
• Simplicity, quietness, beauty are the keynotes.
• It contains your favorite easy chair.
• From one small window you can look out and see a beautiful beach. The waves roll in on the beach and retreat, but you cannot hear them, for your room is very, very quiet.

Take as much care in building this room in your imagination as you would in building an actual room.

Be thoroughly familiar with every detail.

Do not permit the thought that this is childish stop you in your tracks.

The power of this technique lies in its careful and thorough construction, its vivid detail, its "realness" as a place of retreat
rather than just a vague idea."

Just remember, what Napoleon Hill had said so vehemently:

"The subconscious mind makes no distinction between constructive and destructive thought impulses. It works with the material we feed it, through our thought impulses.

The subconscious mind will translate into reality a thought driven by fear, just as readily as it will translate into reality a thought driven by courage or faith."

By the way, Dr Maltz completely shared his sentiment.

Bravissimo!

Dr Maxwell Maltz shared this fascinating observation back in the early sixties when he wrote Psycho-Cybernetics.

Interestingly, America's Greatest Prosperity Teacher Bob Proctor had reinforced Dr Maltz's point:

"You don't have to know how to get it. You just have to know that you can."

He added:

"Want is the only prerequisite to get what you want. Do you really want it?"

Bob's partner, Sandy Gallagher, CEO of the Proctor Gallagher Institute, went on to create a 32 minute video on YouTube, entitled Visioneering.

She shared her brilliant insights on the art of Visioneering, including a checklist which you can even download.

For the corporate and business world, author-filmmaker-futurist Joel Arthur Barker had introduced his half-hour long Power of Vision video, which demonstrated that "having a positive vision of the future is the most forceful motivater for change and success".

You can watch it for free at the StarThrower Distribution corporate website.

In a nut shell, it's fair to say, Dr Maltz was far ahead of his time.

I am taking the opportuniy to recap - and refresh - my own understanding of the operating mechanics of the goal striving mechanism as envisaged by Dr Maxwell Maltz in Psycho-Cybernetics.

As I have had already mentioned, this servo-mechanism, as Dr Maltz defined it, is encapsulated within the Reticular Activating System or RAS located in the thalamus region of our Reptilain core, which in turn sits on top of our spinal chord.

It's basically our Central Sensory Awareness Controller.

“Servo-mechanisms are divided into two general types:

(1) where the target, goal, or answer is known and the objective is to reach it or accomplish it, and

(2) where the target or answer is not known and the objective is to discover or locate it.

The human brain and nervous system operate in both ways.”

“An example of the first type is the self-guided torpedo, or the interceptor missile.

The target or goal is known—an enemy ship or plane. The objective is to reach it. Such machines must “know” the target they are shooting for. They must have some sort of propulsion system that propels them forward in the general direction of the target. They must be equipped with “sense organs” (radar, sonar, heat perceptors, etc.), which bring information from the target.

These “sense organs” keep the machine informed when it is on the correct course (positive feedback) and when it commits an error and gets off course (negative feedback).

The machine does not react or respond to positive feedback. It is doing the correct thing already and “just keeps on doing what it is doing.”

There must be a corrective device, however, that will respond to negative feedback.

When negative feedback informs the mechanism that it is “off the beam,” too far to the right, the corrective mechanism automatically causes the rudder to move so that it will steer the machine back to the left.

If it “overcorrects” and heads too far to the left, this mistake is made known through negative feedback, and the corrective device moves the rudder so it will steer the machine back to the right.

The torpedo accomplishes its goal by going forward, making errors, and continually correcting them. By a series of zigzags it literally gropes its way to the goal.

Dr. Norbert Wiener, who pioneered the development of goal-seeking mechanisms in World War II, believes that something very similar to the foregoing happens in the human nervous system whenever you perform any purposeful activity—even in such a simple goal-seeking situation as picking up a pen from a desk.”

“1. Your built-in Success Mechanism must have a goal or “target.” This goal, or target, must be conceived of as “already in existence—now” either in actual or potential form.

It operates by either (1) steering you to a goal already in existence or (2) “discovering” something already in existence.

2. The automatic mechanism is teleological, that is, it operates or must be oriented to “end results” goals. Do not be discouraged because the “means whereby” may not be apparent.

It is the function of the automatic mechanism to supply the means whereby when you supply the goal. Think in terms of the end result, and the means whereby will often take care of themselves.

The means by which your Success Mechanism works often take care of themselves and do so effortlessly when you supply the goal to your brain. The precise action steps will come to you without stress, tension, or worry about how you are going to accomplish the result you seek.

Many people make the mistake of interfering with their Success Mechanism by demanding a how before a goal is clearly established.

After you’ve formed a mental image of the goal you seek to create, the how will come to you—not before. Remain calm and relaxed and the answers will arrive. Any attempt to force the ideas to come will not work.

As Brian Tracy wrote, “In all mental workings, effort defeats itself.”

3. Do not be afraid of making mistakes, or of temporary failures. All servo-mechanisms achieve a goal by negative feedback, or by going forward, making mistakes, and immediately correcting course.

4. Skill learning of any kind is accomplished by trial and error, mentally correcting aim after an error, until a “successful” motion, movement, or performance has been achieved.

After that, further learning, and continued success, is accomplished by forgetting the past errors, and remembering the successful response, so that it can be imitated.

5. You must learn to trust your Creative Mechanism to do its work and not “jam it” by becoming too concerned or too anxious as to whether it will work or not, or by attempting to force it by too much conscious effort.

You must “let it” work, rather than “make it” work. This trust is necessary because your Creative Mechanism operates below the level of consciousness, and you cannot “know” what is going on beneath the surface.

Moreover, its nature is to operate spontaneously according to present need. Therefore, you have no guarantees in advance. It comes into operation as you act and as you place a demand on it by your actions.

You must not wait to act until you have proof—you must act as if it is there, and it will come through.

“Do the thing and you will have the power,” said Emerson.”

In retrospect, I must say, with my training background in engineering, this is truly an intellectual masterpiece of Dr Maltz.

Going back to the late seventies, when I first encountered the classic, following my participation in the Paul J Meyer's Dynamics of Goal Setting program, I am truly indebted for what they have had brought me to who and where I am today, especially in terms of being future-focused, goal-directed and action-oriented.