Sustaining Mental Effort

One of the hardest things that many people will every do is sustain mental effort in the pursuit of a better way of life. That's not to say most people wouldn't want to try. Of course they would.

But any kind of mental effort takes discipline and determination, qualities that most people would like to think they possessed, but when it comes to putting any effort into mental discipline, few actually ever go past the "thinking about doing it" stage. So what does a person need in order to get past that stage and on to the actual "doing" stage?

Purpose

I think a person really needs purpose to get anything done and then a strong desire to make it happen. It also helps to have a propensity to tenacity because it is only by refusing to give up will anyone ever achieve anything approaching greatness.

Now, let's start with a definiteness of purpose. Being certain in your mind that the thing you desire is definite, quantifiable and real (to you), then acquiring the belief that you can achieve it is the fuel that will fire your ability to put the necessary effort into making it happen.

Nobody ever puts any effort into something they believe will not work or is not possible. But when you truly believe you can achieve a thing, then you are almost certain to want to put your heart and soul into its creation and realization.

Manufacturing Success

When we look back at the many amazing achievements of Thomas Edison, whether you believe he stole a lot of his ideas from Nikola Tesler or not, it was Edison that put them before the public and sold them on the ideas. It was his determination and absolute belief in his ability to create, market and profit from his inventions that made many things we take for granted today possible.

Look at Henry Ford and the realization of his dream that he would belt the earth with affordable automobiles. He had little formal education, no influential acquaintances and no capital to invest in his dream. Yet his dogged determination and his belief in his ability to realize his dream made success happen.

Nobody gave Ford a lucky break, as many believe. His friends thought he was crazy to try and produce automobiles in an era when that side of business was already dominated by established companies.

Yet he didn't listen to his friends or the well meaning opinions of the doubters and naysayers. He listened only to his own beliefs and stuck to his guns until he had achieved what he knew he could achieve.

Ford literally created his own success through determination and using his mental faculties to the full. It was his dedication to his own definite purpose and his persistence in working towards its realization that earned Ford his millions and his place in the annals of history as one of the world's greatest industrialists.

How to Cultivate Mental Discipline

The way to create a kind of mental discipline that will lead you to being able to maintain the kind of mental effort required to achieve the things you want to achieve is to teach your mind through repetition of affirmations. This technique utilizes the phenomenon of auto suggestion to press the mind to accept a condition that you choose.

The method is fairly simple in that it entails simply repeating a positive statement that describes the desired outcome during periods of mental calmness while infusing those statements with positive emotion, such as faith, joy, happiness, love or bliss. The subconscious mind accepts suggestions in this way and eventually they become part of your reality.

The effort involved is in creating a certain time to do this daily and to ensure that the time is used wisely and not wasted by allowing your mental power to be dissipated by thoughts influenced by external stimuli. It means clearing your mind of all clutter and focusing only on the affirmation which you wish to work with.

Why Does This Work?

Auto suggestion works when properly administered because the mind learns best by repetition. When you mix a suggestion with emotion, that suggestion is accepted by the subconscious mind. When the suggestion is repeated enough times, the acceptance become complete and part of your reality.

Bear in mind that this works for both positive and negative suggestions. So be very careful how you use this if you wish to improve your life and not plunge it into a deeper state of depression. In fact it is all too easy to fall prey to negative suggestions as they are all around us and bombard us from every corner.

By training your mind to accept positive suggestions that you create, you will, over time generate the ability to sustain the kind of mental effort that is necessary to bring the improvements to your life that you want. It's a process that has to be adhered to and there are no short cuts. You simple have to decide if you are prepared to work toward your own good and then to take action to make it happen.

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