The following are my favorite quotes from Bob Proctor's Change Your Paradigm, Change Your Life:
- A paradigm is a mental program situated in your subconscious that has almost exclusive control over all your habitual behavior--and almost all of your behavior is habitual.
- There's no point in telling people to do something if you're not doing it yourself.
- When you read a good book through the second time, you don't see something in that book that wasn't there before; you see something in yourself that wasn't there before.
- So it is with the subconscious mind. Whatever you plant will grow. Like the earth, the subconscious doesn't determine good or bad; it just accepts and grows it.
- The only prerequisite when you're making a decision is, do you want to?
- We have to paint the picture of the good that we desire and write it down. When you have created an image in your conscious mind, you impress it on the subconscious mind through repetition, and you let yourself feel it. It's got to be real.
- There's a basic law of life that says, create or disintegrate. If you're not going ahead, you're going backwards. When you violate the law, that's the sin. You go backwards, you're working against it; you're trying to force things. When you're working with the law, you go ahead. When you're doing it right, everything flows beautifully. If you have to really struggle, you're probably going against the law.
- Science-fiction author Robert A Heinlein once observed, "In the absence of clearly defined goals, we become strangely loyal to performing daily trivia until we ultimately become enslaved by it."
- People that are continually studying are going to be happy, healthy, and wealthy. Actually, there is no such thing as a learned person. You're either learning or you're not.
- What you think of yourself is very important. What other people think of you is not important.
- Earl Nightingale's definition of success is the best I've ever heard: "Success is the progressive realization of a worthy ideal." An ideal is an idea that you've fallen in love with. You are progressively becoming aware as you're moving towards the good you desire.
- The basic law of life is, create or disintegrate. If you're working toward a predetermined goal, you're creating; you're doing what God meant you to do.
- Results are nothing but the manifestation of your actions.
- If you have not found your purpose, I would recommend setting aside ten to fifteen minutes every morning. Put a pen and pad someplace where you can sit quietly. If you drink coffee, make yourself a cup, go to your spot, sit there, and ask, "What do I love doing?"
- The income you earn is in direct ratio to the need for what you do, your ability to do it, and the difficulty of replacing you. There's got to be a tremendous need for what you're doing, so you're going to get really good at it, and you're going to be really difficult to replace.
- When you're reacting, everything outside of you is in control of you; you're not in control of yourself at all.
- Here are some basic, simple rules: if you follow them, you win; if you violate them, you lose. There are three things that a person absolutely must lock into if the really want to set a higher goal and go after it. The first is decision. The second is understanding visualization, and the third is discipline.
- Take responsibility for how you feel and act. Energy is flowing through us, and it's up to us to direct it in any way we want.
- I take what I do and work to get better at it every day. Get better at what you're good at, manage what you're not good at, and be accountable to someone. Make sure that when you say you're going to do something, it's going to get done.
- Comfort is not a good place to be. If you're really comfortable with everything in your life, you're stuck, you're going sideways, you're not growing at all. You've got to be doing something that causes a respectable amount of discomfort and keep doing it until you're comfortable with it. When you are, then set another target that causes discomfort. That discomfort indicates that you're growing; you're going where you've never been.
- Harvest the good. There's good in everything. The more you look for, the more you'll find.
- You are the only problem you will ever have, and you are the only solution. When you understand that, you'll start to see the value in sitting down and becoming grateful every day when you're having a bit of a problem. It's such a phenomenal attitude, and it changes your life.
- It's up to us to recognize what beliefs we are operating with that are false and get rid of them. That's really the trick of life.
- I'm of the opinion that if you're struggling, you're doing it wrong. If you're working in harmony with the law, it's going to be a free flow.
- Money is not going to make you a better person, but it will make you more of what you already are. If you're not a nice person, you're going to become despicable. If you are a nice person, you will become much nicer. Money's a magnifier. There's no limit to what you can earn, but to earn it, you have to provide service. That doesn't mean you have to work, but you have to provide service.
- Never let anybody decide what you're going to earn. That's something you've got to decide. If you're letting somebody else decide, and you're not happy with it, you know what you have to do: you have to get out of there and go out on your own.
- Anyone who wants anything they haven't got should write down what they want in the present tense. It doesn't matter if they think it's silly. They should start reading it and speaking it out loud over and over again. Something will start to happen first in their mind, and then in the outside world--inside out.
- When you sit down and think of what you want, you let your imagination go. If you can see it, write it down. Don't talk to anybody else, but me about it. Because everybody else will laugh at you, and you don't need that happening. Don't mix with people who haven't got big goals.
- Eight Principles for Living:
- Develop an awareness of your infinite potential.
- Act on what you want.
- Make a decision.
- Total commitment.
- Accountability.
- Focus.
- Discipline.
- Visioneering.
- Earl Nightingale used to say that if you do something for ninety days, you'll probably do it for the rest of your life.
