Psycho Cybernetics
Maxwell Maltz

Summary

A potentially life-changing book that teaches you about the power of continuous visualization. What you believe in your mind does come true if you believe it long enough

Rating: 4/5

Notes

Self image is key to human personality and human behaviour

Your brain cannot tell the difference b/w an actual experience and an experience imagined vividly in detail

Reserve judgement for 21 days

Everyone has a built in creative mechanism that strives to achieve a goal, ‘to live’

You can imagine your future

Man possesses an ‘extra-sensory’ factor that acquiring knowledge transcends the sensory function

If you start with an answer in mind, your creative mechanism will come up with the way to do it

Every human being has been engineered for success ‘There are no great and no successful’ - Emerson

Your built in success mechanisms must have a goal or target

Think in terms of the end result and the means will take care of itself

Do not be afraid of making mistakes or failures

Skill learning is acquired through trial and error

Trust your creative mechanism ‘Let it work’

A human being always acts and feels in accordance with what he imagines to be true about himself and his environment

Imagine your ideal situation but remember the details, they’re important

If you believe an idea, even if it’s false, that idea will hold true. You need to de hypnotize your fake ideas

You are never supposed to compare yourself to others, only to your past self

Best way to break a habit is to form a clear mental image of the desired result and to practice without effort to reach that goal

Consciously forget about memories of past failures, focus on the positive 

For rational thoughts to change belief of behaviour, it must be accompanied w/ feeling and desire

‘I failed once in the past so I will probably fail in the future’ is not logical or rational

You cannot solve all your problems with conscious thought. Trust your brain and imagination

‘The way to success is by surrender/passivity, not activity - relaxation should be the new rule

A lot of ideas come to you when sleeping or showering, away from the task or idea at hand

Do your worrying before you place your bet, not after the wheel starts turning

Consciously respond to the present moment

Try to do only one thing at a time

Sleep on it: wait 24 hours if you’re stuck

Relax while you work

Happy people are never wicked

Happiness is purely internal

Happiness is a state of mind in which our thinking is pleasant most of the time

All the things people tell you you can’t do are opinions, not facts

SUCCESS

• Sense of direction
• Understanding
• Courage
• Compassion
• Esteem
• Self-confidence
• Self-acceptance

We are engineered as goal-seeking mechanisms. Always have a project or goal in mind

Have a nostalgia for the future, not the past

‘It doesn’t matter who’s right, but what’s right.’ - seek the objective truth

Be willing to make mistakes and suffer a little pain to get what you want

Use errors and mistakes as a way to learn and then forget them. Deliberately remember and picture yourself to your past successes

It doesn’t matter how many times you failed in the past. What matters is the successful attempt

Accept yourself as you are, not what others perceive you to be

Reflection is neither necessary or required

Channel aggression into working for a goal

‘The greatest mistake a man can make is being afraid of making one.’ Elbert Hubard

‘No man ever became great or good except through many and great mistakes’. - William E. Gladstone

Never lose the capacity to enjoy because without it, you can’t be happy or successful

Strive for your success, not a phoney success to please others

Be too big to feel threatened

Develop a more self reliant attitude, assume responsibility for your own life

You alone are responsible for your responses and actions

Your forgiveness should be forgotten as well as the wrong which was forgiven

You make mistakes, mistakes do not make ‘you’

Your conscience itself can be wrong

Stage fright is the feat we will be punished for speaking up, expressing our opinion or showing off

• To get rid of this, you need to practice acting without thinking
• Don’t worry about what you’re going to say, just open your mouth and say it. Improvise as you go along. Speak louder than usual.

Let people know when you like them, always

Relax from the over stimuli of the environment by doing nothing

• If not, then delay your response

Your mind needs a certain amount of escapism. Go to your quiet room

Practice without pressure

Act aggressively to threats and crises, not negatively

Fearlessly accept the challenge and confidently expanding your strength

• Keep your goal top of mind

Consider the worst case scenario and remember it isn’t that bad

Evolve the feeling of success, of winning

Accept negative feelings as a challenge

Create a need for more life, have an enthusiasm for the future

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