Business: Act As If

Believe and act as if it were impossible to fail. (Charles Kettering, inventor with over 140 patents and honorary doctorates from nearly 30 universities.)

One of the great strategies for success is to act as if you are already where you want to be. This means thinking like, talking like, dressing like, acting like, and feeling like the person who has already achieved a goal. Acting as if sends powerful commands to your subconscious mind to find creative ways to achieve your goals. It programs your brain to start noticing anything that will help you succeed, and it sends strong messages to life that this end goal is something you really want.

Start Acting As If

The first time I noticed this phenomenon was at my local bank. There were several tellers working there, and I noticed that one in particular always wore a suit and tie. Unlike the other two male tellers who just wore a shirt, and a tie, this young man looked like an executive.

A year later, he had been promoted to his own desk where he was taking loan applications. Two years later, he was a loan officer, and later he became the branch manager. When asked about this one day, he said he always knew he would be a branch manager, so he studied how the manager dressed and started dressing that way. He studied how the manager treated people and started interacting the same way. He started acting as if he were a branch manager long before be ever became one.

“To fly as fast as thought, to be anywhere there is, you must first begin by knowing that you have already arrived” (Richard Bach, Author of Jonathan Livingston Seagull)

Becoming an International Consultant

The story is told about a seminar leader who had just returned from Australia. Taking a cue from him, another man decided to travel and speak around the globe. The first questions he asked himself included “what would I need to become an international consultant?” He then had business cards printed with the words “international consultant” on them.

Finally, he too decided to go to Australia so he went to a travel agency and got a huge poster on his intended campaign. Before he left, every morning while he ate breakfast, he looked at the poster and imagined himself in Australia.

Less than a year later, he was invited to conduct seminars in Sydney and Brisbane. As soon as he started acting as if he was an international consultant, the world responded by treating him like one. The powerful law of attraction at work.

The law simply states that like attracts like. This is an immutable law of the universe and critical to accelerating your rate of success. This write up is inspired by author Jack Cranfield’s ideas.