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Napoleon Hill in his lecture: The Laws of Success, mentioned that at birth, everyone brings with them an equivalent of two sealed envelopes.

One is labeled: The riches you might enjoy if you take possession of your mind and direct it to ends of your own choice, and the other is labeled: The penalties you must pay if you neglect to take possession of your mind and direct it.

The first envelope has a list of blessings one will enjoy when one takes possession of the mind such as sound health, peace of mind, a labor of love of your own choice, freedom from fear and worry, a positive mental attitude, material riches of your own choice, and quantities.

While the second envelope has a list of penalties one must pay for neglecting to take possession of one’s mind which include: ill health, fear and worry, indecision and doubt, frustration and discouragement through life, poverty, and a whole flock of evils consisting of envy, greed, want, jealousy, anger, and superstition.

The mind is very powerful and it can help you build either a very beautiful world or a very ugly world. It all depends on how you use it.

In this blog, I discuss 5 simple tricks that you can use to hack your mind and that will help you create a successful life.

Let’s get into them.

1. Harness the power of the present moment

Dr. Daniel Gilbert in his book: Stumbling on Happiness, talks about the brain’s reality first policy.

This is when your brain is focused on what you think and feel in the present moment, and it can’t imagine anything different from the state you’re in.

This is because the brain uses the same visual and auditory cortices that you use to see and hear what’s happening in your reality, for imagination as well.

Since the brain considers the perception of reality as its first and foremost duty, it will always turn down any requests for imagining a different situation than the one you’re fully immersed in.

Have you noticed that depressed people can’t imagine that they’ll ever enjoy a future vacation, a romance, or a night out?

That is because of the brain’s reality-first policy that makes it hell-bent on focusing on the now.

Here’s how you can use this knowledge to hack your brain so it can work for you and not against you.

When your reality is one of lack, ill health, and depression, here’s what you need to do:

Try your best to immerse yourself in the things that bring you joy and fill your heart with gratitude -no matter how small or trivial.

For example, when you’re depressed, try and force yourself to get out of that state by listening to music that uplifts your soul, visiting family, or friends that have positive attitudes towards life, reading your favorite books, or going out on a walk.

You see, the more you focus on your depressive state, the more it’s difficult for your mind to come up with images of a different future; one in which you are happy and thriving.

But, when you get out, and do what brings you joy, you take your attention off your depressive state and give the mind something else to concentrate on.

You then move up to a higher vibration which allows your mind to start imagining a different future.

When you’re in a state of lack, research the different ways you can make money and get immersed in that.

Because if you keep paying attention to the lack, your brain will only focus on that, and prevent you from seeking out opportunities for wealth creation.

When it comes to manifestation, I’ve found that speaking in terms of now is a more potent way to manifest -no matter how absurd and delusional it sounds.

Since the mind does not understand future states, instead of using futuristic terms such as; I will, I’m going to… when saying your mantras, say: I’m happy, I’m content, I have everything that I need, I’m loveable, I’m at peace.

2. Focus only on what you want

When fears and anxieties take over your mind, and you’re so focused on what might go wrong, what you don’t know is that you’re creating more of what you’re scared and anxious about.

This is because the mind doesn’t understand “I don’t want.”

It only responds to what you’re focusing on.

For example, when you say: “I hate cake, it makes me fat, I should stop craving it.”

Guess what is going to happen? You’re going to want more cake!

Because the brain doesn’t understand: “I don’t want.” “I hate.” It’s only hearing “cake.”

Esther and Jerry Hicks in their book: Ask and it is Given, say that the universe doesn’t understand no.

Whatever your mind concentrates on, you are including in your experience.

That is why we always get more of what we hate and more of what we love.

Because our thoughts are usually at the opposite ends of the spectrum; either we’re so focused on what we don’t want, or we’re so focused on what we want.

So why not choose to focus only on what you want?

3. Use descriptive words and vivid pictures to impress your mind

Our minds love drama and they are very melodramatic.

So, when you want something to leave an impression on your mind, use very descriptive words and paint a very vivid mental picture.

For example, if you struggle with negative thoughts, you can counter them with repetitive positive dramatic very descriptive words.

Here’s how I do it.

When I get anxious thoughts about running out of money, I like to talk to myself like this:

“Cynthia, your supply will always proceed you, if God can provide food to the birds, then what about you? His most precious creation, huh? The world is abundant, and money is an energy that I easily attract.” “I am a money magnet that attracts money in ever-increasing avalanches.” “I am positively overwhelmed by the abundance in my life.” “I can afford anything I want and I always have enough to spare.”

This goes on and on until I start to feel myself getting into a higher vibration, and at this point, the negative thoughts start to dissipate. And you can do this too.

Our minds can be very melodramatic, and sometimes borderline schizophrenic. So, when the negative chatter starts, just beat it at its own game and become positively melodramatic with your self-talk.

Over time, your positive self-talk will begin to replace the negative thoughts in your mind.

When it comes to visualization, paint a vivid mental picture of what you want.

For example, when you picture your dream house, see yourself walking through the doors, place your items on the table in the foyer, walk to the living room and feel the texture of the carpet underneath your feet, walk to the kitchen, and pour yourself a drink.

Walk up to the balcony and look at the landscape. Listen to the chatter coming from the people in the other rooms of the house.

Paint a picture that’s so clear and so real, that every time you return to this house in your subsequent visualizations, it feels so familiar to you; like you’ve lived in it for years.

And you can do this for any other thing you desire, a relationship, a business, a career, or your dream car.

Make your future so familiar before it’s even manifested into your reality.

Here are two fundamental truths you should always remember: You are a spiritual being that is having a physical human experience and secondly, the universe is mental; everything starts from the mind.

This means that you have the power to collapse whatever you desire from the spiritual realm into your reality.

God said it is finished. Whatever you desire is already in existence, and you can access it by collapsing it into your reality.

This reminds me of a quote from Napoleon Hill that I love: Whatever the mind can conceive, and believe, the mind can achieve.

The reason why it’s important to visualize the life you desire in such vivid pictures is that it creates a state of cognitive dissonance.

This is when your mental pictures don’t align with your reality and your mind hates this mismatch; it loves to be in a state of congruence.

So, what will happen is that the more you visualize your desired life, the more your mind will work to create a state of congruence between what you’re constantly thinking of and your reality.

Before you know it, you will start to experience synchronicities, opportunities will start to show up, and you’ll start to meet the right people that will help you achieve your dream.

You might be asking yourself, how does the mind make this possible?

Well, your job is not to worry about the how -just become very clear on the what and the why, and watch the delicious unfolding of events.

4. Use repetition to reprogram your subconscious mind

Dr. Bruce Lipton said that our subconscious minds are programmed from the last trimester in our mothers’ bellies up until we’re seven years old.

They are programmed with the things we see and experience in our families and different societies like schools.

You’ll agree with me that not all programs we pick up are great for us and support a successful and fulfilling life, and yet they run 95% of our lives.

For example, you might have been programmed with a belief that money is not easy to make and that you have to work extremely hard for it.

Because of this belief, you might have developed some anxieties around money which might have led you to take on jobs that you don’t like or prevented you from venturing out of a 9 to 5 job to try out other ways of making money.

Because you were made to believe that a 9 to 5 job is more secure. So, you better not let it go!

According to Dr. Lipton, one way to get rid of such programming is through repetition.

Constantly try out the ideas your intuition gifts you on how to make money. Don’t be afraid; throw yourself into these ideas.

Continually tell yourself that there are other ways to make money and then immerse yourself in them.

You’ll start replacing the old programming in your mind with a new kind of programming; one that works for you.

5. Understand the placebo effect

In 1996, fifty-six volunteers took part in a study to test a new painkiller called trivaricaine, on each subject, one index finger was covered in the painkiller while the other remained untouched.

Then both were squeezed in painful clamps.

The subjects reported that the treated finger hurt less than the untreated one.

This shouldn’t be surprising, except, trivaricaine wasn’t a painkiller -it was just a fake concoction with no pain-relieving properties at all.

What made the students so sure that this dummy drug had worked? Well…the answer lies in the placebo effect.

An unexplained phenomenon where drugs, treatments, and therapies that are not supposed to have an effect, and are fake, miraculously make people feel better.

Doctors have used the term placebo since the 1700s when they realized the power of fake drugs to improve people’s symptoms.

You might be wondering how is this so.

Well…researchers think if a patient believes the drug is real, their expectations of recovery do trigger physiological factors that improve their symptoms.

This is why, after stubbing their toe against a table, children feel better immediately -after their mother kisses the toe, making them believe the kiss alleviates the pain.

Placebos don’t always take the form of fake drugs.

For example, placebo poison ivy can cause real rashes; the mere fear of the side effects makes those effects more likely.

It turns out that mental attitudes, beliefs, and expectations impact us greatly.

Before I knew about the placebo effect, one day I experienced a very sharp pain in the left side of my stomach; just out of the blue in the middle of the night.

I immediately recalled something I’d read in Joseph Murphy’s book: The Power of Your Subconscious Mind, about how to use the mind to heal the body.

So, I laid flat on my bed and started to tell myself: “I am okay, my body is at ease, and I am at peace.” I kept this up for a good ten minutes and I kid you not -the pain disappeared.

I just believed that I was okay and that the pain would soon disappear.

I believe that what your mind expects to happen, somehow always ends up happening.

So, ask yourself: what things am I expecting to happen in my life?

If you don’t like the answers you come up with, change the script and start expecting only the best.

Conclusion

Regardless of what you’ve been through up until this day, know that you have a choice about how you can begin to change that.

Take full responsibility for your life by understanding that at any given moment, you can choose to have positive thoughts, create positive beliefs, and use positive language when talking to yourself and others.

Start letting your mind work for you and not against you, and you’ll start to see a positive shift in your reality.

I will leave you with another of Napoleon Hill’s quotes that I love: Your only limitations are those which you set up in your mind.