"Soon after the completion of Disney World someone said, 'Isn't it too bad Walt Disney didn't live to see this'. I replied, 'He did see it — that's why it's here'." — Mike Vance, Creative Director, Walt Disney Studios<br />
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Visioning is where my personal effectiveness quest began. In 1974, when I was just starting my straight commission Culligan sales job, someone recommended I read Claude Bristol's book TNT: The Power Within You. The book sparked such an intensity of energy, excitement, and profound new awareness that I couldn't get a good night's sleep for almost a week. Even now, as I thumb through the book and recall that turning point in my life, a shiver runs up my spine.<br />
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Published in 1954, this was Claude Bristol's second book (his first — which I read later — was The Magic of Believing). Both books were based on his decades of searching for a deeper understanding of, and applying, what he called "mind stuff." This work came from his experience as a journalist studying and reporting on the full spectrum of spiritual and religious movements (especially fringe groups), building his own wealth and career as an investment banker, and his study of thousands of books on "the science of thought".<br />
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Here are just a few of the many key passages and ideas from TNT that started my self-leadership juices flowing (the emphasis shown is his):<br />
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"Picture the force! It is the explosive force of a mental picture of what you want in life, given by you to your subconscious, touched off by faith in yourself and faith in God. Whatever you picture, within reason, can come true in your life if you have, sufficient faith in the power within! That's your TNT — a mental picture of what you want and the faith that you can and will get it . . . we do not think in words. We think in pictures!<br />
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"The universal language is feeling . . . this creative power operates like a magnet. Give it a strong, clear picture or what you want and this creative power starts to work magnetizing conditions about you — attracting to you the things, resources, opportunities, circumstances and even the people you need, to help bring to pass in your outer life what you have pictured . . . what you picture in your mind, if you picture it clearly and confidently and persistently enough, will eventually come to pass in your life . . . there is a universal law in the mental realm, 'like attracts like'."<br />
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TNT awakened me to the enormous power between my ears that I wasn't using. I began reading many books and magazine articles on these topics and I attended presentations and workshops given by many of the leading authors, trainers, and speakers. I bought dozens of audio tapes on this and related "mental attitude" topics.<br />
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A strong early influence was personal development speaker and author, Zig Ziglar's, audio tapes and his book, See You at the Top. In his book he wrote about the importance of "seeing the reaching." He went on to state, "the world has a way, not only of stepping aside for men or women who know where they are going, but it often joins and helps them reach their objective."<br />
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Over the next few years I used these approaches to build a successful sales and management career, quit smoking and biting my finger nails, lose weight and get into better physical shape, develop my writing and speaking skills, and help build Achieve into a top national training and consulting firm.<br />
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I even changed from being a "sickly kid" (I would miss weeks of school each year) to not missing a single work day because of sickness for a period of nearly 20 years. I blew my record with a number of ailments, unprecedented depression, and "sick days" in 1993 when the picture of my career future was the foggiest it had ever been.<br />
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Once the picture of my preferred future cleared up, so did my attitude and health. Our thoughts become things and really do manifest themselves in our lives.<br />
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<span class="colorContent"><span class="text"><span>Jim Clemmer is an internationally acclaimed keynote speaker, workshop/retreat leader, and management team developer on leadership, change, customer focus, culture, teams, and personal growth. His web site is <a href="http://www.clemmer.net/">www.clemmer.net</a>.</span></span></span>
