My first Mastermind Group Session

The Mastermind Group has continuous weekly meetings to review the book Think and Grow Rich. Each week we consider one chapter from the book and see how the lessons contained within can help each of us to be a better person. It's so great to hear how differently each chapter affects (and reveals) portions of the group's life and belief system.

This week's chapter was very compelling for me. I found that I was
able to relate best to Mr. Barnes and his experience because of having to do
something similar in my own life. Henry Ford proved that being determined
to accomplish something, regardless of how "impossible" it may seem is
necessary to be able to attain any type of goal.

Regardless of what we are doing, there is always a time when our
goal seems impossible or inaccessible. If, however, we allow
ourselves to be stopped each time something came up that required us to
look outside of the box, we would be no better than drones or
robots. Humans have been blessed with the ability to think
outside of the box, and to continuously put ourselves into a box is
both unnatural and unhealthy. Yet, this is what most of us have been taught to limit ourselves since infancy. And when we were infants that was fine because we wouldn't be here (as evidenced by my son who likes to climb on top of tall things and lean over just to give me a heart attack). However, as we enter adulthood, many of the strictures that we were under have to be re-evaluated according to relevance and importance in our lives. Unfortunately, most of us live life on cruise control and never realize that we can "shift gears" at will.

That's why I found the explanation of Henley's poem to be so very interesting. The idea that the human brain is a magnet is a very strong word picture for me.
When I was in school we learned about convolutions in the brain and I've watched
documentaries on how the brain works and the imaging techniques that show how
different areas of the brain "light up" depending on what we are doing. It
also brings to mind one my computer programming teachers who explained that the
computer isn't right or wrong, it only does what it is programmed to
do. So, if we wanted better success with our programs, we had to set better
parameters.

So, our brains are just as impartial -- our programming (negative or positive) will set the parameters that our brain uses to make things happen. Our brain is our tool and is designed to attract only those things within its parameters. That makes a huge amount of sense to me. I have never been in true poverty, but neither have I been
financially well off either. I now realize that I have settled for what
was the "norm" for people that I knew. Everyone had money to take a
vacation once every 2-3 years and to cover the basic necessities, but no one
could ever say "I'm taking a year off" without expecting to be homeless.

It also explains why I was always able to get work when others in
my group were not. I never believed that I would ever be
unemployable. I went through the same interviewing/rejection/sitting
around agencies for the next lead experiences as my friends, but never once did
I doubt that I would find a job. And I was always the one who got the jobs
first. The others, the worriers and doubters, took much more time to
achieve the positions that I did. And according to their "programming" I
did all of the wrong things. I stood up for myself, said "no" first,
complained when I thought it was necessary and had no fear of speaking to those
who were my supervisors or bosses. Amazingly, I never once worried about
being fired because of my actions, whereas I had a few friends fired for silly
misdemeanors. I realize now that my brain was attracting my employers,
whereas my friends were attracting unemployment. Wow!

So, I need to re-evaluate my expectations and shake off the shackles of my upbringing, as well using the criteria for success to choose the people whom I will
associate with on a regular basis. No more doomsayers for me. Only then
will I be able to provide the type of lifestyle that I think my family
enjoys. And only by maintaining my focus on the good things that life has
to offer can I readily attain them.

Self-Analysis Questions

In order to start figuring out who this person, Cheryl Henderson-Khalid, is I needed a starting point. So, I chose to join a mastermind group that was using the book Think and Grow Rich, by Napoleon Hill. That probably sounds like a crazy way to figure out what I wanted my purpose to be and how to achieve it, but in actuality this book on how to be prosperous is really quite deep and thought-provoking. As Mr. Hill himself describes this publication, it's really a textbook that needs to be studied, not just read casually.

Anyway, these are some of the questions that I was seeking to answer on my quest of self-knowledge. Perhaps they'd help someone else to begin to enjoy their lives free from the baggage that we all carry with us at one time or another.

SELF-ANALYSIS TEST QUESTIONS

1. Do you complain often of “feeling bad,” and if so, what is the cause?

2. Do you find fault with other people at the slightest provocation?

3. Do you frequently make mistakes in your work, and if so, why?

4. Are you sarcastic and offensive in your conversation?

5. Do you deliberately avoid the association of anyone, and if so, why?

6. Do you suffer frequently with indigestion? If so, what is the cause?

7. Does life seem futile and the future hopeless to you? If so, why?

8. Do you like your occupation? If not, why?

9. Do you often feel self-pity, and if so why?

10. Are you envious of those who excel you?

11. To which do you devote most time, thinking of SUCCESS, or of FAILURE?

12. Are you gaining or losing self-confidence as you grow older?

13. Do you learn something of value from all mistakes?

14. Are you permitting some relative or acquaintance to worry you? If so, why?

15. Are you sometimes “in the clouds” and at other times in the depths of despondency?

16. Who has the most inspiring influence upon you? What is the cause?

17. Do you tolerate negative or discouraging influences which you can avoid?

18. Are you careless of your personal appearance? If so, when and why?

19. Have you learned how to “drown your troubles” by being too busy to be annoyed by them?

20. Would you call yourself a “spineless weakling” if you permitted others to do your thinking for you?

21. Do you neglect internal bathing until auto-intoxication makes you ill-tempered and irritable?

22. How many preventable disturbances annoy you, and why do you tolerate them?

23. Do you resort to liquor, narcotics, or cigarettes to “quiet your nerves”? If so, why do you not try will-power instead?

24. Does anyone “nag” you, and if so, for what reason?

25. Do you have a DEFINITE MAJOR PURPOSE, and if so, what is it, and what plan have you for achieving it?

26. Do you suffer from any of the Six Basic Fears? If so, which ones?

27. Have you a method by which you can shield yourself against the negative influence of others?

28. Do you make deliberate use of auto-suggestion to make your mind positive?

29. Which do you value most, your material possessions, or your privilege of controlling your own thoughts?

30. Are you easily influenced by others, against your own judgment?

31. Has today added anything of value to your stock of knowledge or state of mind?

32. Do you face squarely the circumstances which make you unhappy, or sidestep the responsibility?

33. Do you analyze all mistakes and failures and try to profit by them or, do you take the attitude that this is not your duty?

34. Can you name three of your most damaging weaknesses? What are you doing to correct them?

35. Do you encourage other people to bring their worries to you for sympathy?

36. Do you choose, from your daily experiences, lessons or influences which aid in your personal advancement?

37. Does your presence have a negative influence on other people as a rule?

38. What habits of other people annoy you most?

39. Do you form your own opinions or permit yourself to be influenced by other people?

40. Have you learned how to create a mental state of mind with which you can shield yourself against all discouraging influences?

41. Does your occupation inspire you with faith and hope?

42. Are you conscious of possessing spiritual forces of sufficient power to enable you to keep your

mind free from all forms of FEAR?

43. Does your religion help you to keep your own mind positive?

44. Do you feel it your duty to share other people’s worries? If so, why?

45. If you believe that “birds of a feather flock together” what have you learned about yourself by studying the friends whom you attract?

46. What connection, if any, do you see between the people with whom you associate most closely, and any unhappiness you may experience?

47. Could it be possible that some person whom you consider to be a friend is, in reality, your worst enemy, because of his negative influence on your mind?

48. By what rules do you judge who is helpful and who is damaging to you?

49. Are your intimate associates mentally superior or inferior to you?

50. How much time out of every 24 hours do you devote to:

a. your occupation

b. sleep

c. play and relaxation

d. acquiring useful knowledge

e. plain waste

51. Who among your acquaintances,

a. encourages you most

b. cautions you most

c. discourages you most

d. helps you most in other ways

52. What is your greatest worry? Why do you tolerate it?

53.When others offer you free, unsolicited advice, do you accept it without question, or analyze their

motive?

54. What, above all else, do you most DESIRE? Do you intend to acquire it?

55. Are you willing to subordinate all other desires for this one?

56. How much time daily do you devote to acquiring it?

57. Do you change your mind often? If so, why?

58. Do you usually finish everything you begin?

59. Are you easily impressed by other people’s business or professional titles, college degrees, or wealth?

60. Are you easily influenced by what other people think or say of you?

61. Do you cater to people because of their social or financial status?

62. Whom do you believe to be the greatest person living? In what respect is this

person superior to yourself?

63. How much time have you devoted to studying and answering these questions? (At least one day is necessary for the analysis and the answering of the entire list.)