TL;DR: By continuously repeating an idea to yourself it will eventually reach the subconscious mind and begin to repeat automatically. This is known as autosuggestion and can be very effective in helping to achieve any and all goals.
“If you persuade yourself that you can do a certain thing, provided this thing be possible, you will do it, however difficult it may be. If, on the contrary, you imagine that you cannot do the simplest thing in the world, it is impossible for you to do it, and molehills become for you unscalable mountains”
– Emile Coue, developer of autosuggestion
Intro
In our article on meditation we put forward the idea that you are the master of your own mind and gave methods to train and get better control of it. Once you have control of your mind the next question that naturally follows is what do you actually do with it? How do you use your control over your mind to propel yourself forward? To then go out and achieve your goals and become the person you want to be? Autosuggestion is the way to direct your mind in the direction that you want it to go.
What is Autosuggestion?
Picture your mind as a wild horse. We’ve since broken it in with meditation, we have gained control and dominance over it. Our thoughts no longer control nor direct us; nor buck us around wildly. We are fully in charge.
Now it is time to ride. To hop in the saddle, take the reigns and steer our minds in the direction we want it to go.
How do you break in a horse and teach it how to be ridden?
Repetition.
You repeatedly put the saddle on its back, the bit in its mouth and climb on its back. You do this until it learns to be ridden, even expects to be ridden. Eventually it gets to the point where the horse will start to ride in whatever direction you want it to, almost automatically, without any effort or fighting required.
This is the basis of autosuggestion, repetition.
In his renowned book, Think and Grow Rich [1], Napoleon Hill defines autosuggestion as follows:
“Autosuggestion is a term which applies to all suggestions and all self-administered stimuli which reach one’s mind through the five senses. Stated in another way, autosuggestion is self-suggestion. It is the agency of communication between that part of the mind where conscious thought takes place, and that which serves as the seat of action for the subconscious mind”
In essence, autosuggestion is the ingraining of a certain thought, idea or belief in one’s mind through constant repetition. Basically, if you consciously repeat something to yourself over and over and over again, it will eventually reach your subconscious mind and you will no longer have to consciously repeat it to yourself anymore. The repetition will now happen subconsciously, even when you are unaware of it.
This can be very powerful, when utilized correctly.
How to use Autosuggestion
To begin using auto suggestion you first need to determine what it is that you want. Not something that you sort of, kinda, maybe, I’m not sure want. None of that wishy washy bullshit. Determine what it is that you really, truly, desperately want. For more on this check out our article on goal setting.
Next, write down, on paper, what it is that you want. Be as specific as possible. Don’t just write “I want to get rich,” write “I want to make $250k by the time I’m 30”. Don’t write “I want to get big in the gym”, instead say “I want to be in the thousand pound club and be 10% body fat by next year”. Be realistic, of course, but also don’t be afraid to go big. You will only achieve what you aim for, so aim high.
The final step is the simplest, yet by far the most important: repetition. Repeat to yourself what you’ve determined you want over and over and over again. Repeat it both in your mind and out loud when you are able to. Repeat it to yourself first thing when you wake up in the morning and last thing before you go to bed at night. Tell yourself what you will get. Say “I WILL have $250k by the time I’m 30”, “I WILL be in the thousand pound club by this time next year”. Repeat, repeat, repeat and eventually the magic of autosuggestion will start to reveal itself to you. You will find that you start to repeat your goals to yourself, even without trying. You will repeat to yourself subconsciously.
That is powerful.
How are you going to slack off at work when you constantly have “250k” running through your head? How are you going to skip a workout when you have “thousand pound club” bouncing around your brain? You have just trained your mind to be your own personal motivation and accountability machine. It will now be much easier to both work towards and achieve your goals when you have your brain automatically suggesting, or autosuggesting, them to you
Negative Autosuggestion
In the same way that you can harness the power of autosuggestion in a positive way to help you in achieving your goals, autosuggestion can also end up being used negatively, often accidentally, if you’re not careful. Just like repeating to yourself over and over again that you will succeed will help lead you to success, repeating to yourself over and over again that you will fail will surely bring failure. Do not ever allow yourself to get into the habit of autosuggesting to yourself that your dreams will never be reached, or that you aren’t good enough to accomplish a task. Your subconscious does not discriminate between positive and negative stimuli. It will simply take and mould itself around whatever you feed to it.
Conclusion
If you are looking to take your life to the next level and start achieving goals you’ve only been dreaming about previously, start telling yourself that you will, and then tell yourself again, and again, and again. Convince your subconscious mind that you will succeed and you will.
References:
[1] Think and Grow Rich, book, Napoleon Hill
