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WHAT TO SAY WHEN YOU TALK TO YOURSELF --- A RATIONAL, METHODICAL,
INCREDIBLY SIMPLE PROGRAM FOR SUCCESS AND LASTING SELF-CHANGE
by Shad Helmstetter. MJF Books, 1986 (http://home.earthlink.net/~denmartin/wsa.html)

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1) Looking for a better way (p1-5)

"You are everything that is,
Your thoughts, your life, your dreams come true.
You are everything you choose to be.
You are as unlimited as the endless universe." (p1)

An "UNLIMITED LIFE" of practical potential --- Imagine living a life of hope, promise, expectation, and achievement was to live the life of someone who lived only in the pages of a book!

After a 20 year odyssey of self-discovery, I began to wonder and dream again, as I had when I was a young boy. "What if I could?" I wondered. What if I could find what is stopping me and turn it around? What if there is an answer and no one else has looked in the right place? What if you and I, at any time, could reach up and "touch the stars?" (p2)

I embarked upon a journey of my own to answer the question: How can you (the average individual) and I touch all the "stars" in "heaven" and still keep both feet on solid ground. I believe that mastering the future must start with managing one's "self!"

I found dozens of "answers," but only ONE "SOLUTION!"

2) The "answers" (p6-14)

The human brain, that incredibly powerful personal computer control center that you have, is capable of doing for you anything reasonable that you would like it to do. But you have to know how to use it --- correctly! (p7)

But, if you give your mental computer (brain) the wrong directions, it will act on those wrong directions. It will continue to respond to the negative programming that you and the rest of the world have been giving it without even being aware of it! (p7-8)

[1] The 148,000 "NO's" (p8-10)

[2] The end result of your own thoughts (p10-11)

The biblical quotation, "As a person thinketh, so is he or she," is scientifically correct! Through scientific discovery, the relationship between your own "mental programming" and whether you will succeed or fail in any endeavor you undertake during your lifetime, from something as important as a lifetime goal to something as small as what you do in a single day, has been proven. In short, how successful you will be at anything is inexorably tied to the words and beliefs about yourself that you have stored in your "subconscious" mind! (p10-11)

[3] What could your future hold?

After examining all the world's philosophies and theories, I was shocked to learn the simplicity of one fact, namely:

Your success or failure in anything, large or small, will depend on your programming --- what you accept from others, and what you say when you talk to yourself!

It is no longer a success theory. It is a simple but powerful fact. Neither luck nor desire has the slightest thing to do with it. It makes no difference whether you believe it or not. The brain simply "believes" what you tell it most! And, what you tell it about YOU, it WILL create. It has no choice! (p11-14)

3) What works and what doesn't (p15-23)

[1] On the trail of a sensible solution

[2] Thirty years of "How-To's"

[3] The missing ingredients

(1) The first missing ingredient is "permanence"

(2) The second missing ingredient is a "knowledge of the physiological processes of the human brain --- based on what we now know about actual mind/brain functions."

(3) The third missing ingredient --- and the most important --- is a "new, word-for-word set of directions (new programming) to the subconscious mind (the control center of the brain)!"

The only solution which includes ALL of the three missing ingredients is something called "SELF-TALK" (p21-23)

4) New discoveries (p24-28)

[1] The control center (p25-27)

[2] The biochemical electrical impuses called "THOUGHTS" (p27-28)

5) We learn to believe (p29-35)

[1] Unconscious conditioning from others (p31-33)

[2] Your personal on-board computer (p33-34)

[3] A new set of directions (p34-35)

6) The "wall" (p36-44)

[1] A self-made wall of "negative" self-talk (p38-41)

[2] Living with the results (p41-44)

7) Passing it on (p45-49)

The machine that never sleeps --- Your unconscious mind works day and night to make sure you become the precise person you have "unconsciously described yourself to be!

During your formative years, you were told "NO," or what you CANNOT DO, tens of thousands of times. Each of those "cannots" was a directive to your subconscious mind. And, as a result of your conditioning, you fell into the unconscious habit yourself in the same wrong way as did your parents, friends and associates. Right now --- at this moment --- your subconscious mind is working to make sure that you become just as those tens of thousands of negative directives programmed you to be!(p47-49)

8) The "self-management" sequence --- The FIVE STEPS that control your success or failure:
(p50-58)

[1] BEHAVIOR --- The step that most directly controls your success or failure is your behavior ("actions") --- what you do or do not do!

The right series of the right actions will always end up making things work better than the wrong series of the wrong actions. In most cases, if you do the right thing, you will achieve the right results!

How you manage yourself, what you do, how you act, each and every moment, every word you speak, motion you make and action you take or do not take, will determine how well everything in your life works for you! (p51-53)

[2] FEELINGS --- how you "feel" about something always affects what you do and how well you do it! (p53-54)

[3] ATTITUDES --- Your "attitudes" are the perspectives from which you view life.

[4] BELIEFS --- What you "believe" about anything WILL determine your attitudes about it, crate yhour feelings, direct your actions, and in each instance, help YOU do well or poorly, succeed or fail! The belief that you have about anything is so powerful that it can even make something appear to be something "different' than what it really is!

Belief does not require that something be the way you perceive ("see") it is. It only requires that you believe that it is! In other words, belief does not require something to be true. It only requires you to "believe that it is true!"

That means most of what "reality" is --- to you --- is based on what you have come to believe --- whether it is true or not! (p51-57)

[5] PROGRAMMING --- Your beliefs are created and directed entirely by your "programming." In other words, you believe what you are programmed to believe!

Your programming ("conditioning") from the day you were born, has created reinforced, and nearly permanently cemented most of what you believe about yourself and what you believe about most of what goes on around you. Whether the programming was right or wrong, true or false. The result of programming is what you believe! It all starts with your programming!

It is your programming that sets up your beliefs, and the "chain reaction" begins. In logical progression, what you believe determines your attitudes, affects your feelings, directs your behavior, and determines your success or failure!

(1) Programming creates beliefs

(2) Beliefs create attitudes

(3) Attitudes create feelings

(4) Feelings determine actions

(5) Actions create results

9) The five levels of "self-talk" (p59-68)

10) The problem with "positive thinking" (p69-74)

11) The "motivation myth" (p75-83)

12) Not hypnosis --- not subliminal (p84-91)

13) If it isn't simple, it won't work (p92-97)

14) The "new techniques" (p98-117)

15) Whatever your need or position in life (p118-129)

16) Changing habits (p130-141)

17) Changing attitudes (p142-151)

18) Solving problems and accomplishing goals (p152-164)

19) "Internal motivation" (p165-179)

20) "Situational self-talk" (p180-197)

[1] Making an instant adjustment (p181-182)

[2] Driving yourself to distraction (p183-185)

[3] The chemicals of stress (p186-187)

[4] Conscious actions or uncontrolled reactions (p187-188)

[5] The situation cycle (p188-190)

[6] Making the best of less-than-the-best (p190-191)

[7] It is as it is (p193-196)

[8] The next situation is a chance to respond (p196-197)

21) Getting started (p198-206)

[1] A few practical steps (p199-200)

[2] The effects of self-direction (p200-202)

[3] Listen to your own self-talk (p202-203)

[4] Listen to the "self-talk" of others (p203-204)

[5] Make a list of your own past self-talk (p204)

[6] Become aware of the influence of "Media-Talk" (p205)

[7] Your greatest responsibility (p205-206)

Creating your own thoughts and determining the direction of your own future is the most important personal responsibility you will ever have! And, taking that responsibility will give you jmore control over your own life than you ever have had before! (p205-206)

22) Creating your own self-talk (p207-220)

[1] The right self-talk for every subject (p208-213)

[2] The "Self-Talk Check List" (p213-217)

(1) Is your "Self-Talk" stated in the present tense? (p213-214)

(2) Is your "Self-Talk" specific? (p214)

(3) Does your "Self-Talk" get the job done without creating any unwanted side effects? (p214)

(4) Is your "Self-Talk" easy to use? (p215)

(5) Is your "Self-Talk" practical? (p215)

(6) Is your "Self-Talk" personal and is it honest? (p215)

(7) Does your "Self-Talk" ask enough of you? (p216)

[3] Making your own self-talk tapes (p217)

Listening to "Self-Talk" tapes can give you a positive boost in the right direction. Repeated playings of "Self-Talk" audio tapes and videorecordings can turn "external" self-talk --- the words on the tape --- into "internal" motivation, which is the most important kind of motivation that stays with you.

[4] The outside voice of encouragement and authority (p218)

[5] Present tense, positive form (p218-219)

[6] Music and the subconscious mind (p219-220)

23) To change or not to change (p221-228)