Some blogs are long diatribes of my personal opinion, others are book reviews, while I occasionally share some wisdom that I’ve learned from personal experience. This blog will be a little different. I’m going to take some information directly out of a book and ask you to do a self-evaluation.
In Napoleon Hill’s classic book, “Think and Grow Rich,” he covers several principles about taking a burning internal desire and turning it into it’s physical equivalent. While I don’t agree with all of his premises or belief systems (it’s what I would call an “80/20 book” – I might agree with 80% of it and cross out 20% of it), the author does provide some very valuable thinking points and I would like to share one of those with you today.
Many of us understand the value of self-evaluation, but don’t know where to begin. Or if we practice self-evaluation, we evaluate ourselves by using ourselves as the standard… huh? We need some questions or a guide to bring us to a new perspective. Here are several direct questions that he provides from his book; I will create a few blogs out of his questions, so you can have some practice time in front of the physical, mental, and spiritual “mirror”:
21 Do you have a method by which you can shield yourself against the negative influence of others?
22 Are you easily influenced by others, against your own judgment?
23 Has today added anything of value to your stock of knowledge or state of mind?
24 Do you face squarely the circumstances which make you unhappy, or do you sidestep the issue?
25 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?
26 Can you name three of your most damaging weaknesses? More importantly, what are you doing to correct them?
27 Do you encourage other people to bring their worries to you for sympathy?
28 Do you choose, from your daily experiences, lessons or influences which aid in your personal advancement?
29 Does your presence have a negative influence on other people as a rule?
30 Have you learned how to create a mental state of mind with which you can shield yourself against all discouraging influences?
31 Do you feel it your duty to share other people’s worries? If so, why?
Just a thought… Happy Mirror Time
