Lesson #1: CONCENTRATION FINDS THE WAY

These lessons come from the book The Power of Concentration, by Theron Q. Dumont. This book has so many gems in in, and I am going to post all the lessons here for the reader with my own little flare to it. The book itself may be difficult to find in a physical copy, but it is available to buy on platforms such as iBooks for as little as $0.99. If you enjoy the lessons, I highly recommend buying it to reenforce the lessons and to keep yourself thinking in this way.

“Everyone has two natures. One wants us to advance and the other one wants to pull us back. The one we cultivate and concentration on decides what we are at the end. Both natures are trying to gain control. The will alone decides the issue.” – Theron Q. Dumont

The most important factor at play in self-improvement is the use you make of your will. You can be anything you want to be, and you don’t have to do anything that you don’t want to do. The use of your willpower is the deciding factor. By training of your willpower, you can mold yourself into the person you wish to be.

“Habit is a matter of acquirement.” – Theron Q. Dumont

We have all heard that we are but a result of our habits. Many people accept some of the poor habits they have with a “that’s just who I am”, or “I can’t help it” kind of attitude, but that isn’t true. They simply do not know how to make good use of their willpower because they have not trained it. It seems quite easy for them to do their bad habits, so why isn’t it easy to keep good ones? Well, it’s because forming the good habits requires more willpower than they are used to using. The will must be trained like a muscle, and the more you use it, the more power it will develop. To use the will, you must concentrate.

“There is no truth in saying that opportunity knocks on our door but once in a lifetime. The fact is, opportunity never seeks us; we must seek it”. – Theron Q. Dumont

“One man thinks “I will do it,” but while he procrastinates the other goes ahead and does the work. They both have the same opportunity. The one will complain of his lost chance. But it should teach him a lesson, and it will, if he is seeking the path that leads to success.” – Theron Q. Dumont

Many people read good books, blog posts or listen to inspirational videos, but they may not get much of it. All these things can do is awaken you to your own possibilities; to stimulate you to use your will power to make those changes. You must learn for yourself by application, and to do so you must train the will. “You can lead a man to the fountain, but you can’t make him drink.”

A good practice is to sit down on the 1st of each month and evaluate your progress. Keeping a journal is a wonderful way to do this. Write down your expectations, the actions you must take to accomplish what you wrote down, and then at the end of the month look back and see how well you measured up to your expectations.

Every time that we fail to do that which we have tasked ourselves to do, we lose that time forever. The tasks you give yourself may be difficult, but the harder the task, the greater the reward.

“It is the difficult things that really develop us, anything that requires on a small effort, utilizes very few of our faculties, and yields a scanty harvest of achievement. So do not shrink from a hard task, for to accomplish one of these will often bring us more good than a dozen lesser triumphs.” -Theron Q. Dumont

The price of success is not a dollar amount, it is in effort. There are three things you need to bring success: the first is the desire to do or to be something, the second is to learn how to do it, and the third is to execute. So, learn all that you can, but do not forget the most important part of the process, which is action.

“The secret of success is to try to improve yourself no where you are or what your position. Learn all you can. Don’t see how little you can do, but how much you can do.” -Theron Q. Dumont

The importance of making an effort to improve in all that you do is because how you do anything is how you do everything. Allowing laziness and lack of care into the small things that you do will carry over into the bigger things you take on because you are forming a habit of giving little effort. Make your bed nicely, get your house in order because if you can’t do thing little things right, what makes you think that you’ll get the big things right?

Stick to what you plan to do and follow it through to the end. Successful people do this and soon get used to seeing things get accomplished and always feel sure of success because they have done what they said they were going to do, building trust in themselves and soon have the confidence to take on any task.

Not all of the most successful people in this world are geniuses. Haven’t you seen someone who is successful and wondered why they are successful, and you aren’t? It’s because those people put in the work and see things through, not because they are inherently better than you or possess qualities that are unreachable for you. They have trained their minds, their wills, and done what they had to do to get there.

“I can think of nothing, but lack of health, that should interfere with one becoming successful.” – Theron Q. Dumont

Don’t expect anyone to help you. Nobody is obligated to push you to success and if you rely on someone else to be your motivator, you will not get far. Stop dissipating your energies and concentrate your attention on building something useful for yourself. Conquer your weaknesses alone and nobody can take your victory from you. Put forth the necessary effort and sacrifice what you must to get what you want from this life, and don’t allow anything to keep you from getting there.

It is easier for us today in the age of information to gain the knowledge necessary to achieve what we desire. Before the internet, learning what you needed to learn required much more effort than it does today. Count yourself as lucky and do not permit excuses because if you have your health, then you really don’t have any excuses to make. Even if you can only give a little because of your current situation, give all you can and you will make way for more. A small stream can crave a canyon with persistent effort.

It won’t be easy, but then again, accomplishing anything easy doesn’t give you the same kind of satisfaction as accomplishing something hard. Keep the end in mind. Concentrate upon it and remember what it is that you want, and you can weather most any storm.

“The way you weather the storm shows what material you are made of.” – Theron Q. Dumont

Know what you want and concentrate your efforts in that direction. Learn all you can to help you on your way, and then go out and do it.

“There is only one way to accomplish anything and that is to go ahead and do it.” – Theron Q. Dumont