Win Friends and Influence Yourself

Act enthusiastic and you’ll be enthusiastic – Dale Carnegie

Over 50 years after his death, Dale Carnegie is still one of the most well known inspirational speakers and motivational authors in the world. His 1936 book, “How to Win Friends and Influence People,”  has guided millions of people change the way they think about approaching others and helped them win in their personal and professional lives. Over 15-million copies of the book has been sold in the last 74 years.

Carnegie’s ideas start with a basic principle that is central to how we at Do Tell try to help others improve their own lives.

What we think about is what we get.

Carnegie encourages people to think through their basic motivations, interactions and words before they act. His famous line: “Act enthusiastic and you’ll be enthusiastic” embodies the idea that we get what we think about. Making that a reality can only begin with a greater understanding of what’s swirling around in our minds in the first place.

Another famous motivational speaker, Zig Ziglar, said it this way “If you want to reach a goal, you must ‘See the reaching’ in your own mind before you actually arrive at your goal.”

That “seeing” begins with a basic awareness of our thoughts. Negative thinking will lead to negative goals or negative realities. But if we want something better for ourselves we have to think it first. If you can’t see it or think it through you’ll have a hard time finding it, or maybe even recognizing it when it comes.

With Do Tell: The Relationship game, we focus a lot on the goal of helping people build stronger connections with those they love. This month we’ll be talking on this blog about how our thoughts can influence our reality.

Better thinking leads us to bringing better things into things into our lives.

That starts with a better connection to ourselves. We can win friends (or better relationships) when we influence ourselves to better thinking. So, start today. If you catch yourself in a thought that will lead you nowhere, practice changing it into what you want. You can use some of the cards from your Do Tell game to get you started, or find some other device to catch yourself in your thoughts.

We act on what we’re thinking.

So, think first. Then act. And watch what you get.