The authors of books on Positive Mental Attitude (PMA) make numerous claims about the power of keeping a PMA and the ability to obtain wealth and success by following the principles of PMA. Napoleon Hill, W. Clement Stone, and Norman Vincent Peale, some of the best known authors of PMA philosophy, all make similar claims about the capacity of their programs, but insist that the reader follow their suggestions and rules exactly, or else the reader will fail.
This seems straightforward and logical. Unfortunately, the suggestions and rules are set up to ensure failure. Add to this the fact that many of the basic tenets of their philosophy are wrong, and you have a sure method of creating confusion and frustration, rather than success and wealth.
Think and Grow Rich. Napoleon Hill thought enough of this slogan to use it as the title of his best-selling book. It is a great title because it gives the impression that all one has to do in order to grow rich is to think (as opposed to do or work). Mental activity, according to Hill, is the secret to obtaining wealth. Well, I am here to tell you that you can no more think and grow rich than you can think and grow tomatoes. The mind is a powerful tool, and great things come from great minds. However, no great thing ever came from thoughts alone. Thomas Edison did not just awaken and think "a carbon filament in the bulb!" Everyone knows he worked tirelessly, on only a few hours of sleep, through trial and error, until he found the right filament. If he thought he could just sit there and think hard enough until he thought of the right answer for the light bulb, you would be reading this by candlelight. No wealth was ever created by mental activity alone. Actual work and following through on good ideas is what it takes to become successful. You cannot "read yourself into a fortune" as Hill says on his back cover. Only by pursuing your opportunities with an Obsessive Mental Attitude will you work yourself into a fortune.
What is an "Obsessive Mental Attitude" exactly? In nature, a positive charge attracts a negative charge, and vice-versa. Yet, success motivators tell us that a Positive Mental Attitude will attract positive results in our lives, thus ensuring success. How can they state this when it never happens in nature? Actually, it does happen in nature, but only in one place. That place is the atom. The core of an atom is made up of protons, which are positively charged particles. These protons are held together by a mysterious substance called mesons, a sort of "nuclear glue." These mesons are obsessed with holding the protons together in the nucleus of the atom. If you were to separate the nucleus of the atom, what would happen? Nuclear fission, which is how atomic explosions are created. So you see, this is a very powerful force; it is the force that runs the universe.
God gave you the ability to use this power to become successful. Your entire body is made up of atoms, including your mind. Positive and negative influences are constantly bombarding you, but when you are obsessed, none of these matter.
You have a purpose; nothing will hinder you, positive or negative. If you were as obsessed with success as mesons are with holding protons together, you would be one successful individual. It is important to note that the nucleus of an atom is surrounded by negatively charged particles called electrons. This mirrors everyday life if you think about it. You as a person are basically a positive being, surrounded by a negative environment.
PMA motivators insist that you not let these negative factors in, lest you become negative as well. Try as you might, you cannot maintain your positive feelings. Something is allowing the negative influences of the environment into your positive core. Something is missing to block out the negative. In the atom this would be the mesons. In you, what is missing is called an Obsessive Mental Attitude, an OMA. Too many people believe that if they get a good idea, they deserve to be rich. A great idea is absolutely worthless if it is not followed by an obsession to see it through. The truth is that an idea is just the first step in the long process of producing, developing, and marketing a product. Ask any real inventor. You can think of great ideas by the dozen, but it takes hundreds of steps and thousands of people to bring the simplest idea to the supermarket.
For example, I had an idea for a revolutionary golf putter that makes the ball always go straight. Great. So, I made a model, then another model, and tested it, and I loved it. So, I let my friends try it. They didn't like it. So, I made a new model that everyone liked. All that was left to get this thought to make me rich was to find a manufacturer, raise capital, find a distributor, find a retailer, develop a marketing plan, begin an advertising budget, arrange distribution, hire a public relations firm, get endorsements from professional golfers, make a few thousand samples, and then begin production. After all these simple steps, my THOUGHT will make me money, but hundreds of people will have had to do real work before I get the first dollar.
It is important to remember that mere thoughts about physical activity have no power to cause that activity to actually occur, unless they are driven from the inside by an Obsessive attitude. We all have thousands of positive thoughts daily of greatness, riches, power, and success. But nothing actually happens without someone doing the work necessary to make it actually occur. The actual events that happen in your life are caused ONLY by physical activity and your environment, not by thoughts. Thoughts are the beginning of action, but do not actually cause physical activity. Movement of people, machines, machinery in the real world is never caused by thought. The movement of real objects in the real world requires physical activity, not mental magic. The movement of things using mental thoughts is called psychokinesis, and that is a lie. Nevertheless, it is strongly suggested as a possible cause of greatness in Think and Grow Rich, in the chapters where Hill expounds on the power of ESP and the power of the mind.
The mental activity that creates actual work is the only mental activity that creates wealth. You can not "will" something to happen without someone actually doing the work. That is what is wrong with the big PMA LIE, "Whatever you think will come to pass.
" No, whatever you DO will come to pass. I do not believe that Thomas Edison just woke from a dream and said, "carbon in the bulb," and went back to sleep. No, he tried 10,000 experiments before he got that mental flash of inspiration. All the hype of PMA is of no real value in the real world without someone with OMA making certain that it gets done. You cannot control your mind to think only positive thoughts.
According to those who espouse the benefits of PMA, you must think only positive thoughts in order to succeed. They believe that a positive attitude attracts positive results, and a negative attitude attracts negative results. Therefore, you cannot allow any negative influences into your mind, or you are destined to fail. Well, I challenge you to not let a negative thought enter your mind for just a few hours. You will not be able to do it. No one can remain positive all the time. Even with positive affirmations and slogans repeated daily, it just cannot be done. Yet, Napoleon Hill states in his book, "If you let one thought of NMA enter your mind, the power of PMA will stop." How frustrating it must be to the reader trying to follow this Catch-22. There are a number of reasons why this premise will not work.
First of all, the basic premise of positive attitude attracting positive results is wrong. Instead of thinking of the words positive and negative in terms of good and bad, think instead of a magnet. A magnet has a positive end and a negative end. As we all know, positive ends of magnets repel each other, as do the negative ends. Positive ends attract negative ends, and vice-versa. A similar set of rules exists when applied to positive and negative attitudes. Instead of a positive attitude attracting positive, it repels positive and attracts negative. Think about why this is true. When you are around someone who is totally positive, at first you may also feel positive. But when they remain positive for very long, don't you begin to react with some negative feelings? When someone is too strongly Positive it attracts the Negative thoughts of our mind. We resent them being too perfect, or acting too perfect. They attract our Negative feelings (unpleasurable) and we avoid being around them. When someone is too Negative, it attracts our Positive feelings. Since we do not wish to let our positive feelings (our pleasure feelings) go to a negative person, we avoid that person. Freud says we avoid negative feelings, and search to find and keep positive. So how do you deal with these conditions in the real world, where you often find that not only can you not avoid them, but you must live or work with them?
The answer is OMA. By refusing to take too much notice of PMA or NMA because you have a purpose. It might be as simple as to get along at work, but if you make it your obsession, you will achieve it.
Philosophy and Opinion 
The authors of books on Positive Mental Attitude (PMA) make numerous claims about the power of keeping a PMA and the ability to obtain wealth and success by following the principles of PMA. Napoleon Hill, W. Clement Stone, and Norman Vincent Peale, some of the best known authors of PMA philosophy, all make similar claims about the capacity of their programs, but insist that the reader follow their suggestions and rules exactly, or else the reader will fail.
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