Published: November 05, 2008 Last Updated: February 09, 2022
The Importance Of Keeping An Open Mind
This particular transcript, Napoleon talks about the importance of keeping an open mind and how it has made a difference to successful people. Bear in mind that it was written in 1960.
" An open mind is a free mind. The person who closes his mind to new ideas, concepts and people is locking a door that enslaves his own mentality. Intolerance is a two-edged scythe that on its backswing cuts off opportunities and lines of communication. When you open your mind, you give your imagination freedom to act for you.
It's hard to realize now that less than six decades ago there were men who laughed at the Wright Brothers' experiments at flight. And barely three decades ago, Lindbergh could scarcely find backers for his trans-Atlantic flight. Today, men of vision freely predict man will soon fly to the moon -- but no one's laughing. It's the scoffers who are held in scorn.
A closed mind is a sign of a static personality. It lets progress pass it by and hence can never take advantage of the opportunities progress offers.
Only if you have an open mind can you grasp the full impact of the first rule of the science of success: "Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve."
It would be well for you to take stock of yourself. Are you among those who say "I can" and "It will be done" or do you fall in the group that says "Nobody can" - at the very moment somebody else is accomplishing it? An open mind requires faith - in yourself, your fellow man and the Creator who laid out a pattern of progress for Man and his universe.
The days of superstition are gone. But the shadow of prejudice is as dark as ever. You can come out into the light by closely examining your own personality. Do you make decisions based on reason and logic rather than on emotion and preconceived ideas? Do you listen closely, attentively and thoughtfully to the other fellow's arguments? Do you seek for facts rather than hearsay and rumor?
The human mentality withers unless in constant contact with the stimulating influence of fresh thought. The Communists, in their brain-washing technique, know that the quickest way to break a man's will is to isolate his mind, cutting him off from books, newspapers, radio and other normal channels of intellectual communication.
Under such circumstances, the intellect dies for lack of nourishment. Only the strongest will and the purest faith can save it.
Is it possible that you have imprisoned your mind in a social and cultural concentration camp? Have you subjected yourself to a brain-washing of your own making, isolating you from ideas that could lead to success? If so, it's time to sweep aside the bars of prejudice that imprison your intellect.
Open your mind and set it free!"
Source: Success Unlimited. Vol. VII, No. 12. December, 1960. Pg. 39
So in short, if you keep an open mind, you will see more opportunities and will be able to achieve more. We are all limited by our thoughts and beliefs. The main difference between someone who has achieved something and someone who hasn't; is the achiever believed that it was possible and then took action to achieve it, whilst the non-achiever didn't believe it was possible. So whenever someone approaches you with an opportunity, keep an open mind and then make an informed decision.