The Last Success Principle: Understanding the Anatomy of Willpower

By J.D. Bloodstone

Almost eight years in the making, this book is a compilation of J.D. Bloodstone's previous three books: Think & Grow Balls!, Awaken the Balls Within, and The 10 Habits of Highly Ballsy People. . . only now they have been completely rewritten to make a heartfelt and serious addition to the worldwide self-improvement movement. J.D.'s poignant message is the same in this version; however, only now it's more effective, as the combined books as a whole have synergy that is more powerful than the sum of the individual books. Many other changes have been made to this compilation edition - some major and some minor - such as numerous edits and formatting suggestions made by readers. Hopefully, these changes will help this body of work make it into the hands of more people who can be helped by J.D.'s message of courage, willpower, positivity, and taking action toward positive personal change. This book contains many new concepts and ideas that will help you discover the last success principle.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Oct 8, 2019
• ISBN: 9780359963959

Book preview

The Last Success Principle: Understanding the Anatomy of Willpower

The Last Success Principle

Understanding the Anatomy

of Willpower

A Guide for Creating Positive Personal Change

By:  J.D. Bloodstone

ISBN: 978-0-359-96395-9

Copyright © 2007-2019 TAGB Media.

It is illegal to copy, distribute, or create derivative works from this book in whole or in part, or to contribute to the copying, distribution, or creating of derivative works of this book.  Below is the official statement for the legal types:

By purchasing this book, you agree to the following:  You understand that the information contained in this book is an opinion, and it should be used for personal entertainment purposes only.  You are responsible for your own behavior, and none of this book is to be considered legal, professional, or personal advice.

First Printing: 2015

ISBN: 978-0-359-96395-9

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Dedication

I am grateful to everyone who has joined me on this journey, especially those who have been around since its beginning.  Suffice it to say this book would not exist without their support, feedback, and success stories.  In the end, it was you who motivated me.

Preface

This book is almost eight years in the making.  At its core it is a compilation of my first three books: Think & Grow Balls!, Awaken the Balls Within, and The 10 Habits of Highly Ballsy People; however, it has three distinct differences between those three standalone books.

The first and most profound difference between the book you now hold and my three previous books is the treatment of the word balls.  While reading you'll notice that the references to the word balls, and phrases that include the word in some way, have been altered, de-emphasized, or eliminated entirely.  In making these edits I chose similar words or phrases to ensure the replacements flowed with the text seamlessly and unnoticeably while retaining the original meaning, emotion, and encouragement.  I had considered making this major edit many times over in the last few years, especially when the Napoleon Hill Foundation sent me a cease and desist letter in 2013, but mostly because I worried that my titles and subject matter weren't being taken as seriously as I would have liked them to.  I stubbornly refused to give in to this idea believing that it was better to stay true to the spirit in which the original books were written for years, even while writing my second and third books.  I finally decided to make this rewrite to help make my writing more appealing to a broader market within the self-improvement industry, and ultimately more effective, to the people that would be helped by reading my books and using the motivational tools they contain.  Some of the most poignant feedback I received on my books was in regards to taking the edge off of my books, letting their content speak to my readers instead of using, and perhaps overusing, a metaphor that has many interchangeable words to drive it home.  I found that by doing this, my message is communicated just as effectively, without taking the risk of turning my readers away... or worse, offending them to the point where they never give my book the chance it deserves.  I ultimately came to the conclusion that the subject matter of my books, and the self-help material they contain, has the potential to be of profound help to people who read them and put what they learn into action. With that idea in mind, this book was written. 

The second major difference between this book and the three previous standalone versions is the editing.  The introduction from Think & Grow Balls! has been brought to the front of the book and now opens this book as a whole.  The introduction from Awaken the Balls Within and The 10 Habits of Highly Ballsy People have been left alone to open the second and third sections of this book; the appendices from all three books were moved to the back of this book and reordered; and, the prefaces of all three books were removed entirely, along with the acknowledgements and table of contents.  In place of the original removed sections, new ones have been created specifically for this book.  Additionally, the book titles themselves are treated as individual sections of this book as a whole, where, together in sequence, they guide you through the three books as a cohesive game plan that it has the potential to be for you.  The format and structure of each original book has been preserved with the hope that the unique cadence and flow of each book serve as stepping stones towards guiding you down your own path of positive personal change and achieving your definite major purpose.

The third major difference between this book and the previous three is all the changes that were made to the original manuscripts based on my own preferences and on suggestions from feedback I've received from readers.  Over the years I have collected a pile of notes and marked up countless proof copies with all the changes I would make eventually in this compilation.  These changes range from simple typos and proofreading edits to major formatting changes and updated examples.  In some cases, the examples have been removed if they were too outdated or if I felt they detracted from what I had intended their original purpose to be.

Such as in the case of life, and especially in the case of my own personal writing process, this book is a work-in-progress.  I will never consider it done, complete, or finished as there will always be some way for me to make it better, even if that change were miniscule.  With that said, I intend to create new and revised editions of this book when I have enough changes to make such an edition a worthwhile endeavor.  So, send me your thoughts, suggestions, and feedback as they might make it into a new edition.  Together, we can make this book one of the most effective manuals on how to achieve personal success.

My original three books will continue to be available if you wish to see exactly what was changed, but for all intents and purposes, this book represents the whole of my work... which is more than the sum of its parts.  I sincerely hope you enjoy it and will reach out to me after having read it.  I'm pretty easy to find and will always make time for my readers.

Introduction

Be a Columbus to whole new continents and worlds within you, opening new channels, not of trade, but of thought.

– Henry David Thoreau

I think that in order to be responsible in the writing of this material I need to state this early on… I believe that all humans are unique and different from one another… spiritually. 

And, yet, I believe we are all born with similar physical systems and functions that we are able to use in perceiving, interpreting, comprehending, and responding to our lives and environment, if we choose.  To be specific, I believe all of us have neurotransmitters (i.e., amino acids, peptides, and monoamines) that carry signals (energy) to our central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) and our peripheral nervous system (limbs and organs) to help us experience our lives.  These signals cause glands and organs in our bodies to release a myriad of chemical compounds that regulate the functionality and safety of our bodies (e.g., hormones) that act as messengers that carry signals from one cell (or groups of cells) to another.  And, since I believe our bodies to be a system, the chemical compounds in turn influence the brain and the cycle starts all over again, with one system affecting the other… over and over and over again.

I believe that within our brains resides the entity that we call our psyche, or mind, which in turn houses all thoughts and their correlating processes.  I believe the way we think is a habit, or a pattern of the psyche, or mind, that we can entirely control (for better or for worse), if we choose to believe we can, and take the appropriate steps to make it work for us.  For example, as you are reading this, there are thoughts (or a voice) responding to this material. These thoughts are generated by your mind. It is the functionality of your brain that is allowing you to speak silently to yourself and to hear this inner voice.

Now, if your mind can control the physical activity of your brain and spinal cord, which according to modern science and technological breakthroughs we know to be true (i.e., MRIs and brain scans), then our mind can control the rest of our body (i.e., peripheral nervous system).

If your mind controls the systems of our body, then your mind is controlling the way you perceive, interpret, comprehend, and respond to your life and the environment you live in.  And, if that’s true… your mind is in control of your life… and, if you can control your mind (e.g., autosuggestion, meditation, etc.) you can therefore control your life.  I know, that’s pretty deep, but stay with me.

This book deals with one simple, yet complex idea: that your mind controls your brain, and that your brain is in control of the release of chemical compounds (e.g., hormones) in your body that entirely dictate how you feel and often how you act.  I posit that if you can control your mind through thought, and condition it properly (habit of thought), you can control how your body responds to the natural chemicals of the body (both positive and negative), thus controlling how you feel (mind over matter).  If you can do that, then you can predict with higher accuracy how you will act. 

If you act in certain ways (i.e., confidently and self-assured… or powerful), then you will be perceived as confident, self-assured, and powerful.  If you are perceived as such (through your body language and behavior) then you will be treated as such.  These interactions with society and your environment will help affirm, and reaffirm, to your mind that you have power.  And, since your physical body acts as a system, this behavior will send powerful signals through your entire body which will send signals back to your brain, and repeat this process over and over again... because how you think causes your body to feel and experience emotions that can dictate how you act and are perceived.

I’d like to begin the remainder of this introduction with a quote: Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important, by Ambrose Redmoon.  I believe this quote holds much importance to the message behind this book:  We all feel fear and are afraid at times... it comes with the territory of being human; however, it is the process of thinking that enables us to perceive and decide whether the reward of action overrides the consequence of non-action or vice versa.

Now, if you can reduce your mind’s response to fear, or change your mind’s perception of it, you can reduce your body’s response to fear.  If you do that, you’ll reduce the influence fear has on your decision-making abilities.  In other words, if you are less influenced by fear, the actions and behaviors associated with courage will be easier to perform.  The more you do them, the more they get engrained in your subconscious mind to become habit.  Once these actions and behaviors become habit they will seem easier and more natural.  Ultimately, you will master them as they become automatic.

To begin, I’d like to introduce you to Napoleon Hill and his masterpiece, Think & Grow Rich.

STAGE ONE

Assume a virtue, if you have it not.

– William Shakespeare

The Engine

Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe it can achieve.

– Napoleon Hill

I’ve heard it said that if you can’t say something better than someone who already has it's better if you quote them.  To that extent, the following excerpt comes from Think & Grow Rich, by Napoleon Hill:

"[Napoleon Hill] …was assigned to write a profile of the famed steel baron Andrew Carnegie.  Their three-hour interview turned into a three-day marathon.  It concluded with Carnegie proposing that he would introduce Hill to the most powerful men in America so that Hill could learn from them their secrets of success.  But he would do so only if Hill agreed to use those secrets to write a philosophy of success that would be made available to, and could be understood by, the average person.

Napoleon Hill accepted Andrew Carnegie’s offer on the spot, and thus was granted the rare opportunity to study firsthand the greatest business leaders in the world including Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, Harvey Firestone, Alexander Graham Bell, John D. Rockefeller Jr., the Wright Brothers, F.W. Woolworth, Luther Burbank, Marshall Field, and hundreds more.

Andrew Carnegie also arranged for Hill to meet President Theodore Roosevelt and President William Howard Taft, and both President Woodrow Wilson and President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked Hill to work for them when they served in the White House.  Mahatma Gandhi sought him out, as did other world leaders and heads of state.

For almost thirty years Napoleon Hill devoted himself to interviewing over five hundred of the most famous and successful leaders in every field, as well as thousands of other entrepreneurs, both successes and failures.  The result of those years of exhaustive research made Hill one of the best-selling authors in history and one of the most influential voices in America."

In Think & Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill lists thirteen traits, or principles, that all successful people must possess (or already possess) and suggests methods on how to acquire and develop them.  The thirteen traits and their brief descriptions are given below: 

Desire – Knowing exactly what you want and what you will give in return for its attainment.

Faith – Unshakable belief in yourself and your ability to obtain the object of your desire.

Autosuggestion – Influencing and directing your subconscious mind towards the attainment of your desire by self-suggesting positive and dominating thoughts to yourself at least twice a day; and doing it with such conviction that you trigger emotions or feelings inside you.

Specialized Knowledge – Knowledge of the service, merchandise, or profession that you intend to offer in return for the attainment of your desire.

Imagination – Engaging your synthesizing and creative abilities to help turn your desire into its physical counterpart.

Organized Planning – Making practical plans that include the cooperation of others to help obtain the object of your desire.

Decision – The habit of reaching decisions promptly, and of changing these decisions slowly.

Persistence – Pushing past failures until you reach the object of your desire.

Power of the Master Mind – Tapping into and acquiring greater knowledge through infinite intelligence, accumulated experience, and experiments and research.

Sexuality – Redirecting your sexual energy and the need for its expression towards the attainment of your desire, rather than letting it distract you, so you can develop charisma and creativity.

The Subconscious Mind – Understanding that you can use your conscious mind to (1), plant any plan, thought, or purpose to program your subconscious mind, until it becomes a habit, and (2), open your subconscious mind to infinite intelligence to evoke positive emotions and feelings to help transform your desire into concrete form.

The Brain – Understanding that just like the principle behind the operation of a radio transmitter and receiver, every human brain is capable of sending and picking up vibrations of human thought to and from other brains (hunches and intuitions).

The Sixth Sense – Knowing that after the other twelve principles have been mastered, you can use your subconscious mind to receive signals from infinite intelligence to warn you of impending dangers in time to avoid them, notify you of opportunities in time to take advantage of them, and to tap the source of inspiration.

Along with the thirteen principles of his success philosophy, Napoleon Hill lists the six basic fears that, either one by one or in some combination, stand in the way and keep a person from being successful.  He calls these six fears The Six Ghosts of Fear and he lists them in order of their most common appearance and the potential damage they do to those inflicted (they need little to no explanation):

The Fear of Poverty

The Fear of Criticism

The Fear of Ill Health

The Fear of Loss of Love of Someone

The Fear of Old Age

The Fear of Death

I’m not going to elaborate on the ghosts of fear and I’m not going