Those who are well-versed in Japanese martial arts—and especially in the philosophy underlying them—know that there is a concept called “kokoro,” which, although it literally means “heart,” represents the essence of what leads to victory: the “correct mental attitude.”
The essence of this concept lies in the fact that in battle, far more important than technique, weapons, or the number of combatants is the “warrior spirit,” which determines the outcome of the battle.
This is a truth in all areas where competition arises: war, games, sports…
How many times has a match been won not by the team that was the favorite or better equipped, but by the one that was most focused and demonstrated a greater desire to win!
To come back to us, this means that academic training, capital, modern equipment, etc.—although useful—will not, on their own, guarantee business success if they are not driven by the right mindset.

If you don’t believe it, think of the many economists living on a teacher’s salary or the people who suddenly found themselves with huge amounts of money—from inheritances, lottery winnings, etc.—and who ended up poor again after a short time.
(A note for all those who aspire to get rich quickly and effortlessly: at least in the West, among those who won the lottery or football bets, after just one year, only 5% were better off than before their win; the rest had spent all their money without any benefit for their future).

Qualities such as determination, tenacity, keeping one’s commitments, good personal organization, self-control, and communication skills—to name just a few—are clearly far more important than laurels or money if you truly wish to succeed, and that is precisely why they are included in the concept of the “right mental attitude.”

Well, now, as you’ve probably noticed, all these qualities are “internal”; they don’t depend on others or on the situation we find ourselves in, but exclusively on ourselves, on our Brain.
How to acquire them is precisely the topic I want to discuss with you in this article.

Why do we want to but can’t? Or, rather, why could we but don’t want to?

In the previous article, I wrote that our brain is the best computer in the universe.
Of course, that’s not true, because it is so much more than that, and comparing it to a computer means we have a rather limited view of the possibilities available to us.
The reality is that we possess a wonderful tool, yet due to ignorance and laziness, we utilize only 10% of its capabilities. Furthermore, when it comes to behavior (which, I repeat, depends directly on what happens in the brain), we often feel that we are not the ones in control and that we are subject to the whims of a capricious force: we want to stick to a diet but can’t, we’d like to be more decisive or confident, but when it comes time to act, we lack the resolve; we’d like to be more organized, more orderly, more likable…

There are a whole lot of other things we’d like and realize depend solely on us, but for one reason or another, our will seems to be up against something much stronger and unyielding.
What is to be done?

Behavior is determined by emotional state

When I began writing articles on communication, I laid out certain premises regarding how our minds function (“Business Ideas” No. 8/95, 9/95), which I would like to summarize here before continuing:

– all of our experience is based on visual, auditory, and kinesthetic sensory stimuli, which can be external or internal (when we imagine or remember something, we are actually reproducing sensory stimuli);

– every emotional state is the result of correlating sensory images with a specific physiological state, linked through a one-to-one correspondence (if I think about depressing things, after a short while I tend to feel depressed; similarly, if I hunch my back and my face takes on a depressed expression, I begin to have depressing thoughts).

– Every behavior is state-dependent, meaning it is directly determined by the emotional state we are in (an obvious observation, but one that is almost always forgotten). This means that if we want to exhibit a certain behavior, we must first create the appropriate emotional state; otherwise, we will face all those obstacles we know all too well (this is, of course, an absolute truth even in the realm of communication: if we want to elicit a certain behavior from someone, we must first bring them into the appropriate emotional state; otherwise, our words will fall on deaf ears).

Desired emotional states can be created with just a little imagination and willpower

In general, we are accustomed to thinking of our emotional reactions as something strange, something beyond our control—something we can only submit to and perhaps complain about, but over which we cannot act deliberately.
In other words, I realize that I am sad or happy, depressed or enthusiastic, but I cannot consciously “decide” to try to experience a certain emotional state.
So far, we all agree.
Right?

Good, then I invite you to try a little experiment (you really have to do it, otherwise you won’t understand what I’m trying to tell you).

Experiment 1

Think of a past situation that made you particularly angry—something you did that, whenever you remember it, makes you angry.
You can visualize the scene, recall the words that were spoken, the sequence of events.
Let’s make the scene more vivid: imagine everything in a way that draws you in—not as if you were watching yourself from the outside, but by seeing yourself as if it were happening to you all over again.
Focus on the colors of the clothes, the tone of the words, the physical sensations; try to recreate at least your body position or the movements you were making.
Did you manage it? Good.
It’s very likely that you felt the same emotions from back then all over again. (Please note—incidentally—that you’ve just put yourself in a state of anger for no reason at all, simply because I told you to. In fact, you’re reading a magazine right now; the rest happened only in your mind.)

At this point, I invite you to play a little game: replay the entire scene, but this time in black and white, like in an old movie, watching yourself from the outside, with people speaking through their noses and in a very sharp tone.
Does anything change?
Speed up the whole scene, like in old comedy films, adding a silly musical accompaniment.
What happens?
And what if you saw it in reverse?

Now try to reconstruct the original scene…
Difficult, isn’t it?
And how much has the emotional impact this memory has on you changed?

Experiment 2

Let’s now do an experiment in the opposite direction.
Think of a time when you were particularly pleased with yourself. Try to visualize yourself within the scene, focusing on the colors, words, and physical sensations.
Ready?
Now enlarge the image, make it clearer and brighter… Add some appropriate background music and review the scene…
Does that feeling intensify? Of course it does.

Let’s clear our minds and analyze what we just did:
– First of all, we discovered that we could create a certain emotional state within ourselves simply by thinking about it or describing it (this is what happens to us when we read a novel; otherwise, you’d have to explain to me how it is that some marks on paper can produce emotions in us). And surely, you know exactly how to do this, because you do exactly this every time you get upset or feel happy about something that happened in the past.

– Second, above all else, I have discovered that we can influence our memories by changing the emotional impact they have on us and, consequently, the corresponding behavior.

This happens because it is not so much the image itself that determines the emotional response, but rather the microcomponents of which it is composed, as advertising experts well know.
In other words, by acting on the “submodalities” (this is the technical term), we change the meaning of an image’s emotional state: we can clarify or suppress it, enlarge or reduce it, make it static or give it movement, with or without music, etc.
We can therefore be the directors of our own minds and, consequently, its masters—not its slaves—simply by creating the emotional state that leads to the desired behavior.

For example, regarding memories that can trigger depressive states, while it is extremely difficult to willfully banish an unpleasant thought from our minds, it is extraordinarily easy to reduce its intensity, its image, and, ultimately, to take a picture of it and set it on fire.
You will be surprised to find that the healing is complete.

Still don’t believe you can control your emotions?
Try a few experiments, like the ones above, and even with just what I’ve told you, you’ll be amazed at what you’ll be able to do.
(A warning: you’ll discover that this is an extremely powerful method, and the changes you make to the images tend to permanently link to the original memory, altering it in the direction of the change made—whether amplification or attenuation. Work smart!)