For the umteenth time I picked up and started reading my favorite book of inspiration, "Light From Many Lamps." Whenever I need a boost I reach for this book. When my first wife was battling cancer 25 years ago, I fell asleep every night after reading the words of inspiration by the many authors included in this book.

One author, James Lane Allen, in particular has a message especially appropriate for salespeople and entrepreneurs, so I thought I would share it with you today.

Here's what James Allen, author of, "As A Man Thinketh" has to say about the power of your thoughts . . .

"A man is literally what he thinks, his character being a complete sum of all his thoughts.

As the plant springs from, and could not be without, the seed, so every act of a man springs from the hidden seeds of thought, and could not have appeared without them . . . act is the blossom of thought, and joy and suffering are its fruits; thus does a man garner in the sweet and bitter fruitage of his own husbandry.

A man's mind may be likened to a garden, which may be intelligently cultivated or allowed to run wild: but whether cultivated or neglected, it must, and will, bring forth. If no useful seeds are put into it, then an abundance of useless weed-seeds will fall therein; and will continue to produce their kind.

Just as the gardener cultivates his plots, keeping it free from weeds, and growing the flowers and fruits which he requires, so may a man tend the garden of his mind, weeding out all the wrong, useless, and impure thoughts, and cultivating toward perfection the flowers and fruits of right, useful, and pure thoughts.

By pursuing this process, a man sooner or later discovers that he is the master-gardner of his soul, the direction of his life. He also reveals, within himself, the laws of thoughts, and understands, with ever increasing accuracy, how the thought forces operate in the shaping of his character and destiny.

Man is buffeted by circumstances so long as he believes himself to be the creature of outside conditions, but when he realizes that he is a creative power, and that he may command the hidden soil and seeds of his being out of which circumstances grow, he then becomes the rightful master of himself.

Good thoughts bear good fruit, bad thoughts bad fruit.

A man will find that as he alters his thoughts towards things and other people, things and other people will alter towards him. Let a man radically alter his thoughts, and he will be astonished at the rapid transformation it will effect in the material conditions of his life. All that any man achieves or fails to achieve is the direct result of his own thoughts.

Into your hands will be placed the exact results of your own thoughts; you will receive that which you earn; no more, no less. What ever your present environment may be, you will fall, remain, or rise with your thoughts, your vision, your ideal. You will become as small as you're controlling desire; as great as your dominant aspiration!

The thoughtless, the ignorance, and the indolent, seeing only the apparent effects of things and not the things themselves, talk of luck, of fortune, and chance. Seeing a man grow rich, they say, "How lucky he is!"

They do not see the trials and failures and struggles which these men have voluntarily encountered in order to gain their experience, have no knowledge of the sacrifices they have made, of the undaunted efforts they have put forth, of the faith they have exercised, that they might overcome the apparently insurmountable and realize the vision of their heart.

In all human affairs there are efforts, and there are results, and the strength of effort is the measure of the result. Chance is not! "Gifts," Powers, material, intellectual, and spiritual possessions on the fruits of efforts; they are thoughts completed, objects accomplished, visions realized.

The vision that you glorify in your mind, the ideal that you enthrone in your heart - this you will build your life by. This you will become.

Keep your goal for ever in your mind . . . because as a man thinketh., so is he!"

Isn't that some powerful stuff? I suggest you print it and save it.

Actions do follow thoughts. So think right and do it right!

Start selling more . . .

Jim Meisenheimer publishes The No-Brainer Selling Tips Newsletter, a fresh and high content newsletter dedicated to helping you grow your business and multiply your income.

Use this link to sign-up for Jim's F-R-E-E No-Brainer Selling Tips Newsletter and to get your copy of his Special Report titled, "The 12 Dumbest Things Salespeople Do." http://www.meisenheimer.com