43one hand every time, and the defender can easily de-
fend you when you do that. Your options are cut off.
You need to dribble with your other hand, too, so that
he never knows which way you’re going to go.”
At this point Billy might say, “I can’t.” And you smile
and say, “What do you mean you can’t?”
And Billy then shows you that when he dribbles with
his subdominant (weaker) hand and arm, the ball is all
over the place. So, to his mind, he can’t.
“Billy,” you say. “It’s not that you can’t, it’s just that
youhaven’t.”
Then you explain to Billy that his other hand can
dribble just as well if he is willing to practice. It’s just a
matter of logging enough bounces. It’s the simple for-
mation of a habit. After enough practice dribbling with
his other hand, Billy will learn you were right.
The same principle is true for reprogramming our
own dominant habits of thinking. If our dominant
thought habit is pessimistic, all we have to do is dribble
with the other hand: Think optimistic thoughts more
and more often until it feels natural.
If someone had asked me (before I started my jour-
ney to self-motivation that began with Napoleon Hill)
why I didn’t try to be more goal oriented and optimis-
tic, I would have said, “I can’t. It’s just not me. I wouldn’t
know how.” But it would have been more accurate for
me to just say, “I haven’t.”
Thinking is just like bouncing the basketball. On the
one hand, I can think pessimistically and build that side
of me up (it’s just a matter of repeatedly bouncing those
thoughts). On the other hand, I can think optimisti-
cally—one thought at a time—and build that habit up.
Self-motivation is all a matter of how much in control
you want to be.
Bounce your thoughts