Have you ever wondered how to do that – to make something from nothing?
First, to turn nothing into something, you’ve got to start with your ideas and imagination. Now, it might be hard to call ideas and imagination nothing; but how tangible are those ideas? That’s a bit of a mystery. I don’t believe that ideas which can be turned into a new hotel, ideas that can be turned into a business, ideas that can be turned into a new product, or some miracle vaccine, should be called nothing. But tangibly, you have nothing. Think of it, ideas that become so powerful in your mind and in your consciousness they seem real to you even before they become tangible. Imagination that’s so strong you can see it, hear it, smell it. When I built our first home for my family in Idaho all those years ago, before I started construction I would take my friends out to the vacant land and give them a tour of the house. Is that possible? Is it possible to take someone on a tour through an imaginary unbuilt house? My answer is, “Yes, of course.”
“Here is the three car garage,” I used to say, and my friends would look and say, “Yes, this garage will hold three cars.” I could really make it come alive. I’d take them on a tour throughout the whole house … “Here is the fireplace and look, this side is brick and the other side is stone.” I could make it so real … “Follow me through the rest of the house. Take a look through the picture window here in the kitchen. Isn’t the view great?” One day, I made the house so real one of my friends ‘bumped his elbow’ on the fireplace. I mean, it was that real. So, the first step of turning nothing into something is to imagine the possibilities. Imagine ALL the possibilities. One of the reasons for seminars, sermons, lyrics from songs and testimonials of others is to give us an idea of something’s possibilities; to help us imagine and to see the potential.
Here is the second step for turning nothing into something you must BELIEVE that what you imagine IS possible for you. Testimonials like, “If I can do it, you can do it” become a support to our beliefs. First, we start believing. Then we imagine how it’s possible. Finally, we start to believe that what’s possible is achievable for us. We might also believe because of our own testimonial. Here is what your testimonial might say, “If it happened for me before, it could happen for me again.” So we believe not only the testimonials of others who say…”If I can do it, you can do it. If I can change, you can change. If I can start with nothing, you can too. If I can turn it all around, you can turn it all around.”
We also have the support of our own testimonial, if we’ve accomplished something before. “If we did it once, we can do it again. If we did it last year, we can do it this year.” Those two things together are very powerful. Now, we do not have actual substance yet, although it is very close. Again, step one is to imagine the possibilities. Step two is to imagine that what is possible – is possible for you. Here is what we call step two – allowing yourself to believe. In the Bible, St Paul said “faith is substance.” An interesting word: substance. Substance is “a piece of the real.” It’s difficult to call substance and evidence “nothing”. It is nothing in the sense that it cannot be seen except with the inner eye. You can’t get hold of it because it isn’t yet tangible. But it is possible to turn nothing, especially ideas and imaginations, into something if you believe that it is now possible for you. That is when substance and evidence becomes so powerful it can now be turned into reality.
And now, the third step is to you go to work to make it real. You go to work to make it a hotel. You go to work to make it an enterprise. You go to work and make it good health. You go to work and make it an association. You go to work and make it a good marriage. You go to work and make it a movement. Your effort makes it tangible. Your effort makes it viable. You breathe life into it, then you construct it. This is such a unique and powerful ability for all of us human beings. Put it to work and start the miracle process today!
-Jim Rohn. Reproduced for educational purposes.