Writing Your Scroll: How to Live on Your Terms
Glen / 
18 Comments / 
July 26th, 2010 / 
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I don’t subscribe to many personal development blogs these days but do catch the odd posts which are passed on to me by friends. One that caught my eye recently was about the authors daily habits, with one of them involving reading a daily “scroll” from the book The Greatest Salesman in the World.
It sounded quite strange to me at the time and I had totally forgotten about it until I saw the book again when browsing around the mall. The cover claimed there were over 2 million copies sold which was enough social proof for me to pick up a copy. I’m glad I did.
This post isn’t a review of the book; in fact it’s far from it. This post is about an idea which spurned from reading most of the book and stopping to get this out there. The idea behind the 10 scrolls contained – which help the main “character” in the book become a better salesman – is that you read each of them, day and night, for 30 days.
As taught in NLP, your mind works with whatever you give it (input), so reading and then re-reading these scrolls regularly will allow their messages to really sink into your subconscious. This is similar to my post I wrote on The 21 Day Challenge which was the most popular ever on this blog. If you give your mind enough of something to work with, you’ll eventually start operating through that mode on auto-pilot.
It is claimed that it takes 21 days to pick up a new habit, so I think the 21 to 30 day rule is a good figure to follow when it comes to really living the messages that these scrolls teach. Instead of picking my favourite from the book, I thought it would be far more effective if I wrote my own and used that to help me internalise some important teachings.
Writing Your Own Scroll
Your scroll – which is just really a long message to yourself about the kind of things you want to work on – can be focused around anything you want. You can use it to help you become more productive, more peaceful, more giving and even more focused. I won’t share my full scroll with you, but here’s part of mine:
From today and each day forward I will start my endeavours with a simple goal in mind: To live simply, focus on the essential, and eliminate any distractions. I was put on this earth to achieve whatever I want to achieve, and with this laser-like focus on goal-achievement I enable myself to do exactly that. I understand that the most effective and efficient way to get what you want out of life is to choose and work on tasks which help you to attain your dreams, and then continue with each until it is complete.
I will select only actionable-tasks that I can achieve each day and give my attention to just one action at a time. I will declutter all aspects of my life for things are merely a distraction if they do not align with my path of success in wealth, simplicity, health and happiness. I will attempt to eliminate all things from my day which deter or halt my progress on my life mission.
If you haven’t read The Worlds Greatest Salesman then this style of writing may seem strange, which I mimicked from the book. Also in keeping with the style of the scrolls in the book, my scroll is around five times as long as this.
From mine you can clearly see I have something I want to work towards: simple productivity. I’m only a few days into reading this but I already find myself living more aligned with the messages that I wrote for myself.
This is the fifth article I’ve written in three days. It has been months since I’ve been able to say anything like that.
I have three recommendations to give you for when you write your own scroll:
- Write with Focus and Clarity – You’re probably not going to see any benefit from this practice if you use words like ‘try’, ‘hope’ or ‘might’. Notice that I say things like ‘I will’ and I speak in a very positive language. Make the messages you want to internalise simple and clear.
- Stick to One Message – The rest of my scroll covers some aspects of life, but mostly it’s still in keeping with the idea of being productive and not letting life’s distractions affect me. Just like with the 21 day challenge post I previously wrote, I think it’s better to stick to one core thing that you want to change to make this effective.
- Be Personal – In my scroll you can see I write things like “I understand” and that’s because…I really do understand this. Write things which you believe to be true for you and I believe that this will help you much more. If you can’t connect to the words when you re-read them then this probably isn’t going to be as useful as it could.
Once you have it written down, print it out and leave it next to your bed. This way it’s easy to remember to read it just after you wake up and just before you go to sleep. This may seem a little crazy to some people but it links closely with my readings on NLP and the science behind the 21 day challenge which is why I think it’s working well for me.
Try it out for yourself and let me know what you think.
Glen Allsopp is the founder and ex-owner of PluginID. He now writes for ViperChill, a blog on viral marketing.
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I like this Glen- from today the scroll is the goal. One message to focus attention and effort, inspiration and imagination. And yet it’s so simple. No long mantras or retreats. Not requiring dedication for decades nor inner issues to defeat. A personal call to yourself to be the best of yourself. Words work wonders and this is no exception. Good on ‘yer for sharing it.
Hi Glen,
It so true and a timeless… the best way to treat the mind so it serves you is to offer your mind an opinion, insight or working principal of life – drip, drip, drip – one idea at a time. The mind is influenced by mindful repetition. I’d learned this while reading Napoleon Hill’s book “Think and Grow Rich” and I immediately set out to apply it. It is the same principle you are applying from The Greatest Salesman in the World. I have actually read Think and Grow Rich no less than 300 times. A mind illumined with focus and clarity immediately unifies its power.
Cool post Glen,
I love your personal development style posts, they’re very thought-provoking!
Cheers!
Hi Glen,
I haven’t heard of the book, but will definitely be checking it out at my local bookstore (I hope they have it). Thanks for the recommendation.
I am definitely of the persuasion of writing down things that you want for your life. In fact, my article this morning is about writing down each day your goals in a daily goal book. There’s something about the act of writing things down that makes you concentrate on the words and the intentions behind them. When you write down your scroll and review it each day, you’re more able to see where your priorities lie.
Karen
Hi Glen,
I’m normally a bit of a sceptic with stuff like this, but I can see the potential in this idea in relation to my on-line career. It is so easy to lose focus on-line with the myriad of distractions, anything that helps us to visualise where we want to be has got to be a good thing.
I’ll definitely be giving this a try!
I love this idea – very relevant to me for a number of reasons.
1. I have just enrolled in an NLP course which I am super excited about
2. I have just had a coaching session around being more focused. I have lots of different roles and feel pulled in several directions which means I have to work hard to keep my energy focused. This will be a great way of doing it!
And yet another book onto my Amazon wish list!
Many thanks,
Kate
Hi Glen – I’ve read all of Og Mandino’s book and think they are excellent. I’ve never thought about writing my own personal scroll but love the idea. I am a big fan of “Write it down, make it happen” by Henirette Anne Klauser.
Could you share with us the original blog post that talked about reading the scrolls daily?
Thanks!
I heard of the book but haven’t read it. I like T. Harv Eker’s Secrets of the Millionaire Mind. I’m re-reading the “wealth files” every day. I’ll also re-read Think and Grow Rich. Right now, I’m reading The Soul of Money which isn’t too bad.
For some of us, time is the issue. We want our life to unfold now because we fill desperate for wealth, success, relationships, etc… Unfortunately, desperate energy prolongs our desires and pushes them away.
I’m learning to let go and go with the flow.
Love your take on this! Many sales people at my organization start their day with the Greatest Salesman book – I personally like the page of affirmations I have written for myself. They aren’t the “I’m a great person and people like me” kind of affirmations – more so of what my life will be.
Completely agree with avoiding “hope, might and try” – would also add “should” to that list. “I will” or “I choose” are much more powerful
This post goes SO well with what I’ve written on Positively Present today. It’s given me that added boost of inspiration… Just what I needed! Thanks!
Hi glen ! Thank you for this great article. I’ve used this method before. When I read about it they say that its name is coue method. It’s related to the subconscious mind. If you repeat things your mind will believe them then you will behave as if they were real. Then they will become real
(How powerful humans are !). The message should be clear and it should be something positive “I speak to everyone without fear”. Not “I don’t have fear to speak with everyone”. Moreover it should be in present. “i’m confident in public places”. Not “I will be confident in public places”. Laws of subconscious mind are really powerful.
Again thank you glen for this article !
Nice post! I’ve written my scroll, it is around one page long and in Dutch in order to understand it very well. Gonna try it out the upcoming 30 days!
Hi everybody,
what’s great about this article is the concept of scroll. what else can be more enticing to your subconscious mind than a blank page / scroll? and that’s where you always start building – from a blank space that you fill with thoughts and action steps. It takes more than a leap of faith to go from “blank page” to the very top of your capabilities, but it’s true that if you don’t start now, chances are you’ve already missed the best part of your own unwritten journal.
Kate
When you can fully answer the question, “Why do you do what you do?” … it’s like giving yourself the key to your best results.
Thank you, this is very interesting. I have to learn more about NLP. And I owe myself a session going through my personal statements and eliminating all the “mights”, “tries”, etc…
thank you for your insight. i will look up the book it sounds very interesting. i have been journaling for a while now…but maybe i should try jornaling my goals too!
have a great day!
Dina Ruth