In 1937, Napoleon Hill famously said: “Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve”, and this remains one of the most powerful quotes in history.
Now what does this exactly mean and how can we apply it?
In his bestseller “Think and Grow Rich”, Napoleon Hill uncovered the key to achieving any goal you have. And that is the power of your thoughts.
For those of you who are more skeptical about the validity of this law, I’ll give you a scientific explanation for why this works as well, but for now, bear with me as we break down this recipe for success.
Belief is everything. It’s what makes a person confident and powerful, it’s what makes an idea real, and it’s what led to the greatest discoveries in the history of humanity.
Believing you can actually achieve your dreams is the first step to accomplishing your goals, and without it, you’re simply not going to succeed. Now, like anything in life, in order to become great at chess, belief alone will not suffice. It’s not going to make you a Grandmaster by itself. Belief + purposeful action, however, will.
So, on the most fundamental level, why does it work?
It works because as you probably know, we have 2 minds, the conscious and the subconscious. The conscious we control fully, while the subconscious we can barely control. The thing is this: The subconscious is approximately 300,000 more powerful than the conscious mind. Crazy, right?
When you believe in your capabilities and you train yourself to be confident on command (more on that later), you send signals to your subconscious and it starts working in the background. If you truly want to become a Grandmaster, and you believe it with every cell of your body, your subconscious will work endlessly until it finds a way. If you truly want to become the best athlete your country’s ever had, look no further, your mind will not stop until it accomplishes that goal.
The greatest superpower you have is your mind. Trust me when I say this, you don’t need any other place to find inspiration from. If you believe you can, and if you’re willing to do what it takes to smash a milestone you have, you will undoubtedly achieve that goal.
This is how I managed to draw Magnus Carlsen twice in classical chess at his peak, this is how I managed to lead Moldova to a historical 6th place at the World Chess Olympiad in 2022, and this is how I managed to knock out the 28th best player in the world at the time from the World Cup and set a historic precedent for my country at this chess tournament.
Belief is the starting point of all successes in this world, and if you are to embark on the journey to your fullest potential in chess, you must eliminate all the negativity from your mind and allow for it to be filled with faith because that’s where opportunities stem from.
In my course “Secrets of Practical Chess” I will reveal exactly how you can condition your mind for peak performance, as well as go in-depth on many other aspects of practical chess that you need to acquire if you want to be able to play shoulder-to-shoulder with giants of the game.
But for now, read this again, and try to internalize this knowledge, because this is arguably the most important realization you must undergo in order to become a successful chess player.
