Direct Your Mind Power by: Napoleon Hill

“Controlled attention,” said Andrew Carnegie, “is the act of combining all the forces of the mind and fixing them upon the attainment of a definite purpose. The time involved in this act of concentration is very important, and depends upon the nature and scope of the subject on which one concentrates.

“Take my own case, for example: The dominating forces of my mind are, and have been for many years, concentrated upon the manufacture and marketing of steel. In my master mind group I had others associated with me who likewise concentrated their dominating thoughts upon the manufacture and marketing of steel. Thus we had the benefit of the controlled attention of a master mind alliance wherein all minds were working toward the same end in a spirit of harmony.”
Mr. Carnegie then gave a detailed description of his conception of the principle of controlled attention, which every student of this philosophy should remember.
“The true meaning of controlled attention is something vastly different from casual interest. Let us also recognize that controlled attention is attained only by the strictest sort of self-discipline, based upon definiteness of purpose.
“One begins the act of controlled attention by knowing precisely what he desires to attain by it; then he proceeds by literally saturating his mind with that desire, giving it precedence over all other thoughts, and recalling it to mind repeatedly, by master mind discussions as well as by individual thinking.
“To use a familiar colloquialism, one controls the attention upon a given subject by thinking it, talking it, eating it, drinking it, sleeping it and thus making it an obsession . . . day and night. In this manner the object of one’s desires is forced upon the subconscious mind – that unusual faculty which works while one sleeps.
“Eventually the subconscious mind takes over these obsessional desires and translates them into practical plans by which they may be attained, handing the plans back to the conscious mind in the form of ideas which flash into the mind at unexpected moments.”
Source: PMA Science of Success Course. Educational Edition. The Napoleon Hill Foundation. 1961. Pgs. 344-345.