Thomas Edison’s Power of Concentration

Posted in: The Power of Concentration | May 6th, 2008

Below is my first summary for Chapter 1 of Theron Q Dumont’s “The Power of Concentration”. With these summaries, I’m trying to draw out the key points he seems to be making in as little space as possible. This leads to somewhat inelegant writing, as I’m always saying “Dumont says this”, and “Dumont thinks that”. However, I hope you are willing to put up with this. If you want to read the chapter yourself, feel free to subscribe to my newsletter on the upper right. You’ll get the complete book as a PDF.

One of the things that struck me from reading this first chapter is his point that successful people expect to succeed. They have a vision of what they want, and they just keep moving forward towards it. Thomas Edison is a fantastic example of this. When Edison was inventing the lightbulb, he had to suffer through hundreds of failures before he had something that worked. He was able to concentrate on what he wanted with a laser like intensity. I think we can all learn from this.

If I find 10,000 ways something won’t work, I haven’t failed. I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward.

- Thomas A. Edison

Summary for the Introduction and Chapter 1 of Theron Q Dumont’s “The Power of Concentration”

In order to make a success of anything, you must concentrate your entire conscious thought on the task. However, most people, as they have not trained themselves to focus on the positive, concentrate on negative, unhelpful things. With the training offered in this book, it is possible to train your mind to focus on the positive. Once you can do this, you will be aligned with what Dumont calls “The Laws of Success”, and you will be able to achieve anything you put your mind to.

Dumont believes that everyone is made up of two conflicting natures. One nature is positive and allows us to learn, grow, and prosper. Its opposite is negative in nature, and is a force for unhappiness and stagnation. Through focusing the will via concentration, Dumont believes it is possible to make the positive nature the dominant force in our lives. It is possible to be the director of one’s own life if one learns to concentrate and focus the will on desirable outcomes.

No matter how old you are, or what stage of life you are at, there are always opportunities. However, it is rare that opportunities come knocking at your door. Rather, you must know what you want and actively seek them out. Dumont notes that many people read excellent books on success, but few get anything out of them. The reason for this is that knowledge without action is useless.

Dumont believes it is a wise practice to seek out the good in all things and all people. If you project positive and helpful energy, people and situations will become more disposed towards you. We all need encouragement from time to time. Give and you shall receive.

Every moment of the day, we all have opportunities to improve our lives. Dumont suggests to start each month by reviewing the previous month, and deciding if it lived up to expectations. If it doesn’t, action should be taken to correct this for the current month. We cannot change the past, only learn from it, and correct for the future. Never shrink from difficult tasks, Dumont consoles, as one difficult task completed successfully is worth many easier tasks done well.

Dumont believes that any man can be a success. The price is effort, not money. He lists the key 3 ingredients as a deep desire, gathering knowledge to accomplish that desire, and then executing on that knowledge. The secret of success is to always improve and grow.

The difference between the successful man and those who are not is that the successful man expects to succeed. Consider inventors, Dumont consoles, who make hundreds of mistakes before they succeed. Use your trained mind to focus on what you want, and it will be yours.