"The Mirror Mi rror Te Technique " Claude Bristols " The Magic of Believing " Many years ago I was the dinner guest of a very wealthy man who owned many patents covering logging and sawmill machinery. machiner y. He had invited a number of newspaper publishers, baners, and industrial leaders to his suite in a prominent hotel, in order to e!plain a new method he had devised for mill operations. i#uor flowed freely and it wasn$t long before the host himself h imself was very much into!icated. %ust before dinner was served, I noticed him staggering into his bedroom and pulling himself up abruptly before his dresser. Thining that I might help him, I followed him to the door of his room. &s I stood there, I saw him grab the edge of the dresser top with both hands hand s and stare into the mirror, all the time mumbling as a drunen man sometimes does. Then his words began to mae sense and I moved bac a little to watch the performance. I heard him say' (%ohn, you old )), they tried to get you drun, but you$re you $re going to fool them. *ou$re *ou$re sober, you$re sober, cold sober, this is your party and you$ve got to be sober.+ &s he ept repeating these words, while continuing co ntinuing to stare at the reflection of his eyes in the mirror. I noticed that a transfiguration was taing place. His body was becoming more erect , the muscles of his face were tightening, and an d his drunen loo was disappearing. The whole performance was over in perhaps five minutes, but in all my e!perience as a newspaper man and more especially as a police reporter where I had opportunity to observe many drunen people, I had never seen such a rapid change. ot wanting him to now that I had observed him, I made for the bathroom. -hen I got bac to the dining room I found the host at the head of the table, and while his face was still a little flushed, to all appearances he was sober. &t the end of the dinner he presented a very dramatic and convincing picture of his new plans. It wasn$t until long afterward, when I got a better understanding of the power of the subconscious mind, that I understood the science involved in transforming the obviously drunen man into a cold)sober host. I have for many years given the mirror techni#ue to thousands of people, with some very unusual results. uring these years a large number of people came to me for help with their problems. There were a surprising number of women, and an d practically all of them started their stories with
weeping spells . The first thing I did was to stand them before a full)length mirror and have them tae a good loo at themselves/ I made them loo into their eyes and tell me what they saw there )crybabies or fighters0 Their crying soon ceased, and those cases convinced me that a woman cannot weep while looing herself in a mirror. -hether it be pride, shame, or the repudiated idea that they are wealings that stops them short, is of no moment . The fact remains that the tears cease flowing. Many great orators, preachers, actors, and statesmen have used this mirror techni#ue for years. -inston Churchill, according to rew 1earson, never made a speech of importance unless he made it before a mirror first. 1earson also declared that -oodrow -ilson employed the same techni#ue. It$s what I call a supercharging method of stepping up the subconscious forces of the speaer so that when he appears before an audience those forces flow out to and affect his listeners. By using the mirror in rehearsing the speech as you are going to deliver it, you are creating at that moment a picture of yourself, your words, the sound of your voice, and your sight of the audience, to which the immediate future is to bring reality. By looing into the mirror, you increase the mental vibrations by which the force and meaning of your words will #uicly penetrate to the subconscious minds of your audience. This mirror techni#ue gives a clue to the power and the personal magnetism of Billy 2unday, the evangelist. I new Bill 2unday in his heyday and often heard him preach, but in those days, nowing little or nothing about this Mind 2tuff, I was pu33led as to how he, as well as 4ypsy 2mith and other great evangelists, was able to influence people to such a remarable degree. However, we now have proof that Billy 2unday was versed in the use of the mirror techni#ue/ it is given by 5ric 2evareid, Columbia Broadcasting 2ystem commentator, in his boo " ot 2o -ild a ream" published in 6789. Mr. 2evareid tells how he as a young newspaper reporter secured an interview with Billy 2unday. (He bounded about the hotel room, now peering intently out of the window, with one foot on the sill, now grasping the dressing)table firmly in both hands while lecturing his reflection in the mirror.+ :ne of the most outstanding insurance salesmen in &merica who early accepted the science of belief told me that he never called upon an important prospect without first giving his sales presentation in front of a mirror.
His sales were phenomenal. 5very salesman has heard the statement, (If you can convince yourself, you can convince the other fellow,+ which is basically true. 5very great mass movement in history from religious to military has come abou t through one individual, whose flaming belief in his own cause gave him the power to convert thousands of others . & man need not be a student of psychology to now that enthusiasm is very contagious and can readily be transmitted to others if one is bursting with it. The mirror techni#ue is a simple and effective method by which a person can strengthen his belief in his own sales ability and thus intensify the power of his enthusiasm. -hen the mirror techni#ue is considered in the light of the science given in this boo , it becomes a master method by which the mighty forces of the subconscious mind can be employed to influence those with whom you are dealing. -hether we now it or not,we$re all engaged in selling something ))if not our wares, then our personalities, our services, our ideas. &s a matter of fact, all human relationships are based upon selling of one ind or another, and we all engage in it whenever we undertae to persuade others to our way of thining. egally a contract or an agreement is based upon a (meeting of the minds,+ and unless you can get the other person to thin your way, you do not get very far. But once the minds meet on the ma;or issues, the rest is easy, and the name on the dotted line is but a matter of a few more moments. uring the (depression+ days when I was woring with many business and sales organi3ations to increase their business, I introduced this mirror method with some startling results. In one concern, a pie)maing organi3ation, I had mirrors fastened to the inside of the b ac doors of all the trucs , so that when the driver)salesmen opened the doors to get their goods for delivery, the first thing to be seen was the mirrors. I always admonished each man to determine before calling upon a customer how many pies he was going to sell him, and then to tell himself in the mirror that pies to that number would be left on the customers$ counters. :ne driver told me that for many months he had been trying to sell one woman restaurant owner, but she had always refused to purchase. Then he decided to try the mirror techni#ue. That day he sold her ten pies. &t the time he related his story to me he was selling her an average of fifteen pies daily.
The mirror techni#ue was used with great effectiveness in insurance companies, financial houses, rubber mills, automobile agencies, cooie manufacturing plants, and many other organi3ations where there were salesmen or where there was a combination of salesmen and production operators. In my own old organi3ation, where a complete about)face movement had to be made to avert disaster, I first used this techni#ue by placing a mirror in a bac room of the office where the employees left their hats and overcoats. It was so placed that everyone had to see it when entering or leaving the room . &t first I pasted strips of paper with such slogans as (-e$re going to win,+ (othing is impossible to an indefatigable mind,+(-e$ve got the guts, let$s prove it,+ (et$s show the world we$re not liced and then go to town,+ (How many are you going to sell today0+ and a great many others. -e then too to using soap to write slogans directly on the face of the mirror. 5very morning a new slogan appeared, with the sole purpose of convincing our employees that they could get business even though other firms in the same line were having a struggle to eep their doors open . ater this setup was augmented by a second mirror placed alongside the door frame of the main door to the office, which would always be the last thing seen by the salesmen as they left the office. 2ubse#uently I had mirrors placed alongside calendar frames on the dess of all salesmen and e!ecutives , and the startling thing about it all was that during the worst of the (depression+ days the salesmen ))and I mean all of them)) trebled and #uadrupled their incomes, and they have maintained their progress ever since. There are a number of men whose monthly income probably never e!ceeded in the best of times < =>> who now and for several years have averaged better than < 6>>> a month. This may sound incredible to some of my readers , but it$s true. In my files are many letters from e!ecutives, salesmen, and others who have testified to the effectiveness of the mirror idea. ow to outline the techni#ue. 2tand in front of a mirror. It need not be a full)length mirror, but it should be of sufficient si3e so that you may at least see your body from the waist up. Those of you have been in the army now what it means to come to attention ))stand fully erect, bring your heels together, pull in your stomach, eep your chest out and your head up. ow breathe deeply three or four times until you feel a sense of power, strength, and determination.
e!t, loo into the very depths of your eyes, tell yourself that you are going to get what you want ))name it aloud so you can see your lips move and you can hear the words uttered. Mae a regular ritual of it, practice doing it at least twice a day, morning and evenings ))and you will be surprised at the results. *ou can augment this by writing with soap on the face of the mirror any slogans or ey words you wish, so long as they are the ey to what you have previously visuali3ed and want to see in reality. -ithin a few days you will have developed a sense of confidence that you never reali3ed you could build within yourself. If you are planning to call on an e!ceptionally tough prospect or are proposing to interview the boss whom you may have previously feared, use the mirror techni#ue, and eep it up until you are convinced that you can mae the proper presentation without any trepidation . &nd of course, if you are called upon to mae a speech, by all means practice before a mirror. 4esticulate ))pound your fist on the palm of your other hand to drive home the arguments)) use any other gestures that come naturally to you. &s you stand before the mirror, eep telling yourself that you are going to be an outstanding success and that nothing in this world is going to stop you. oes this sound silly0 on$t forget that every idea presented to the subconscious mind is go ng to be produced in its e!act counterpart in ob;ective life, and the #uicer your subconscious gets the idea, the sooner your wish becomes a picture of power. Certainly it is not good business for you to tell anyone of the devices you employ, because you might be ridiculed by scoffers and your confidence shaen, especially if you are ;ust beginning to learn the science. If you are an e!ecutive or sales manager and you want to put more push into your entire organi3ation, teach your employees the mirror techni#ue and see that they use it, ;ust as many organi3ations now do. Much has been written about the power of the eyes. The eyes are said to be the windows of the soul/ they reveal your thoughts, They e!press you far more than you imagine. They permit others to (get your number,+ as the saying goes. However, you will find that once you start this mirror practice your eyes will tae on a power that you never reali3ed you could develop ?something that writers have referred to as a dynamic or fascinating power@/ this power will give you that
penetrating ga3e that causes others to thin you are looing into their very souls. 2ooner or later there will come an intensity that will bespea the intensity of your thought, which people will begin to recogni3e. It will be recalled that 5merson wrote that every man carries in his eye the e!act indication of his ran. Aemember that your own gradation or position in life is mared by what you carry in your eyes. 2o develop eyes that bespea confidence. The mirror will help you. This mirror techni#ue may be used in many different ways and with very gratifying results. If you have a poor posture, or are slovenly in your tal, you will find that practice before a full) length mirror will wor wonders for you. *our mirror shows you the person others see when they loo at you, and you can fashion yourself into any ind of person you would lie them to see. It is said that if you act the part you will become that part, and here again is no better way than rehearsing your acting before the mirror . anity has no part in this science. Conse#uently, don$t use the mirror in a supercilious manner, but use it to build yourself into the person you wish to be. 2urely,if some of the world$s most outstanding men and women use this mirror techni#ue to build themselves and increase their influence over other people, you can use it for your own special re#uirements.
