The Magic of Believing.  By Claude M. Bristol.  (1948)

The Mirror Technique.

…  Many years ago I was the dinner guest of a very wealthy man who owned many patents covering logging and sawmill machinery.  He had invited a number of newspaper publishers, bankers, and industrial leaders to his suite in a prominent hotel, in order to explain a new method he had devised for mill operations.  Liquor flowed freely and it wasn’t long before the host himself was very much intoxicated.  Just before dinner was served, I noticed him staggering into his bedroom and pulling himself up abruptly before his dresser.  Thinking that I might help him, I followed him to the door of his room.  As I stood there, I saw him grab the edge of the dresser top with both hands and stare into the mirror, all the time mumbling as a drunken man sometimes does.  Then his words began to make sense and I moved back a little to watch the performance.  I heard him say:  “John, you old ………., they tried to get you drunk, but you’re going to fool them.  You’re sober, you’re sober, you’re sober, this is your party and you’ve got to be sober”.

As he kept repeating these words, while continuing to stare at the reflection of his eyes in the mirror, I noticed that a transfiguration was taking place.  His body was becoming more erect, the muscles of his face were tightening, and his drunken look was disappearing.  The whole performance was over in perhaps five minutes, but in all my experience as a newspaper man and more especially as a police reporter where I had opportunity to observe many drunken people, I had never seen such a rapid change.  Not wanting him to know that I had observed him, I made for the bathroom.  When I got back 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.  At 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 drunken man into a cold-sober host.

I have for many years given the mirror technique to thousand of people, with some very unusual results.  During these years a large number of people came to me for help with their problems.  There were a surprising number of women, and 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 take a good look at themselves; I made them look into their eyes and tell me what they saw there – cry-babies or fighters?  Their crying soon ceased, and those cases convinced me that a woman cannot weep while looking at herself in a mirror.  Whether it be pride, shame or the repudiated idea that they are weaklings that stops them short, is of no moment.  The fact remains that the tears ceased flowing.

Many great orators, preachers, actors and statesmen have used this mirror technique for years.  Winston Churchill, according to Drew Pearson, never made a speech of importance unless he made it before a mirror first.  Pearson also declared that Woodrow Wilson employed the same technique.  It’s what I call a supercharging method of stepping up the subconscious forces of the speaker 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 looking into the mirror, you increase the mental vibrations by which the force and meaning of your words will quickly penetrate to the subconscious minds of your audience.

This mirror technique gives a clue to the power and the personal magnetism of Bill Sunday, the evangelist.  I knew Bill Sunday in his heyday and often heard him preach, but in those days, knowing little or nothing about this Mind Stuff, I was puzzled as to how he, as well as Gypsy Smith and other great evangelists, was able to influence people to such a remarkable degree.

However, we now have proof that Bill Sunday was versed in the use of the mirror technique; it is given by Eric Sevareid, Columbia Broadcasting System commentator, in his book – Not so Wild a Dream -  published in 1946.  Mr. Sevareid tells how he as a young newspaper reporter secured an interview with Billy Sunday.

            “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.”

One of the most outstanding insurance salesmen in America 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.

Every salesman has heard the statement,  “If you can convince yourself, you can convince the other fellow,” which is basically true.  Every great mass movement in history from religious to military has come about through one individual, whose flaming belief in his own cause gave him the power to convert thousands of others.  A man need not be a student of psychology to know that enthusiasm is very contagious and can readily be transmitted to others if one is bursting with it.  The mirror technique is a simple and effective method by which a person can strengthen his belief in his own sale ability and thus intensify the power of his enthusiasm.

When the mirror technique is considered in the light of the science given in this book, 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.

Whether we know it or not, we’re all engaged in selling something – if not our wares, then our personalities, our services, our ideas.  As a matter of fact, all human relationships are based upon selling of one kind or another, and we all engage in it whenever we undertake to persuade others to our way of thinking.  Legally a contract or an agreement is based upon a “meeting of the minds”, and unless you can get the other person to think your way, you do not get very far.  But once the minds meet on the major issues, the rest is easy, and the name on the dotted line is but a matter of a few more moments.

During the “depression” days when I was working with many business and sales organisations to increase their business, I introduced this mirror method with some startling results.  In one concern, a pie-making organisation, I had mirrors fastened to the inside of the back doors of all the trucks, so that when the driver-salesman 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.  One 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 technique.  That day he sold her ten pies.  At the time he related his story to me he was selling her an average of fifteen pies daily.

The mirror technique was used with great effectiveness in insurance companies, financial houses, rubber mills, automobile agencies, cookie manufacturing plants, and many other organisations where there were salesmen or where there was a combination of salesmen and production operators.  In my own old organisation, where a complete about-face movement had to be made to avert disaster, I first used this technique by placing a mirror in a back 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.  At first I pasted strips of paper with such slogans as “We’re going to win,” “Nothing is impossible to an indefatigable mind,” “We’ve got the guts, let’s prove it,” “Let’s show the world we are not licked and then go to town,” “How many are you going to sell today?” and a great many others.  We then took to using soap to write the slogans directly on the face of the mirror.  Every 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 keep their doors open.  Later this set-up was augmented by a second mirror placed alongside the doorframe of the main door to the office, which would always be the last thing seen by the salesmen as they left the office.  Subsequently I had mirrors placed alongside calendar frames on the desks of all salesmen and executives, and the startling thing about it all was that during the worst of the “depression” days of the salesmen and I mean all of them – trebled and quadrupled their incomes, and they have maintained their progress ever since.  There are a number of men whose monthly income probably never exceeded in the best of times $300 who now and for several years have averaged better than $1000 a month.  This may sound incredible to some of my readers, but it’s true.  In my files are many letters from executives, salesmen, and others who have testified to the effectiveness of the mirror idea.

Now to outline the technique:  Stand in front of a mirror.  It need not be a full-length mirror, but it should be of sufficient size so that you may at least see your body from the waist up.

Those of you who have been in the army know what it means to come to attention – stand fully erect, bring your heels together, pull in your stomach, keep your chest out and your head up.  Now breathe deeply three or four times until you feel a sense of power, strength and determination.  Next, look 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.  Make a regular ritual of it, practice doing it at least twice a day, mornings and evenings – and you will be surprised at the results.  You can augment this by writing with soap on the face of the mirror any slogans or key words you wish, so long as they are the key to what you have previously visualised and want to see in reality.  Within a few days you will have developed a sense of confidence that you never realised you could build within yourself.

If you are planning to call on an exceptionally tough prospect or are proposing to interview the boss whom you may have previously feared, use the mirror technique, and keep it up until you are convinced that you can make the proper presentation without any trepidation.  And of course, if you are called upon to make a speech, by all means practice before a mirror.  Gesticulate – pound your fist on the palm of your other hand to drive home the arguments – use any other gestures that come naturally to you.

As you stand before the mirror, keep telling yourself that you are going to be an outstanding success and that nothing in this world is going to stop you.  Does this sound silly?  Don’t forget that every idea presented to the subconscious mind is going to be produced in its exact counterpart in objective life, and the quicker 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 shaken, especially if you are just beginning to learn the science.

If you are an executive or sales manager and you want to put more push into your entire organisation, teach your employees the mirror technique and see that they use it, just as many organisations 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 express 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 take on a power that you never realised you could develop (something that writers have referred to as a dynamic or fascinating power); this power will give you that penetrating gaze that causes others to think you are looking into their very souls.  Sooner or later there will come an intensity that will bespeak the intensity of your thought, which people will begin to recognise.  It will be recalled that Emerson wrote that every man carries in his eye the exact indication of his rank.  Remember that your own gradation or position in life is marked by what you carry in your eyes.  So develop eyes that bespeak confidence.  The mirror will help you.