Have you ever felt that way even before your feet hit the ground?

That’s why this habit matters.

It’s not about standing in front of a mirror pretending everything is amazing. It’s about choosing a thought on purpose instead of letting stress grab the steering wheel first.

His suggested phrase was:

“I Can and I Will.”

Simple. Strong. No fluff.

You don’t have to use those exact words. But I do think there’s something powerful about starting the day with a sentence that points your mind in the right direction.

Maybe yours is:

As a small business owner, your mind can become a crowded room before breakfast. Bills, customer questions, content ideas, algorithms, unfinished tasks (and random worries you didn’t even invite) all start shouting at once.

A simple statement gives you something steady to come back to.

Try writing your phrase on a note beside your computer. Say it when you wake up, before a sales call, or right when that little voice says, “This probably won’t work.”

Your first thought doesn’t have to control your whole day.

But it can absolutely set the course.

For more encouragement around rebuilding your motivation and purpose, you can also explore my Reignite Your Fire page.

The second habit says:

“Assert the sovereign self and govern your impulses. Make the watchword of mastery a practiced act: affirm your control, picture the Real Self upon its throne, and refuse the commands of fear, temper or appetite; thus you educate the mind to obey the higher Will.”
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This is definitely one of the more old-fashioned-sounding habits, but I think the meaning is actually very practical.

When Atkinson talks about the “sovereign self,” I take that to mean the part of you that is capable of leading instead of reacting.

In plain language: the calm, clear, grown-up part of you.

The part that knows what matters.

The part that can say, “Yes, I feel this impulse... but I do not have to obey it.”

That matters a lot in business.

Because small business owners deal with impulses all day long.

The impulse to procrastinate.
The impulse to check social media again.
The impulse to snap when you’re frustrated.
The impulse to avoid a hard conversation.
The impulse to buy another tool instead of using the one you already have.
The impulse to chase a new idea because the current one feels slow.

Have you ever noticed how quickly one little impulse can hijack a whole afternoon?

That is why his image of the “Real Self upon its throne” is useful.

He is basically saying: picture your best self in charge.

Not your fear.
Not your mood.
Not your cravings.
Not your temper.
Not your urge to escape discomfort.

Your higher self is the one sitting in the chair and making the decisions.

I actually like that mental picture.

Because sometimes it helps to ask: who is running things right now?

Is it wisdom?
Or is it panic?

Is it purpose?
Or is it appetite?

When Atkinson says to “refuse the commands of fear, temper or appetite,” I don’t think he means you never feel those things. I think he means you stop treating every feeling like an order.

Fear can speak without becoming your boss.

Frustration can show up without getting the steering wheel.

The desire for comfort can whisper without deciding your calendar.

For a small business owner, this might look like:

That is what “govern your impulses” looks like in real life.

Not becoming a robot.

Just becoming more intentional.

If you want to practice this habit, keep it simple.

When you feel pulled in two directions, pause and ask:

Then act on that second answer.

You can even borrow Atkinson’s language and quietly say to yourself, “I am in command here.”

It may feel a little awkward at first (a lot of useful things do).

But over time, you really can train your mind to obey the better voice more often.

And that changes more than one moment.

It changes your pattern.

The third habit says:

“Act on resolutions at the earliest opportunity. When faced with “Which of these two things shall I do?” choose that which you wish to become a habit and do it at once; avoid the fatal “just-once” exception that breaks new resolve. Immediate action deepens the mental crease you desire.”
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This one hit me because it gets right to the fork in the road.

Not the huge dramatic life decisions.

The tiny ones.

The ordinary little moments where you ask, “Which of these two things shall I do?”

That question shows up constantly.

Do I write the email or keep researching?
Do I follow up now or wait until later?
Do I make the offer or keep tweaking the page?
Do I work on the important thing or drift toward the easy thing?

Atkinson’s advice is simple: when one option leads toward the habit you want, do that one immediately.

Not eventually.

Not when you feel more motivated.

Not after one more distraction.

At once.

Because the longer you delay the better choice, the easier it becomes to negotiate yourself out of it.

And that is where the “just-once” trap sneaks in.

“I’ll skip it just this once.”
“I’ll avoid the workout just this once.”
“I’ll put off the follow-up just this once.”
“I’ll let myself scroll first just this once.”

The problem is that “just once” rarely stays just once.

It becomes a crack in the new pattern you were trying to build.

That’s what Atkinson means when he calls it a fatal exception. It interrupts the habit before it gets strong.

I’ve seen this in my own life.

The hardest part of a good habit is often the moment right before it begins.

Once I start, it usually is not nearly as bad as my brain tried to convince me it would be.

That is why his line “Immediate action deepens the mental crease you desire” is so good.

It’s an old-fashioned way of saying that every quick act of follow-through strengthens the pathway you want your mind to take again tomorrow.

You are carving a groove.

You are teaching yourself, “This is what we do now.”

For a small business owner, that might mean:

The goal is not to become frantic.

It is to become decisive.

If a choice supports the person you want to become, move on it quickly.

One practical way to use this habit is to watch for hesitation.

Hesitation is often the moment where the habit is either reinforced or weakened.

So when you catch yourself hovering, try this question:

If I want this to become normal for me, what action should I take right now?
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Then take the smallest immediate step.

Open the document.
Send the text.
Make the call.
Write the first line.
Put it on the calendar.

Action is what seals the resolution.

Otherwise, it stays a nice idea with no legs.

This habit may be my favorite because it’s so practical.

The original wording is blunt in the best way:

“Exercise the Will by daily discipline: perform at least one disagreeable but necessary task cheerfully. Use auto-suggestion – repeat “I Am Using My Will Power” with conviction during the day and at night – and you will find the inner strength manifesting in deed.”
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That lands a little harder than the watered-down version most of us prefer.

We usually want success to come from inspiration, clarity, or finally “feeling ready.” But a lot of progress comes from doing the thing you don’t feel like doing.

Not ten hard things.

Not every painful thing on your list.

Just one.

And do it cheerfully!

For you, that might be:

The point isn’t to make your life miserable. The point is to stop allowing discomfort to make every business decision for you.

If you always wait until you feel confident, you may wait a very long time. Confidence usually shows up after action, not before it.

Pick one task you’ve been avoiding. Put it on your calendar. Then complete it before you give yourself permission to move on to something easier.

Every time you do this, you strengthen the part of yourself that keeps promises. And doing it cheerfully helps you realize you get to choose how you feel about it.

The fifth habit says:

“Kill anxiety by assuming courage. Do not fight fear by dwelling on it; replace it with the positive image and word “Courage” and keep that picture before you until the fear is starved of nourishment. Strong expectancy is a magnet for helpful persons and opportunities.”
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I like the phrase “starved of nourishment.”

Because that is exactly what a lot of fear lives on: attention.

The more you replay it, rehearse it, analyze it, and argue with it, the more fed it becomes.

Atkinson’s point is not to wrestle fear to the ground by staring at it harder.

It is to stop feeding it.

That is such a useful distinction.

A lot of us think we are solving fear when we are actually marinating in it.

We keep turning it over in our minds like a rock in our pocket.

What if this flops?
What if people judge me?
What if I send the email and nobody responds?
What if I make the offer and hear crickets?

Have you ever noticed how fear can multiply when you keep giving it airtime?

Atkinson says to replace it with the positive image and the word “Courage.”

That means when the fearful picture shows up, you intentionally put a different picture in front of your mind.

Not a fake fantasy.

A courageous one.

Picture yourself sending the email.
Picture yourself posting the content.
Picture yourself making the offer calmly.
Picture yourself having the conversation with steady energy.
Hold the word “Courage” in your mind long enough to interrupt the old loop.

This is not denial.

It is redirection.

For a small business owner, that can be huge.

Because fear often shows up right before visible action.

Right before publishing.
Right before following up.
Right before going live.
Right before asking for the sale.
Right before trying something new.

If you sit there and study the fear, it usually gets bigger.

If you replace it with a stronger inner picture, the fear starts losing fuel.

That is what Atkinson means.

And then there is this line:

“Strong expectancy is a magnet for helpful persons and opportunities.”

I would put that in plain language like this: when you expect progress instead of disaster, you tend to notice opportunities you would have missed before.

You speak differently.
You carry yourself differently.
You follow up differently.
You are more likely to recognize the open door when it appears.

People can feel that too.

Not in some weird magical way.

But in a very human way.

Courage and expectancy change your posture, your tone, your willingness to act, and your persistence in the face of awkward moments.

That attracts better conversations.

Better connections.

And often better outcomes.

A simple way to practice this habit is to catch the fear-thought early and replace it on purpose.

When your brain says, “This is going to go badly,” pause and answer with:

Then picture the courageous version of yourself acting.

Not someday.

Today.

Courage is not always loud.

Sometimes it is just the decision to stop feeding the fear and start feeding a better picture instead.

The sixth habit says:

“Concentrate energy and avoid leakage. Reserve your best force for the chief task; scatter no more power in idle display or constant talk. Cultivate “energy and invincible determination” – marshal your resources and direct them steadily to the one thing in hand. “Energy and invincible determination” will carry small men to large deeds.”
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This one feels painfully relevant.

Because it is very possible to spend an entire day around the work without actually doing the work.

You can plan the work.
Research the work.
Watch videos about the work.
Talk about the work.
Worry about the work.
Organize the work.

And still not move the needle.

That is exactly why Atkinson talks about “leakage.”

Your energy leaks out in a hundred little directions before it ever gets applied to the thing that matters most.

And I think his wording is sharper than the usual productivity advice.

“Scatter no more power in idle display or constant talk.”

Ouch.

That hits.

Because sometimes we talk about what we are going to do so much that it creates the illusion of progress.

We explain the plan.
We announce the goal.
We discuss the strategy.
We keep polishing the idea out loud.

Meanwhile, the actual task is still sitting there untouched.

For a small business owner, this matters a lot.

You do not have endless time, endless energy, or endless attention.

So the real question is: where does your best force go first?

Not your leftover force.

Not the scraps after distraction has eaten half the day.

Your best force.

Choose one chief task connected to your current goal.

If you need more leads, spend your focused block creating useful content or starting conversations.

If you need to improve conversions, work on your offer or landing page.

If you’re trying to figure out how to increase sales, talk to potential customers and learn what is stopping them from buying.

That is what it looks like to “marshal your resources and direct them steadily to the one thing in hand.”

I also like that phrase “energy and invincible determination.”

It reminds me that focused effort is not just about being calm and organized.

Sometimes it is about bringing some fire to the work.

Some backbone.

Some grit.

A willingness to keep leaning into the main thing instead of letting yourself be pulled all over the map.

Scattered effort feels busy.

But “energy and invincible determination” feels directed.

It has a target.

It keeps going.

A simple way to practice this habit is to decide ahead of time what gets your best hour.

Not whatever screams the loudest.

Not whatever is easiest.

The chief task.

Then protect that block like it matters, because it does.

You do not need to do everything today.

You need to stop leaking power and put real strength behind the right next thing.

The final habit says:

“Guard the emotions and prune negative tendencies. Emotions deepen by repetition; each time you refuse worry, jealousy or fault-finding you weaken their hold. Consciously take the outward posture and movements of the contrary disposition until the inner feeling follows.”
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This habit is different from an evening review.

It is really about emotional training.

And honestly, I think that matters more in business than most people realize.

Atkinson’s point is that emotions get stronger with repetition.

So if you rehearse worry all day, worry gets deeper roots.

If you keep feeding resentment, comparison, jealousy, irritation, or fault-finding, those patterns get more familiar.

They become emotional defaults.

That is the part I think is easy to miss.

A lot of negative emotions do not just appear.

They get practiced.

And the encouraging side of that is this: they can also be weakened by refusing to keep practicing them.

That is what he means by:

“each time you refuse worry, jealousy or fault-finding you weaken their hold.”

Not once and forever.

But little by little.

One interruption at a time.

For a small business owner, this can show up in really normal ways:

That does not mean pretending you never feel anything negative.

It means you stop building a home for it.

And then Atkinson adds something really practical:

“Consciously take the outward posture and movements of the contrary disposition until the inner feeling follows.”

In plain language, act like the better emotional state before you fully feel it.

If you are slumping in discouragement, straighten up.

If you are snappish, slow your voice.

If you are anxious, breathe and move more calmly.

If you are sinking into negativity, deliberately take on the posture of steadiness, gratitude, patience, or confidence.

That may sound small, but it is not.

Your body often helps teach your mind.

Sometimes the inner feeling does not lead first.

Sometimes the outward action leads, and the feeling follows after.

I have seen that play out in ordinary life more times than I can count.

A changed tone can soften a conversation.
A slower breath can interrupt panic.
A more confident posture can shift how you approach the next task.

So if you want to practice this habit, start by catching one negative tendency early.

Not everything at once.

Just one.

Maybe it is worry.
Maybe it is comparison.
Maybe it is irritation.
Maybe it is fault-finding.

Then choose the contrary disposition on purpose.

If worry rises, practice calm.
If jealousy rises, practice gratitude.
If fault-finding rises, practice responsibility.
If discouragement rises, practice steadiness.

And do not only think it.

Wear it in your posture.
Carry it in your tone.
Show it in your actions.

Over time, that changes the emotional grooves too.

You can read more reflections on personal development and growth in my Learning & Growth blog category.

You don’t need to overhaul your entire life. Start with this:

In the morning:
Choose an affirmation and identify your most important business task.

During the day:
Complete one uncomfortable task and protect one focused work block.

When fear appears:
Replace the fearful thought with a courageous, useful response.

Before bed:
Review what happened, learn from it, and choose tomorrow’s next step.

I enjoyed asking an AI version of William Walker Atkinson the same question I’ve asked other authors: What daily habits lead to long-term success?
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But the real value wasn’t in reading the answer.

It’s in choosing one habit and practicing it today.

Then practicing it again tomorrow.

​Small actions can feel unimpressive when you’re doing them. But over time, they become the path.