Bob Proctor, Legend and Mentor is the topic of my episode today. I've been reflecting on the fact that my longtime mentor Bob Proctor, has passed. That happened on Thursday, February 3. Bob Proctor has been a mentor of mine since the 80s. Back in the 80s I followed Bob and in the 90s, I was in a mastermind with him. Bob Proctor was
amazing in so many ways. He was deeply knowledgeable and he could talk about and share his wisdom in such a way that you would be able to easily absorb what he was saying. One of the things that Bob would say was, ‘this is not my material.' He would say, This is material that I've learned from other people, everything you're hearing from me, I've learned from other people.
Listen & Subscribe on:
iTunes / Stitcher / Podbean / Overcast / Spotify Who is Bob Proctor?Not only has Bob been my mentor for a long time, but in my opinion, Bob Proctor is a legend. Stay tuned and I will share why I believe Bob is a legend. Bob is a fellow Canadian, living relatively close by in Toronto. He's a self-help author and for many years taught the law of attraction. Whether you're a salesperson, you're in business, an entrepreneur, he could teach you how to become successful in life. Sometimes Bob identified himself as a philosopher. he was very well-read and mostly self taught. He was born in 1934 and he's best known for his New York Times best selling book, You Were Born Rich and he wrote a number of other books as well.
Younger YearsBob had low self esteem in his teens and early twenties. He would tell so many stories about his past, stories that would help you connect with him and understand that, he was just an ordinary guy, who at one time was confused and lost. He dropped out of Danforth Tech in Toronto, after he cut his thumb on a bandsaw. And he said that he just didn't seem to have any motivation. He didn't feel like he had any desire to move forward. He talked about how he would go out to the bars with his friends and he was in debt and just couldn't figure out what life was all about.
FirefighterAt the age of 26, he got a job serving in a fire department in Toronto. In that job, he met a guy there who gave him a book. And he says, this was the first book he ever read. And wow, did this book ever change Bob's life. The book was called Think and Grow Rich. And you've probably heard of Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. This book, moved him so much that he read it every day.
He told us in the mastermind, he said, “I don't go a day without reading at least a page or two of this book.” And he said a lot of days, I read more than a page or two. And he showed us the book, and it was just worn and tattered and falling apart. And I was like wow, he's not kidding. He really, really read this book a lot, and it just had so much impact on his life.
Today I'm going to talk about a few aspects of Bob Proctor.
1/ Thoughts Are PowerWhat you think about can become your reality. And in fact, Bob taught you that what you think will become your reality. He talked to us a lot about that in the mastermind, and how, sometimes people think this is nonsense, or that this just doesn't make sense. But a lot of the people who think in terms of poverty, or they think in terms of lack, then that's what they're surrounded by. And he had so many stories to tell you and to teach you how what you think about becomes your reality. And he said that thoughts are sending out something like a magnetic signal that's drawing back to you. In the movie, The Secret which featured Bob it stated that ‘if you can see yourself living in abundance, then you will attract it.” And that's exactly what Bob taught.
2/ The Strangest SecretEarl Nightingale is someone who made a recording way back in 1959, called The Strangest Secret. He was a radio broadcaster, and quite a famous radio broadcaster. Up to then most of the successful recordings that had been made were singers and musicians. It wasn't an area where there were a lot of successful spoken word recordings. This recording sold over a million copies, which was huge back in 1959. And so Earl Nightingale was awarded a gold record for having achieved this by Columbia Entertainment. What do you think the strangest secret was? Well, basically, I've already told you the strangest secret is that you can and will become what you think about most of the time.
3/ Think and Grow RichThis book was written in 1937 and was a very popular inspirational motivational book for individuals who wanted to move ahead wanted to reach their goals by learning from important figures in history. It was inspired by Andrew Carnegie. Napoleon Hill interviewed 504 people and some of them were Ford and Wrigley, Wanamaker, Eastman Rockefeller, Edison, Firestone, and also three US presidents. Napoleon Hill took the information he learned from these interviews, and he wove it into this book. It took 20 years of his life that he dedicated to this.
4/ MantrasBob believed in making sure that the thoughts you think are representing what you want in life and so he talked about mantras and how it was very important to make sure that those thoughts going through your mind were positive and were thoughts that could bring in more positivity. He warned you about certain things. He said, for example, don't think I want to get rid of my debt because your brain is going to be thinking about and hearing the word debt. He said that will bring on more debt that's going to keep you in debt.
Instead, he said, Think think things like this; Every day, in every way, I am becoming more and more prosperous. Here's another one, I am so happy and grateful now that money comes to me in increasing quantities from multiple sources. That was another one that he strongly encouraged us to focus on. You can call them mantras or you can call them something else, it doesn't matter what you call them. Bob said, just make sure that the thoughts that you're running through your mind are positive, and that they are representing what you want to bring into your life.
5/ Bob Proctor, LegendBob was a legend for so many reasons. I mean, in fact, he was actually asked to write the afterword in the book, Think and Grow Rich. He was a world renowned speaker having spoken in countries all over the world. He was very into thinking up new exciting ways to create and to help people. And, as I've already talked about, he explains that your mind and your body is all about vibration, and humans are capable of controlling your thoughts and therefore our vibrations. He talked about how everything is vibrating molecules and therefore we're capable of controlling our results. Because we are able to think we have thoughts. And he said there's nothing in a person's life they cannot change through thought and the law of attraction.
He taught that having a definite goal is one of the best ways to achieve what you want. And he emphasized to write down your goals and make them clear. He taught us to have a little card that you carry with you that you constantly look at you remind yourself what are my goals? What am I working toward? What do I want in my life? This was something that he emphasized over and over.
He emphasized the law of attraction and he told lots of different stories that would teach us to to think positively and think thoughts that would increase your confidence and increase your abilities, increase your connections with people. He said, The best way to use your mind was to receive ideas from Infinite Intelligence. He also taught us to be aware of our thoughts and think accurately and change our thoughts into the positive so we could move toward what we truly wanted to have in our lives. He also talked about how to avoid anything that could sabotage your success. Bob always dressed for success. And that's why I dressed up today with a tie and nice dress shirt.
Pictures With BobI remember one time when my wife and son and I went to Toronto, and saw him and spent time with him there. And he was having a small event that that I was invited to, and it was an event where he was speaking, and so was his wife, because he was supporting his wife in a multi level marketing project that she was working on at the time. Afterwards, I was able to talk to him and get a picture with him. It was incredible to spend time with him and not only hear him in person and be there in his presence, and then be able to walk up and talk to him and ask questions.
The SecretHe's also very well known for his contribution to the film and the book, The Secret by Rhonda Burns. He was a very central part of that. And if you look at The Secret movie, or read the book, you'll see that that Bob was quoted in there quite a bit. It was back in 1984, when he published his best selling book, You Were Born Rich. And that was, I think that's where Rhonda Byrne, the person that created the movie and book The Secret, she became familiar with Bob's book and got to know Bob and, and the rest is history.
DedicatedBob was dedicated to helping his followers tap into their inner self. He made it clear that your inner self is what is controlling everything that is brought into your life. It's also controlling the things that you're repelling and therefore the things that are not coming into your life. Whether it's a poor self image or a bad paradigm. He talked about paradigms a lot, and your programming. He would say, maybe it's a bad programming that's leading to poor results.
VibrationsHe taught that everything in the universe vibrates and that these vibrations attract each other. Since humans are capable of controlling our thoughts, and therefore our vibrations, we are capable of controlling our results. So in conclusion, he said there's nothing in a person's life, they cannot change through thought, and the law of attraction. I am grateful to have had Bob as a mentor. Take what we've learned today about Bob Proctor to reach new heights of calm focus, and happiness.
Check out my TikTok channel by searching Bruce Langford. I'd love to hear from you. And as always, take what we've learned today to reach new heights of calm focus and happiness. Stay in the mode
Suggested Resources
- Book: Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
- Book: You Were Born Rich by Bob Proctor
- App: Insight Timer
- 471 Fuel Your Energy, Purpose and Performance: Rajshree Patel
- 352 The Colors of Mindfulness Through the Eyes of the Spiral; Natasha Todorovic-Cowan
- 274 Mind, Body and Spirit With Fibernetics Co-Founder John Stix