Question: Some of my friends and co-workers seem to be sick all the time. I don’t have time to have the flu or whatever else is going around. How much illness is in a person’s head?

Answer: More than you might imagine. But first, understand that this is too complex of a subject to generalize. It’s tough to see how some infirmities are anything less than real. But you’ve heard it said many times before how powerful our minds can be. And I do believe that the mindset we have makes a big difference in whether we are sick or not.

Here’s the simplest way that I can boil it down. How often do we respond when someone asks how we’re doing, “I’m OK though I’ve been fighting this cold for the past few days?” In some cases we might even tell ourselves or someone else that we’re sick. This may reflect how we feel at the moment, but it goes a lot deeper than that. What we are actually doing is affirming sickness. So when we say, “I’m sick,” guess what – we may eventually become sick or continue being sick if we truly are. So you say, “But I’m just stating the obvious!”

Here’s where it gets interesting. When we affirm something – and really believe it – the probability increases for our affirmation to become a reality. Why then, would we want to increase the probability for our reality to include being ill? Words have power and our thoughts are even more powerful. When we speak words that come from our thoughts we are giving a great deal of power to what we say and what we believe.

As an entrepreneur, I’ve been blessed with a very positive mindset. I’ve noticed over the years that the healthier my lifestyle has become, my attitude has become more positive as well. Good health and a positive frame of mind are two extremely important traits for entrepreneurs. I’ve lost weight by changing my eating habits which has transformed into a new lifestyle. I stopped smoking pipes and cigars years ago. I’ve become addicted to a six-day-a-week physical fitness routine. And I meditate on a daily basis. The result is that I feel better than I have in many years; my outlook is almost always positive, and I won’t allow sickness and disease into my body.

You may think that this sounds a bit woo-woo, and maybe it does. But I’m a walking testament to what can happen when we affirm good health and really believe it. An apple a day keeps the doctor away. And so does our mind.

This blog is being written in tandem with my book, “An Entrepreneur’s Words to Live By,” available on Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle (My Book), as well as being available in all of the other major eBook formats.