GOD
INTENDED every individual to succeed. It is God's
purpose that man should become great. It is God's will
that man should not only use, but enjoy, every good in
the universe. The Law of God denies man nothing.
Man is
born to be rich. The powers inherent in him are
inexhaustible. Each normal person is endowed with a
complete set of faculties which, if properly developed
and scientifically applied, will insure success, ever
growing success.
Man is
made for progress. Every man contains within himself the
capacity for endless development. Advancement into all
things is the Law's great purpose. By learning to work
with the Law in promoting that aim, man may build
himself into greater and greater success.
All the
processes of Nature are successful. Nature knows no
failures. She never plans anything but success. She aims
at results in every form and manner. To succeed in the
best and fullest sense of the term we must, with Nature
as our model, copy her methods. In her principles and
laws we shall discover all the secrets of success.
Infinite
resources are at man's disposal. There are no limits to
his possibilities. He focuses and individualizes the
elements, forces, and principles of the whole world. He
can develop a wonderful intelligence; thus, all life's
questions may be answered, all Nature's secrets
discovered, and all human problems solved. Nothing is
impossible.
Higher
faculties, remarkable talents, superior insight, and
greater power are dormant in all, and by special
psychological methods, these exceptional elements can be
developed to an extraordinary degree for actual and
practical use. Every mind can develop greatness. It is
simply a matter of KNOWING How. True self-help,
self-discovery, self-knowledge, and the proper
instruction in applying one's faculties and using one's
forces will advance any person. Practice will insure
efficiency; use will bring forth results. Success,
therefore, is within the reach of every aspiring man.
Do you
wish to succeed? You can. You poosess all the essentials
within yourself; all you need is to gain a right
understanding of the principles and laws upon which
success is based, and then to apply the right methods of
operating these causes until success is earned.
TOP
The law
of success is as definite as the laws of any science.
The exact use of this law will produce results every
time. It is results that count; and as results may be
multiplied indefinitely by a persistent application of
this law, there is no ending to the success you can
enjoy. Great things are no less possible than small
things, and it is the great things that will follow
whoever use's the law with faith and understanding.
Whatever your present state or condition may be, there
is a better and a, larger future in store for you, but
you must prepare yourself for it. You cannot rise into
the better and greater things unless you Do SOMETHING
about it. Study, planning, and effort are all necessary.
The young and the old alike are entitled to advance. To
be true to yourself and to the Law which governs you,
you simply must advance, for advancement is success. It
is the Law's intention that you shall move forward. You
can stand still, and you can go backward, thus retarding
your normal progress for a while, perhaps as long as a
life time, but in the end you will be compelled to move
forward, especially in the direction of soul's growth.
Nature
brooks no interferences with her purposes. This is often
the reason why "prods and pricks" of adversity come when
you fail to move forward. There is a new element abroad,
the spirit of progress, and we must all keep pace with
the times.
You can
achieve your ambition. Aim high and build well. What you
imagine to yourself as success can be reached. The Law
never blunders; what she idealizes, she has the power to
actualize; what she images in your mind, she has the
power to produce materially. She ever seeks to build you
up in your power and in success; that is her plan for
you. The faculties possessed by all great and successful
men are the same human faculties you possess. They
gained some understanding of the right kind, and then
they applied their faculties in the best way they knew
for advancement, and so earned success. Some will ask,
"But in what does true success consist?" Almost every
other person will hold a different view as to what
constitutes real success. To avoid confusion of ideas,
let us define our meaning of the term. Most people
consider success as being a high state of worldly
prosperity; others, as the realization of personal
hopes, or fulfillment of heart's desires; still others,
as the achievement of their ambitions or the performance
of great deeds. Real success, however, is something more
than this. We do not define it in terms of money,
position, fame or wealth, although it may include all
these. True, genuine success of the largest kind lies in
the results obtained, harvest reaped and distributed, so
that our fellow beings at large are benefited and the
world enriched. Yet for the purpose of our lesson, the
term success will be interpreted in a more individual
sense as meaning personal advancement and increase, and
the favorable termination of anything attempted.
TOP
Man is so
constructed that he may utilize the elements of his life
to build himself up into an ever increasing power,
betterment and success. He is also subtly related to
everything outside of himself that this purpose may be
fulfilled. Such fulfillment, however, will depend on the
actual use he makes of his mind, and whether he chooses
to serve in ignorance or to govern with knowledge the
forces in his life.
Success
is bringing one's self and one's actions to a standard
higher than the ordinary human standard. Most all the
failures and defeats in life are due to mental
blindness. When the heart is right the head thinks
right. All our acts are judged by our inner motives, not
by the outer accomplishments. "Out of the heart are the
issues of life." Moral cowardice, indecision at critical
moments, a desire to have one's own way, inability to
cooperate, have shattered the hopes of millions. They
have wrecked their prospects of success. To eliminate
these mental handicaps is the first move for all who
wish to aim high.
Success
depends upon adopting a true course, upholding what is
just and right in thought and action. Adherence to a
principle is most essential Success is not a creature of
circumstance, nor a game of chance, nor luck, for not
until the Golden Rule is the basis of commercial
activity can we be in harmony with the principle.
Religion and business are not two separate sciences;
they are both as one. Lord Leverhulme said, "It is
frequently stated that modern business cannot be
conducted on the line of the Sermon on the Mount. I can
only say that a business conducted on any other basis
will never be permanently successful." Business is an
expression of man's highest aim, man's religion.
The fact
that a man is honest and truthful and industrious does
not insure his success. More may be necessary than this,
for if a man is timid, backward, or fearful, fear will
act as a brake to retard his progress. If a man is an
efficient engineer, yet has an inferiority complex, that
complex will make him mediocre and he will not be able
to extend himself according to his skillful training.
Fear is largely the cause of failures; it cannot be
eliminated either by drugs or by the surgeon's knife.
The only remedy known for fear is understanding. When
one understands that the universe is filled with the
presence of God, there is nothing to fear. TOP
Most of
us could meet our obligations if it were not for fear of
some kind that tells us differently. We hypnotize
ourselves into a belief which incapacitates our power.
Fear clouds our vision, it benumbs our faculties, it
paralyzes our mental forces which must be free and
active if we are to avert calamity. When man's mind is
confused by fear, he is in no condition to accept an
opportunity. "God does not give us the spirit of fear,
but of courage and a sound mind."
Man's
religion does not make for him a success. If a man wears
glasses to improve his vision, for the same reason man
gets more out of life with a religion that serves to
enlarge his vision. A true religion serves to expand or
to enlarge man's vision, whereas the practical
irreligious man is cramped by his narrow and limited
view. If we think supply depends upon people or material
conditions and then are worried when people fail us,
conditions go from bad to worse. The only safeguard is
to feel and know that God (the Law) is our supply, and
to affirm it constantly. If we desire success, we must
think success, we must talk and act success, and we can
do this more easily if we know that God, the Law, is on
our side. "No good thing will God, the law, withhold
from them that walk uprightly." The religious-minded man
realizes that He that is for us is greater than that
which is against us.
It is
said that half our failures are a result of our pulling
up on our horses and checking them as they are about to
leap the barrier. Expert riders let the horse have his
head and this insures a safe jump. Half our failures
then are that we pull in at the moment when we should
let all our forces out to have full vent as we make a
leap. We jerk ourselves back into failure just when we
could be riding on to victory. Two boys dove into the
river one day, challenging one another to swim across, a
distance of about two miles. They swam on with a strong
and steady stroke and the lead swimmer, not looking
back, continued swimming on toward the other shore. When
he walked out on the bank of the river and had completed
his swim, he looked back to note that his friend was
nowhere near. He looked more carefully and, behold,
there he stood back on the other shore from where they
had started. When he met his friend he said to him, "How
was it that you did not follow me across the stream and
reach the other shore?" The boy who turned back said:
"Oh,
after I got about half way out I looked back and saw how
far I had come and I was afraid I couldn't make it, so I
turned back." "But," said the boy who swam across the
stream, "why didn't you think to look forward as I did,
for I saw only the shore coming closer and closer to me
with each stroke. Why didn't you think it was just as
hard to turn back to safety as it was to continue
swimming to your goal?"
When
Moses led the Children of Israel out of Egypt to the
Promised Land, they met with what seemed to be an
impossible barrier, the Red Sea. Some wanted to turn
back; many murmured and complained because they had
ventured so far from Egypt. Moses cried out: "God, what
shall I do?' and word came back to him, "Why criest thou
unto me? Speak to thy children that they go forward."
Moses spoke to his people, and as they marched into the
sea the waters parted and they crossed over on dry land.
Moses burned his bridges behind him as he went, then
there could be no retreat. TOP
Success
is a matter of advancement by grade. No man can become a
success except by training. An athlete will train for
weeks and months to fit himself for a contest that may
last for only a few minutes. The real secret consists in
moving FORWARD, and that peculiar mental attitude which
promotes this constant progress is the ruling factor in
the art of success. No person can succeed who is not
imbued with the desire to advance. In fact the first
step is to become thoroughly saturated with the "spirit
of progress" so one feels stimulated with a persistent
desire to work for better and greater things. The desire
to advance implies the power to advance. That is the Law
as absolute in its actions as any law of science. The
fact that you desire to succeed is evidence that you
have the power to succeed; otherwise you would not have
been urged to aspire successward. You cannot aspire to
succeed unless you have the power to succeed. Desire
creates the power; power inspires the mind of the
individual, and success is the result of that
inspiration rightly applied.
Investigating the lives of successful men, we find a
very striking fact: We find a common quality that is
responsible for their success, which consists of a
constructive state of mind. Psychologists term this
constructive state of mind as a "successful attitude."
Simple as it may seem, in most every case the difference
which decides success or failure is the ruling mental
attitude. It is at fault and is the cause of failure.
The discovery of this remarkable fact by modern
psychology probes to the very root of some deep
practicable problems and indicates a way out of
adversity and failure. In short, the positive mental
attitude of the man who thinks he CAN in contrast with
the negative attitude of another who thinks he CAN, is
practically the only difference between the one who
succeeds and the one who fails. The former learns the
truth and discovers he can do things and the idea
liberates his sleeping energies, stirs them into
activity, thrills him with the desire to advance,
inspires him to get things done, so he moves into
success.
Some
persons, however, live in the conviction that as they
are, so they must remain. They believe that God had cast
them into a fixed mould and that the little ability or
power which they p05sess is all they can hope or wish
for in this life. Scientific research into the mysteries
of the human mind reveals a wonderful world of power and
possibility. The psychological truth is, that what is
possible to one mind is possible to another, and vastly
more than we have ever dreamed. The same human faculties
and cultivated powers of the great and the successful
are possible in all minds. The only real difference is
in the degree of development, not kind.
Begin now
to take a superior view of yourself, your life and
circumstances, and of things and persons in general. As
you mentally perceive the better and greater, you will
consciously and unconsciously reach out for the better
and the greater. In other words, your thoughts, desires,
words, and mental actions will gradually become filled
with the "spirit of progress" and your, faculties will
grow stronger and your powers will increase. TOP
Catch the
spirit of the words "I can" and you have the key to the
successful attitude. Know you can succeed, and proceed
to think, live; and act in that strong conviction. You
may search everywhere, anywhere, to discover the mystic
secret of success, only to find that in the end it is
all contained in these two little words, "I can."
Modern
psychology has discovered that the person who thinks he
can will speedily develop the power that can. This is a
demonstrable law of the mind. Persistently think you can
do what you want to do, and it will not be long before
you find yourself actually doing that thing. There is no
miracle about it; the law works that way. The principle
involved is that if the "I can" attitude is adopted, the
mind will proceed to direct all energies into those
faculties which are employed in doing that which it is
desired to accomplish, and steadily build them up until
they become large enough and strong enough actually to
perform what previously appeared to be impossible.
When
Napoleon sought to conquer Italy he was faced with an
apparently insurmountable obstacle, the towering Alps.
They were considered by the people who lived around them
to be absolutely unscalable, but the words "I can't"
were not in Napoleon's mind. He, being determined to
conquer, persistently said to himself, "I can." His
descent on the other side of the mountains so surprised
the people in that country that they were practically
conquered without opposition. The shock of his doing
what was deemed impossible, took away their power of
opposition. Thus, his greatest obstacle proved his sure
means to victory. So it is with all difficulties.
Obstacles viewed from a higher point of view are
invariably stepping stones to success. John Bunyan was
thrown into prison, and while imprisoned there he faced
a problem equal to the Alps. He wanted to continue with
his religious work. He was not easily defeated, so on
the twisted paper that was brought to him as a cork in
the milk jug, he wrote his immortal "Pilgrim's
Progress." This book alone has reached more people than
he could have ever preached to in a whole lifetime.
Obstacles
serve as an opportunity to call up our latent powers.
They draw us out and make us strong; they lead us to the
goal we have in view. When you are up against it, when
you desire to progress, declare to yourself these words,
"I can." Remember those simple words contain the
magic
formula to all success and no goal worthwhile has ever
been won without the realization of them.
One's
state in life is largely determined by one '5 mental
attitude. Men radiate discouragement, gloom, and failure
because they accept the "I can't" attitude. Others
positively emanate success through a cheerful confident,
energetic "I can" attitude. We meet them everywhere. One
gravitates to conditions of adversity, ill luck, and
misfortune, the other attracts the very best and rises
on and on to success. The negative weak one, the "I
can't" individual, repels us; we instinctively shun him;
that is the Law warning us to avoid him because he is
out of tune with the Divine order of things. On the
other hand, the strong type of "I can" individual
attracts and draws us to him. He is optimistic and we
are glad to associate with and to do business with him.
Everyone has his own individual atmosphere, the same as
a flower has its aroma. So let us seek to build up a
strong positive "I can" attitude which will lead us to
success. TOP
In all
circumstances you are greater than the things or the
conditions; if not actually, you are potentially.
Whatever you aim at, be certain of winning; aim high,
aim well, and your mistakes will come few and far
between. Keep the "I can" attitude; affirm it
constantly. You will succeed; you are bound to win. John
D. Rockefeller
State's,
"The man who starts out with the idea of getting rich
won't succeed. He must have a larger ambition. There is
no mystery to business success. If he does each day's
task successfully, stays faithfully within natural
operations of commercial law, and keeps his head clear,
he will come out all right."
The next
step is to encompass your life or to state your ideal or
your objective. Make a mental picture and hold in mind
that which you are aspiring to achieve. Begin with a
persistent effort to work towards the final goal. Life,
after all, is just like a series of many steps; each
step may provide you with new problems, but as you meet
each new problem, keep your eye ever fixed upon the top
your objective, your aim, your goal. No matter how crude
or how poor your first efforts may be, they are but the
beginning. You may not compare yourself with another;
everyone has had to commence at some time at the very
bottom. In the meantime, know that you cannot fail until
you give up. You never can fail if you never give up.
Keep on trying; each effort produces some result.
Success, after all, is only the collection of many good
results.
"Never leave till
tomorrow that which you can do today," said Benjamin
Franklin. The worst enemy you will encounter on life's
highway is within your own self. Its name is
PROCRASTINATION. Procrastination kills ambition. It gets
one into the habit of indecision, which causes failure.
Practice making your decisions clearly and promptly;
take care of the little questions that come to you and
they will automatically take care of any other big
questions, should they arise. One who cannot decide for
himself clearly subordinates his judgment; he becomes
receptive to the racial thought around him and then he
becomes one of the masses and can attract only what the
masses supply
What do
you do with your spare time? How do you spend it? Where
do you spend it? Do you give it any value? In these days
much profit and
sometimes the whole success depends upon the using of
the odds and ends, the so-called "byproducts."
By-products are something apart from the main article
manufactured, and yet they have a value of their very
own. All types of big
business have their by-products,
odds and ends, that pay them well. The Armour Meat
Packing Company use's all their by-products to
advantage. From the pig-tails to the hair there are
endless by-products. The pig-tails are dried and sold as
a delicacy; the hair is made into brushes and strong
rope. Now if Armours neglected to use the by-products,
there would be a great difference in the amount of
dividends they pay their stockholders.
TOP
The point
for us is this: we may not be manufacturers like the
Armour Meat Packing Company. We are dealers in time. Our
success depends upon the use of our time and its many
byproducts which we call "odd moments." What about those
odd moments? The real success of some started in the odd
moments. What one does with his spare time, not only is
clear profit, but it increases his mental activities.
Every minute you save by making it useful and
profitable, adds to your life and the possibility of a
successful one. Every minute lost is a neglected
by-product. Once it is gone it can never be returned.
Think of
the quarter-hour before breakfast, the half-hour after,
and twenty minutes on the trolley, the time wasted
awaiting appointments during the day, and the scores of
chances each day when you might read, or figure, or
concentrate, or work for your goal. Use all your time
constructively. It is only the aimless, worthless,
unsuccessful ones who speak of killing time. The one who
is killing time is destroying his opportunities, while
the man who is succeeding is making his time live and
making it useful. I always like to hear a person say
that there isn't enough time in the day for him. That
person is getting the most out of his life, and, I
venture to say, he is succeeding.
Success,
then, summarized, is the way we learn to use two
valuable things-our time and thought. Knowledge alone is
not success; it is the way we use that knowledge. It is
important always to remember that back of all our toil
and struggle, under the dust and smoke of things, there
are the arms of the Father guiding, guarding and
supporting us. Whatever you lack, He has; whatever you
need, He can supply; whatever obstacle you encounter,
God, within you and about you, can Overcome it. "So near
to man," wrote Emerson, "when duty whispers low, 'thou
must' the youth replies, 'I can.'
YOU CAN
If you think you are
beaten, you are, If you think you dare not, you
don't,
If you 'd like to
win, but think you can't, It's almost a cinch you
won't.
If you think you'll
lose, you're lost, For out in the world we find,
Success begins with a
fellow's will It's all in the state of mind.
If you think you're
outclassed, you are, You 've got to think high to
rise.
You've got to be sure
of yourself before You can ever win a prize.
Life's battles don't
always go To the stronger or faster man,
But soon or late the
man who wins Is the man WHO THINKS HE CAN!
