Think and Grow Rich Chapter 1 Introduction The man who thought his way into partnership with Thomas Edison Truly, thoughts are things and powerful things at that when they are mixed with definiteness of purpose, persistence, and a burning desire for their translation into riches or other material objects. A little more than 30 years ago, Edwin C. Barnes discovered how true it is that man really do think and grow rich. His discovery did not come about at one sitting. It came little by little, beginning with a burning desire to become a business associate of the great Edison. One of the chief characteristics of Barnes' desire was that it was definite. He wanted to work with Edison, not for him. Observe carefully the description of how he went about translating his desire into reality and you will have a better understanding of the 13 principles which lead to riches. When this desire or impulse of thought first flashed into his mind he was in no position to act upon it. Two difficulties stood in his way. He did not know Mr. Edison and he did not have enough money to pay his railroad fare to Orange. New Jersey. These difficulties were sufficient to have discouraged the majority of men from making any attempt to carry out the desire. But this was no ordinary desire. He was so determined to find a way to carry out his desire that he finally decided to travel by blind baggage rather than be defeated. He presented himself at Mr. Edison's laboratory and announced he had come to go into business with the inventor. In speaking of the first meeting between Barnes and Edison, years later, Mr. Edison said, he stood there before me, looking like an ordinary tramp, but there was something in the expression of his face which conveyed the impression that he was determined to get what he had come after. I had learned from years of experience with men that when a man really desires a thing so deeply that he is willing to stake his entire future on a single turn of the wheel in order to get it. He is sure to win. I gave him the opportunity he asked for because I saw he had made up his mind to stand by until he succeeded. Subsequent events proved that no mistake was made. Just what young Barnes said to Mr. Edison on that occasion was far less important than that which he thought. Edison himself said so. It could not have been the young man's appearance which got him his start in the Edison office, for that was definitely against him. It was what he thought that counted. If the significance of this statement could be conveyed to every person who reads it, there would be no need for the remainder of this book. Barnes did not get his partnership with Edison on his first interview. He did get a chance to work in the Edison offices at a very nominal wage, doing work that was unimportant to Edison, but most important to Barnes because it gave him an opportunity to display his merchandise where his intended partner could see it. Months went by, apparently nothing happened to bring the coveted goal which Barnes had set up in his mind as his definite major purpose. But something important was happening in Barnes' mind. He was constantly intensifying his desire to become the business associate of Edison. Psychologists have correctly said that when one is truly ready for a thing, it puts in its appearance. Barnes was ready for a business association with Edison. Moreover, he was determined to remain ready until he got that which he was seeking. He did not say to himself, oh well, what's the use?  But he did say, I came here to go into business with Edison, and I'll accomplish this end if it takes the remainder of my life. He meant it, what a different story man would have to tell if only they would adopt a definite purpose, and stand by that purpose until it had time to become an all-consuming obsession. Maybe young Barnes did not know it at the time, but his bold-out determination, his persistence in standing back of a single desire, was destined to mow down all opposition, and bring him the opportunity he was seeking. When the opportunity came, it appeared in a different form, and from a different direction than Barnes had expected. That is one of the tricks of opportunity. It has a sly habit of slipping in by the back door, and often it comes disguised in the form of misfortune or temporary defeat. Perhaps this is why so many failed to recognize opportunity. Mr. Edison had just perfected a new office device, known at that time as the Edison Dictating Machine. His salesmen were not enthusiastic over the machine. They did not believe it could be sold without great efforts. Barnes saw his opportunity. It had crawled in quietly, hidden in a queer-looking machine which interested no one but Barnes and the inventor. Barnes knew he could sell the Edison Dictating Machine. He suggested this to Edison and promptly got his chance. He did sell the machine. In fact, he sold it so successfully that Edison gave him a contract to distribute and market it all over the nation. Out of that, business association grew the slogan made by Edison and installed by Barnes. The business alliance has been in operation for more than 30 years. Out of it, Barnes has made himself rich in money, but he has done something infinitely greater. He has proved that one really may think and grow rich. How much actual cash that original desire of Barnes has been worth to him? I have no way of knowing. Perhaps it has brought him two or three million dollars, but the amount, whatever it is, becomes insignificant when. Compared with the greater asset he acquired in the form of definite knowledge that an intangible impulse of thought can be transmuted into its physical counterpart by the application of known principles. Barnes literally thought himself into a partnership with the great Edison. He thought himself into a fortune. He had nothing to start with except the capacity to know what he wanted and the determination to stand by that desire until he realized it. He had no money to begin with. He had but little education. He had no influence, but he did have initiative, faith and the will to win. With these intangible forces, he made himself number one man with the greatest inventor who ever lived. Now, let us look at a different situation and study a man who had plenty of tangible evidence of riches, but lost it because he stopped three feet short of the goal he was seeking. Three feet from gold. One of the most common causes of failure is the habit of quitting when one is overtaken by temporary defeat. Every person is guilty of this mistake at one time or another. An uncle of R. U. Darby was caught by the gold fever in the gold rush days and went west to dig and grow rich. He had never heard that more gold has been mined from the brains of men than has ever been taken from the earth. He staked a claim and went to work with Pick in shovel. The going was hard, but his lust for gold was definite. After weeks of labor, he was rewarded by the discovery of the shining ore. He needed machinery to bring the ore to the surface. Quietly, he covered up the mine, retraced his footsteps to his home in Williamsburg. Maryland told his relatives and a few neighbors of the strike. They got together money for the needed machinery, had it shipped. The uncle and Darby went back to work the mine. The first car of ore was mine and shipped to a smelter. The returns proved they had one of the richest mines in Colorado. A few more cars of that ore would clear the debts. Then would come the big killing in profits. Down went the drills, up went the hopes of Darby and uncle. Then something happened. The vein of gold ore disappeared. They had come to the end of the rainbow and the pot of gold was no longer there. They drilled on, desperately trying to pick up the vein again all to no avail. Finally, they decided to quit. They sold the machinery to a junk man for a few hundred dollars and took the train back home. Some junk men are dumb, but not this one. He called in a mining engineer to look at the mine and do a little calculating. The engineer advised that the project had failed because the owners were not familiar with fault lines. His calculations showed that the vein would be found just three feet from where the Darbys had stopped drilling. That is exactly where it was found. The junk man took millions of dollars in ore from the mine because he knew enough to seek expert counsel before giving up. Most of the money which went into the machinery was procured through the efforts of R. U. Darby, who was then a very young man. The money came from his relatives and neighbors because of their faith in him. He paid back every dollar of it, although he was years in doing so. Long afterward, Mr. Darby recouped his loss many times over. When he made the discovery that desire can be transmuted into gold, the discovery came after he went into the business of selling life insurance, remembering that he lost a huge fortune because he stopped three feet from gold. Darby profited by the experience in his chosen work. By the simple method of saying to himself, I stopped three feet from gold, but I will never stop because men say no when I ask them to buy insurance. Darby is one of a small group of fewer than 50 men who sell more than a million dollars in life insurance annually. He owes his stickability to the lesson he learned from his quiet ability in the gold mining business. Before success comes in any man's life, he is sure to meet with much temporary defeat. And, perhaps, some failure. When defeat overtakes a man, the easiest and most logical thing to do is to quit. That is exactly what the majority of men do, more than 500 of the most successful men this country has ever known. Told the author their greatest success came just one step beyond the point at which defeat had overtaken them. Failure is a trickster with a keen sense of irony and cunning. It takes great delight in tripping one when success is almost within reach. A 50-cent lesson in persistence. Shortly after Mr. Darby received his degree from the University of Hard Knox and had decided to profit by his experience in the gold mining business, he had the good fortune to be present on an occasion that proved to him that no does not necessarily mean no. One afternoon, he was helping his uncle grind wheat in an old-fashioned mill. He uncle operated a large farm on which a number of colored share crop farmers lived. Pliately, the door was open and a small-colored child, the daughter of a tenant, walked in and took her place near the door. The uncle looked up, saw the child, and barked at her roughly, what do you want? Meekly, the child replied, my mammy say send her 50 cents. I'll not do it. The uncle retorted, now you run on home. He as saw, the child replied, but she did not move. The uncle went ahead with his work, so busily engaged that he did not pay enough attention to the child to observe that she did not leave. When he looked up and saw her still standing there, he yelled at her, I told you to go on home. Now go, or I'll take a switch to you. The little girl said yes saw, but she did not budge an inch. The uncle dropped a sack of grain he was about to pour into the mill hopper, picked up a barrel stave, and started toward the child with an expression on his face that indicated trouble. Darby held his breath. He was certain he was about to witness a murder. He knew his uncle had a fierce temper. He knew that colored children were not supposed to defy white people in that part of the country. When the uncle reached the spot where the child was standing, she quickly stepped forward one step, looked up into his eyes, and screamed at the top of her shrill voice. My mommy's gotta have that 50 cents. The uncle stopped, looked at her for a minute, then slowly laid the barrel stave on the floor, put his hand in his pocket, took out half a dollar, and gave it to her. The child took the money and slowly back toward the door.  After she had gone, the uncle sat down on a box and looked out the window into space for more than 10 minutes. He was pondering with awe over the whipping he had just taken. Mr. Darby, too, was doing some thinking.  How did she do it? What happened to his uncle that caused him to lose his fierceness and become as docile as a lamb? What strange power did this child use that made her master over her superior? These and other similar questions flashed into Darby's mind, but he did not find the answer until years later when he told me the story. Strangely, the story of this unusual experience was told to the author in the Old Mill on the very spot where the uncle took his. Whipping, strangely, too, I had devoted nearly a quarter of a century to the study of the power which enabled a little child to conquer an intelligent man. As we stood there in that musty Old Mill, Mr. Darby repeated the story of the unusual conquest and finished by asking, What can you make of it? What strange power did that child use that so completely whipped my uncle? The answer to this question will be found in the principles described in this book. The answer is full and complete. It contains details and instructions sufficient to enable anyone to understand and apply the same force which the little child accidentally stumbled upon. Keep your mind alert and you will observe exactly what strange power came to the rescue of the child. You will catch a glimpse of this power in the next chapter. Somewhere in the book you will find an idea that will quicken your receptive powers and place at your command for your own benefit. This same irresistible power, the awareness of this power may come to you in the first chapter or it may flash into your mind in some subsequent chapter. It may come in the form of a single idea or it may come in the nature of a plan or a purpose. Again, it may cause you to go back into your past experiences of failure or defeat and bring to the surface some lesson by which you can regain all that you lost through defeat. After I had described to Mr. Darby the power unwittingly used by the little child, he quickly retraced his 30 years of experience as a life insurance salesman and frankly acknowledged that his success in that field was due in no small degree to the lesson he had learned from the child. Mr. Darby pointed out every time a prospect tried to bow me out without buying I saw that child standing there in the old mill her big eyes glaring in defiance and I said to myself I've got to make this sale the better portion of all sales I have made were made after people had said no he recalled to his mistake in having stopped only three feet from gold but he said that experience was a blessing in disguise it taught me to keep on keeping on no matter how hard the going may be a lesson I needed to learn before I could succeed in anything this story of Mr. Darby and his uncle the colored child and the gold mine doubtless will be read by hundreds of men who make their living by selling life insurance and to all of these the author wishes to offer the suggestion that Darby owes to these two experiences his ability to sell more than a million dollars of life insurance every year life is strange and often imponderable both the successes and the failures have their roots in simple experiences Mr. Darby's experiences were commonplace and simple enough yet they held the answer to his destiny in life therefore they were as important as life itself he profited by these two dramatic experiences because he analyzed them and found the lesson they taught but what of the man who has neither the time nor the inclination to study failure in search of knowledge that may lead to success where and how is he to learn the art of converting defeat into stepping stones to opportunity in answer to these questions this book was written the answer called for a description of 13 principles but remember as you read the answer you may be seeking to the questions which have caused you to ponder over the strangeness of life may be found in your own mind through some idea plan or purpose which may spring into your mind as you read one sound idea is all that one needs to achieve success the principles described in this book contain the best and the most practical of all that is known concerning ways and means of creating useful ideas before we go any further in our approach to the description of these principles we believe you are entitled to receive this important suggestion when riches begin to come they come so quickly in such great abundance that one wonders where they have been hiding during all those lean years this is an astounding statement and all the more so when we take into consideration the popular belief that riches come only to those who work hard and long when you begin to think and grow rich you will observe that riches begin with a state of mind with definiteness of purpose with little or no hard work you and every other person ought to be interested in knowing how to acquire that state of mind which will attract riches I spent 25 years in research analyzing more than 25,000 people because I too wanted to know how wealthy men become that way without that research this book could not have been written here take notice of a very significant truth biz the business depression started in 1929 and continued on to an all-time record of destruction until sometime after president roosevelt entered office then the depression began to fade into nothingness just as an electrician in a theater raises the light so gradually that darkness is transmuted into light before you realize it so did the spell of fear in the minds of the people gradually fade away and become faith observe very closely as soon as you master the principles of this philosophy and begin to follow the instructions for applying those principles your financial status will begin to improve and everything you touch will begin to transmute itself into an asset for your benefit impossible not at all one of the main weaknesses of mankind is the average man's familiarity with the word impossible he knows all the rules which will not work he knows all the things which cannot be done this book was written for those who seek the rules which have made others successful and are willing to stake everything on those rules a great many years ago i purchased a fine dictionary the first thing i did with it was to turn to the word impossible and neatly clip it out of the book that would not be an unwise thing for you to do success comes to those who become success conscious failure comes to those who indifferently allow themselves to become failure conscious the object of this book is to help all who seek it to learn the art of changing their minds from failure consciousness to success consciousness another weakness found in altogether too many people is the habit of measuring everything and everyone by their own impressions and beliefs some who will read this will believe that no one can think and grow rich they cannot think in terms of riches because their thought habits have been steeped in poverty want misery failure and defeat these unfortunate people remind me of a prominent Chinese who came to America to be educated in American ways he attended the University of Chicago one day president harper met this young oriental on the campus stopped to chat with him for a few minutes and asked what had impressed him as being the most noticeable characteristic of the American people why the china men exclaim the queer slant of your eyes your eyes are off slant what do we say about the Chinese we refuse to believe that which we do not understand we foolishly believe that our own limitations are the proper measure of limitations sure the other fellow's eyes are off slant because they are not the same as our own millions of people look at the achievements of Henry Ford after he has arrived and envy him because of his good fortune or luck or genius or whatever it is that they credit for Ford's fortune perhaps one person in every hundred thousand knows the secret of Ford's success and those who do know are too modest or too reluctant to speak of it because of its simplicity a single transaction will illustrate the secret perfectly a few years back Ford decided to produce his now famous v8 motor he chose to build an engine with the entire eight cylinders cast in one block and instructed his engineers to produce a design for the engine the design was placed on paper but the engineers agreed to amend that it was simply impossible to cast an eight cylinder gas engine block in one piece Ford said produce it anyway but they replied it's impossible go ahead Ford commanded and stay on the job until you succeed no matter how much time is required the engineers went ahead there was nothing else for them to do if they were to remain on the Ford staff six months went by nothing happened another six months passed and still nothing happened the engineers tried every conceivable plan to carry out the orders but the thing seemed out of the question impossible at the end of the year Ford checked with his engineers and again they informed him they have found no way to carry out his orders go right ahead said Ford I want it and I'll have it they went ahead and then as if by a stroke of magic the secret was discovered the Ford determination had one once more this story may not be described with minute accuracy but the sum and substance of it is correct deduce from it you who wish to think and grow rich the secret of the Ford millions if you can you'll not have to look very far Henry Ford is a success because he understands and applies the principles of success when a visa's desire knowing what one wants remember this Ford story as you read and pick out the lines in which the secret of his if you can do this if you can lay your finger on the particular group of principles which made Henry Ford rich you can equal his achievements and almost any calling for which you are suited you are the master of your fate the captain of your soul because when Henry wrote the prophetic lines I am the master of my fate I am the captain of my soul he should have informed us that we are the masters of our fate the captains of our souls because we have the power to control our thoughts he should have told us that the ether in which this little earth floats in which we move and have our being is a form of energy moving at an inconceivably high rate of vibration and that the ether is filled with a form of universal power which adapts itself to the nature of the thoughts we hold in our minds and influences us in natural ways to transmute our thoughts into their physical equivalent if the poet had told us of this great truth we would know why it is that we are the masters of our fate the captains of our souls he should have told us with great emphasis that this power makes no attempt to discriminate between destructive thoughts and constructive thoughts that it will urge us to translate into physical reality thoughts of poverty just as quickly as it will influence us to act upon thoughts of riches he should have told us too that our brains become magnetized with the dominating thoughts which we hold in our minds and by means with which no man is familiar these magnets attract to us the forces the people the circumstances of life which harmonize with the nature of our dominating thoughts he should have told us that before we can accumulate riches in great abundance we must magnetize our minds with intense desire for riches that we must become money conscious until the desire for money drives us to create definite plans for acquiring it but being a poet and not a philosopher henley contented himself by stating a great truth in poetic form leaving those who followed him to interpret the philosophical meaning of his lines little by little the truth has unfolded itself until it now appears certain that the principles described in this book hold the secret of mastery over our economic fate we are now ready to examine the first of these principles maintain a spirit of open-mindedness and remember as you read they are the invention of no one man the principles were gathered from the life experiences of more than 500 men who actually accumulated riches in huge amounts men who began in poverty with but little education without influence the principles worked for these men you can put them to work for your own enduring benefit you will find it easy not hard to do before you read the next chapter i want you to know that it conveys factual information which might easily change your entire financial destiny as it has so definitely brought changes of stupendous proportions to two people describe i want you to know also that the relationship between these two men and myself is such that i could have taken no liberties with the facts even if i had wished to do so one of them has been my closest personal friend for almost 25 years the other is my own son the unusual success of these two men success which they generously accredit to the principle described in the next chapter more than justifies this personal reference as a means of emphasizing the far flung power of this principle almost 15 years ago i delivered the commencement address at salem college salem west virginia i emphasized the principle described in the next chapter with so much intensity that one of the members of the graduating class definitely appropriated it and made it a part of his own philosophy the young man is now a member of congress and an important factor in the present administration just before this book went to the publisher he wrote me a letter in which he so clearly stated his opinion of the principle outlined in the next chapter that i have chosen to publish his letter as an introduction to that chapter it gives you an idea of the rewards to come my dear napoleon my service as a member of congress having given me an insight into the problems of men and women i am writing to offer a suggestion which may become helpful to thousands of worthy people with apologies i must state that the suggestion if acted upon will mean several years of labor and responsibility for you but i am in hearten to make the suggestion because i know your great love for rendering useful service in 1922 you delivered the commencement address at salem college when i was a member of the graduating class in that address you planned it in my mind an idea which has been responsible for the opportunity i now have to serve the people of my state and will be responsible in a very large measure for whatever success i may have in the future the suggestion i have in mind is that you put into a book the sum and substance of the address you delivered at salem college and in that way give the people of america an opportunity to profit by your many years of experience and association with the men who by their greatness have made america the richest nation on earth i recall as though it were yesterday the marvelous description you gave of the method by which henry ford with but little schooling without a dollar with no influential friends rose to great heights i made up my mind then even before you had finished your speech that i would make a place for myself no matter how many difficulties i had to surmount thousands of young people will finish their schooling this year and within the next few years every one of them will be seeking just such a message of practical encouragement as the one i received from you they will want to know where to turn what to do to get started in life you can tell them because you have helped to solve the problems of so many many people if there is any possible way that you can afford to render so great a service may i offer the suggestion that you include with every book one of your personal analysis charts in order that the purchaser of the book may have the benefit of a complete self-inventory indicating as you indicated to me years ago exactly what is standing in the way of success such a service as this providing the readers of your book with a complete unbiased picture of their faults and their virtues would mean to them the difference between success and failure the service would be priceless millions of people are now facing the problem of staging a comeback because of the depression and i speak from personal experience when i say i know these earnest people would welcome the opportunity to tell you their problems and to receive your suggestions for the solution you know the problems of those who faced the necessity of beginning all over again there are thousands of people in america today who would like to know how they can convert ideas into money people who must start at scratch without finances and recoup their losses if anyone can help them you can if you publish the book i would like to own the first copy that comes from the press personally autographed by you with best wishes believe me cordially yours jennings randolph jennings randolph jennings randolph jennings rand chapter 2 desire the starting point of all achievement the first step toward riches when edwin c barnes climbed down from the freight train in orange nj more than 30 years ago he may have resembled the trump but his thoughts were those of a king as he made his way from the railroad tracks to thomas eddison's office his mind was at work he saw himself standing in eddison's presence he heard himself asking mr eddison for an opportunity to carry out the one consuming obsession of his life a burning desire to become the business associate of the great inventor barnes desire was not a hope it was not a wish it was a keen pulsating desire which transcended everything else it was definite the desire was not new when he approached eddison it had been barnes dominating desire for a long time in the beginning when the desire first appeared in his mind it may have been probably was only a wish but it was no mere wish when he appeared before eddison with it a few years later edwin c barnes again stood before eddison in the same office where he first met the inventor this time his desire had been translated into reality he was in business with eddison the dominating dream of his life had become a reality today people who know barnes envy him because of the break life yielded him they see him in the days of his triumph without taking the trouble to investigate the cause of his success barnes succeeded because he chose a definite goal placed all his energy all his willpower all his effort everything back of that goal he did not become the partner of eddison the day he arrived he was content to start in the most menial work as long as it provided an opportunity to take even one step toward his cherished goal five years past before the chance he had been seeking made its appearance during all those years not one ray of hope not one promise of attainment of his desire had been held out to him to everyone except himself he appeared only another cog in the eddison business wheel but in his own mind he was the partner of eddison every minute of the time from the very day that he first went to work there it is a remarkable illustration of the power of a definite desire barnes won his goal because he wanted to be a business associate of mr eddison more than he wanted anything else he created a plan by which to attain that purpose but he burned all bridges behind him he stood by his desire until it became the dominating obsession of his life and finally a fact when he went to orange he did not say to himself i will try to induce eddison to give me a job of some sort he said i will see eddison and put him on notice that i have come to go into business with him he did not say i will work there for a few months and if i get no encouragement i will quit and get a job somewhere else he did say i will start anywhere i will do anything eddison tells me to do but before i am through i will be his associate he did not say i will keep my eyes open for another opportunity in case i fail to get what i want in the eddison organization he said there is but one thing in this world that i am determined to have and that is a business association with thomas eddison i will burn all bridges behind me and stake my entire future on my ability to get what i want he left himself no possible way of retreat he had to win or perish think and grow rich that his order is to the barn's story of success a long while ago a great warrior faced a situation which made it necessary for him to make a decision which ensured his success on the battlefield he was about to send his armies against a powerful foe whose men outnumbered his own he loaded his soldiers into boats sailed to the enemy's country unloaded soldiers and equipment then gave the order to burn the ships that had carried them addressing his men before the first battle he said you see the boats going up in smoke that means that we cannot leave these shores alive unless we win we now have no choice we win or we perish they won every person who wins in any undertaking must be willing to burn his ships and cut all sources of retreat only by so doing can one be sure of maintaining that state of mind known as a burning desire to win essential to success the morning after the great chicago fire a group of merchants stood on state street looking at the smoking remains of what had been their stores they went into a conference to decide if they would try to rebuild or leave chicago and start over in a more promising section of the country they reached the decision all except one to leave chicago the merchant who decided to stay and rebuild pointed a finger at the remains of his store and said gentlemen on that very spot i will build the world's greatest store no matter how many times it may burn down that was more than 50 years ago the store was built it stands there today a towering monument to the power of that state of mind known as a burning desire the easy thing for marshall field to have done would have been exactly what his fellow merchants did when the going was hard and the future looked dismal they pulled up and went where the going seemed easier mark well this difference between marshall field and the other merchants because it is the same difference which distinguishes edwin c barnes from thousands of other young men who have worked in the Edison organization it is the same difference which distinguishes practically all who succeed from those who fail every human being who reaches the age of understanding of the purpose of money wishes for it wishing will not bring riches but desiring riches with a state of mind that becomes an obsession then planning definite ways and means to acquire riches and backing those plans with persistence which does not recognize failure will bring riches the method by which desire for riches can be transmuted into its financial equivalent consists of six definite practical steps viz first fix in your mind the exact amount of money you desire it is not sufficient merely to say i want plenty of money be definite as to the amounts second determine exactly what you intend to give in return for the money you desire third establish a definite date when you intend to possess the money you desire fourth create a definite plan for carrying out your desire and begin at once whether you are ready or not to put this plan into action fifth write out a clear concise statement of the amount of money you intend to acquire name the time limit for its acquisition state what you intend to give in return for the money and describe clearly the plan through which you intend to accumulate it sixth read your written statement allowed twice daily once just before retiring at night and once after arising in the morning as you read see and feel and believe yourself already in possession of the money it is important that you follow the instructions described in these six steps it is especially important that you observe and follow the instructions in the sixth paragraph you may complain that it is impossible for you to see yourself in possession of money before you actually have it here is where a burning desire will come to your aid if you truly desire money so keenly that your desire is an obsession you will have no difficulty in convincing yourself that you will acquire it the object is to want money and to become so determined to have it that you convince yourself you will have it only those who become money conscious ever accumulate great riches money consciousness means that the mind has become so thoroughly saturated with the desire for money that one can see oneself already in possession of it to the uninitiated who has not been schooled in the working principles of the human mind these instructions may appear impractical it may be helpful to all who fail to recognize the soundness of the six steps to know that the information they convey was received from Andrew Carnegie who began as an ordinary laborer in the steel mills but managed despite his humble beginning to make these principles yield him a fortune of considerably more than 100 million dollars it may be of further help to know that the six steps here recommended were carefully scrutinized by the late Thomas Edison who placed his stamp of approval upon them as being not only the steps essential for the accumulation of money but necessary for the attainment of any definite goal the steps call for no hard labor they call for no sacrifice they do not require one to become ridiculous or credulous to apply them calls for no great amount of education but the successful application of these six steps does call for sufficient imagination to enable one to see and to understand that accumulation of money cannot be left to chance good fortune and luck one must realize that all who have accumulated great fortunes first did a certain amount of dreaming hoping wishing desiring and planning before they acquired money you may as well know right here that you can never have riches in great quantities unless you can work yourself into a white heat of desire for money and actually believe you will possess it you may as well know also that every great leader from the dawn of civilization down to the present was a dreamer Christianity is the greatest potential power in the world today because its founder was an intense dreamer who had the vision and the imagination to see realities in their mental and spiritual form before they have been transmuted into physical form if you do not see great riches in your imagination you will never see them in your bank balance never in the history of America has there been so great an opportunity for practical dreamers as now exists the six-year economic collapse has reduced all men substantially to the same level a new race is about to be run the stakes represent huge fortunes which will be accumulated within the next 10 years the rules of the race have changed because we now live in a hanged world that definitely favors the masses those who have but little or no opportunity to win under the conditions existing during the depression when fear paralyzed growth and development we who are in this race for riches should be encouraged to know that this changed world in which we live is demanding new ideas new ways of doing things new leaders new inventions new methods of teaching new methods of marketing new books new literature new features for the radio new ideas for moving pictures that of all this demand for new and better things there is one quality which one must possess to win and that is definiteness of purpose the knowledge of what one wants and a burning desire to possess it the business depression marked the death of one age and the birth of another this changed world requires practical dreamers who can and will put their dreams into action the practical dreamers have always been and always will be the pattern makers of civilization we who desire to accumulate riches should remember the real leaders of the world always have been men who harnessed and put into practical use the intangible unseen forces of unborn opportunity and have converted those forces into skyscrapers cities factories airplanes automobiles and every form of convenience that makes life more pleasant tolerance and an open mind are practical necessities of the dreamer of today those who are afraid of new ideas are doomed before they start never has there been a time more favorable to pioneers than the present true there is no wild and woolly west to be conquered as in the days of the covered wagon but there is a vast business financial and industrial world to be remodeled and redirected along new and better lines and planning to acquire your share of the riches let no one influence you to score on the dreamer to win the big stakes in this changed world you must catch the spirit of the great pioneers of the past whose dreams have given to civilization all that it has of value the spirit which serves as the lifeblood of our own country your opportunity and mine to develop and market our talents let us not forget columbus dreamed of an unknown world staked his life on the existence of such a world and discovered it copernicus the great astronomer dreamed of a multiplicity of worlds and revealed them no one denounced him as impractical after he had triumphed instead the world worship at his shrine thus proving once more that success requires no apologies failure permits no alibis if the thing you wish to do is right and you believe in it go ahead and do it put your dream across and never mind what they say if you meet with temporary defeat for they perhaps do not know that every failure brings with the deceit of an equivalent success henry ford poor and uneducated dreamed of a horseless carriage went to work with what tools he possessed without waiting for opportunity to favor him and now evidence of his dream belts the entire earth he has put more wheels into operation than any man who ever lived because he was not afraid to back his dreams thomas Edison dreamed of a lamp that could be operated by electricity began where he stood to put his dream into action and despite more than 10 000 failures he stood by that dream until he made it a physical reality practical dreamers do not quit well and dreamed of a chain of cigar stores transformed his dream into action and now the united cigar stores occupy the best corners in america lincoln dreamed of freedom for the black slaves put his dream into action and barely missed living to see a united north and south translate his dream into reality the right brothers dreamed of a machine that would fly through the air now one may see evidence all over the world that they dream soundly marconi dreamed of a system for harnessing the intangible forces of the ether evidence that he did not dream in vain may be found in every wireless and radio in the world moreover marconi's dream brought the humblest cabin and the most stately manner house side by side it made the people of every nation on earth backdoor neighbors it gave the president of the united states a medium by which he may talk to all the people of america at one time and on short notice it may interest you to know that marconi's friends had him taken into custody and examined in the psychopathic hospital when he announced he had discovered a principle through which he could send messages through the air without the aid of wires or other direct physical means of communication the dreamers of today fare better the world has become accustomed to new discoveries may it has shown a willingness to reward the dreamer who gives the world a new idea the greatest achievement was at first and for a time but a dream the oak sleeps in the acorn the bird waits in the egg and in the highest vision of the soul a waking angel stirs dreams are the seedlings of reality awake arise and assert yourself you dreamers of the world your star is now in the ascendancy the world depression brought the opportunity you have been waiting for it taught people humility tolerance and open-mindedness the world is filled with an abundance of opportunity which the dreamers of the past never knew a burning desire to be and to do is the starting point from which the dreamer must take off dreams are not born of indifference laziness or lack of ambition the world no longer scoffs at the dreamer nor calls him impractical if you think it does take a trip to Tennessee and witness what a dreamer president has done in the way of harnessing and using the great water power of america a score of years ago such a dream would have seemed like madness you have been disappointed you have undergone defeat during the depression you have felt a great heart within you crushed until it bled take courage for these experiences have tempered the spiritual metal of which you are made they are assets of incomparable value remember too that all who succeed in life get off to a bad start and pass through many heartbreaking struggles before they arrive the turning point in the lives of those who succeed usually comes at the moment of some crisis through which they are introduced to their other selves john bunion wrote the pilgrim's progress which is among the finest of all english literature after he had been confined in prison and sorely punished because of his views on the subject of religion oh henry discovered the genius which slept within his brain after he had met with great misfortune and was confined in a prison cell in columbus Ohio being forced to misfortune to become acquainted with his other self and to use his imagination he discovered himself to be a great author instead of a miserable criminal an outcast strange and buried are the ways of life and strangers still are the ways of infinite intelligence through which men are sometimes forced to undergo all sorts of punishment before discovering their own brains and their own capacity to create useful ideas to imagination Edison the world's greatest inventor and scientist was a tramp telegraph operator he failed innumerable times before he was driven finally to the discovery of the genius which slept within his brain Charles Dickens began by pasting labels on blacking pots the tragedy of his first love penetrated the depths of his soul and converted him into one of the world's truly great authors that tragedy produced first david copperfield then a succession of other works that made this a richer and better world for all who read his books disappointment over love affairs generally has the effect of driving men to drink and women to ruin and this because most people never learn the art of transmuting their strongest emotions into dreams of a constructive nature Helen Keller became deaf dumb and blind shortly after birth despite her greatest misfortune she has written her name indelibly in the pages of the history of the great her entire life has served as evidence that no one ever is defeated until defeat has been accepted as a reality Robert Burns was an illiterate country lad he was cursed by poverty and grew up to be a drunkard in the bargain the world was made better for his having lived because he closed beautiful thoughts in poetry and thereby plucked a thorn and planted a rose in its place Booker T. Washington was born in slavery handicapped by race and color because he was tolerant had an open mind at all times on all subjects and was a dreamer he left his impress for good on an entire race Beethoven was deaf Milton was blind but their names will last as long as time endures because they dreamed and translated their dreams into organized thoughts before passing to the next chapter Kindle anew in your mind the fire of hope faith courage and tolerance if you have these states of mind and a working knowledge of the principles described all else that you need will come to you when you are ready for it let ever since state the thought in these words every proverb every book every byword that belongs to thee for aid and comfort shall surely come home to open or winding passages every friend whom not by fantastic will but the great and tender soul in the crevice shall lock thee in his embrace there is a difference between wishing for a thing and being ready to receive it no one is ready for a thing until he believes he can acquire it the state of mind must be belief not mere hope or wish open-mindedness is essential for belief closed minds do not inspire faith courage and belief remember no more effort is required to aim high in life to demand abundance and prosperity then is required to accept misery and poverty a great poet has correctly stated this universal truth through these lines I bargain with life for a penny and life would pay no more however I begged the evening when I counted my scanty store for life is a just employer he gives you what you ask but once you have set the wages why you must bear the task I worked for a menial's hire only to learn dismayed that any wage I had asked of life life would have willingly paid desire outwits mother nature as a fitting climax to this chapter I wish to introduce one of the most unusual persons I have ever known I first saw him 24 years ago a few minutes after he was born he came into the world without any physical sign of ears and the doctor admitted when pressed for an opinion that the child might be deaf and mute for life I challenged the doctor's opinion I had the right to do so I was the child's father I too reached the decision and rendered an opinion but I expressed the opinion silently in the secrecy of my own heart I decided that my son would hear and speak nature could send me a child without ears but nature could not induce me to accept the reality of the affliction in my own mind I knew that my son would hear and speak how I was sure there must be a way and I knew I would find it I thought of the words of the immortal emerson the whole course of things goes to teach us faith we need only obey there is guidance for each of us and by lowly listening we shall hear the right word the right word desire more than anything else I desired that my son should not be a deaf mute from that desire I never receded not for a second many years previously I had written our only limitations are those we set up in our own minds for the first time I wondered if that statement were true lying on the bed in front of me was a newly born child without the natural equipment of hearing even though he might hear and speak he was obviously disfigured for life surely this was a limitation which that child had not set up in his own mind what could I do about it somehow I would find a way to transplant into that child's mind my own burning desire for ways and means of conveying sound to his brain without the aid of ears as soon as the child was old enough to cooperate I would fill his mind so completely with a burning desire to hear that nature would by methods of her own translated into physical reality all this thinking took place in my own mind but I spoke of it to no one every day I renewed the pledge I had made to myself not to accept a deaf mute for a son as he grew older and began to take notice of things around him we observed that he had a slight degree of hearing when he reached the age when children usually begin talking he made no attempt to speak but we could tell by his actions that he could hear certain sounds slightly that was all I wanted to know I was convinced that if he could hear even slightly he might develop still greater hearing capacity then something happened which gave me hope it came from an entirely unexpected source LeBoda Victrola when the child heard the music for the first time he went into ecstasies and promptly appropriated the machine he soon showed a preference for certain records among them it's a long way to tipperary on one occasion he played that piece over and over for almost two hours standing in front of the record player with his teeth clamped on the edge of the case the significance of this self-formed habit of his did not become clear to us until years afterward for we had never heard of the principle of bone conduction of sound at that time shortly after he appropriated the record player I discovered that he could hear me quite clearly when I spoke with my lips touching his mastoid bone or at the base of the brain these discoveries placed in my possession the necessary media by which I began to translate into reality my burning desire to help my son develop hearing and speech by that time he was making staffs that speaking certain words he outlook was far from encouraging but desire backed by faith knows no such word as impossible having determined that he could hear the sound of my voice plainly I began immediately to transfer to his mind the desire to hear and speak I soon discovered that the child enjoyed bedtime stories so I went to work creating stories designed to develop in himself reliance imagination and a keen desire to hear and to be normal there was one story in particular which I emphasized by giving it some new and dramatic coloring each time it was told it was designed to plant in his mind the thought that his affliction was not a liability but an asset of great value despite the fact that all the philosophy I had examined clearly indicated that every adversity brings with the deceit of an equivalent advantage I must confess that I had not the slightest idea how this affliction could ever become an asset however I continued my practice of wrapping that philosophy in bedtime stories hoping the time would come when he would find some plan by which his handicap could be made to serve some useful purpose reason told me plainly that there was no adequate compensation for the lack of ears and natural hearing equipment desire backed by faith pushed reason aside and inspired me to carry on as I analyzed the experience in retrospect I can see now that my son's faith in me had much to do with the astounding results he did not question anything I told him I sold him the idea that he had a distinct advantage over his older brother and that this advantage would reflect itself in many ways for example the teachers in school would observe that he had no ears and because of this they would show him special attention and treat him with extraordinary kindness they always did his mother saw to that by visiting the teachers and arranging with them to give the child the extra attention necessary I sold him the idea too that when he became old enough to sell newspapers he would have a big advantage over his brother for the reason that people would pay him extra money for his wares because they could see that he was a bright industrious boy despite the fact he had no ears we could notice that gradually the child's hearing was improving moreover he had not the slightest tendency to be self-conscious because of his affliction when he was about seven he showed the first evidence that our method of servicing his mind was bearing fruit for several months he begged for the privilege of selling newspapers but his mother would not give her consent she was afraid that his deafness made it unsafe for him to go on the street alone finally he took matters in his own hands one afternoon when he was left at home with the servants he climbed through the kitchen window shitted to the ground and set out on his own he borrowed six cents in capital from the neighborhood shoemaker invested it in papers sold out reinvested and kept repeating until late in the evening after balancing his accounts and paying back the six cents he had borrowed from his banker he had a net profit of 42 cents when we got home that night we found him in bed asleep with the money tightly clenched in his hand his mother opened his hand removed the coins and cried of all things crying over her son's first victory seemed so inappropriate my reaction was the reverse I laughed heartily for I knew that my endeavor to plant in the child's mind and attitude of faith in himself had been successful his mother saw in his first business venture a little deaf boy who had gone out in the streets and risked his life to earn money I saw a brave ambitious self-reliant little businessman whose stock in himself had been increased a hundred percent because he had gone into business on his own initiative and had won the transaction pleased me because I knew that he had given evidence of a trait of resourcefulness that would go with him all through life later events proved this to be true when his older brother wanted something he would lie down on the floor kick his feet in the air cry for it and get it when the little deaf boy wanted something he would plan a way to earn the money then buy it for himself he still follows that plan truly my own son has taught me that handicaps can be converted into stepping stones on which one may climb towards some worthy goal unless they are accepted as obstacles and used as alibis the little deaf boy went through the grades high school and college without being able to hear his teachers accepting when they shouted loudly at close range he did not go to a school for the deaf we would not permit him to learn the sign language we were determined that he should live a normal life and associate with normal children and we stood by that decision although it cost us many heated debates with school officials while he was in high school he tried an electrical hearing aid but it was of no value to him too we believed to a condition that was disclosed when the child was six by doctor j gordon wilson of chicago when he operated on one side of the boy's head and discovered that there was no sign of natural hearing equipment during his last week in college something happened which marked the most important turning point of his life through what seemed to be mere chance he came into possession of another electrical hearing device which was sent to him on trial he was slow about testing it due to his disappointment with a similar device finally he picked the instrument up and more or less carelessly placed it on his head hooked up the battery and low as if by a stroke of magic his lifelong desire for normal hearing became a reality for the first time in his life he heard practically as well as any person with normal hearing god moves in mysterious ways his wonders to perform overjoyed because of the changed world which had been brought to him through his hearing device he rushed to the telephone called his mother and heard her voice perfectly the next day he plainly heard the voices of his professors in class for the first time in his life previously he could hear them only when they shouted at short range he heard the radio he heard the talking pictures for the first time in his life he could converse freely with other people without the necessity of their having to speak loudly truly he had come into possession of a changed world we had refused to accept nature's error and by persistent desire we had induced nature to correct that error through the only practical means available desire had commenced to pay dividends but the victory was not yet complete the boy still had to find a definite and practical way to convert his handicap into an equivalent asset hardly realizing the significance of what had already been accomplished but intoxicated with the joy of his newly discovered world of sound he wrote a letter to the manufacturer of the hearing aid enthusiastically describing his experience something in his letter something perhaps which was not written on the lines but back of them caused the company to invite him to new york when he arrived he was escorted through the factory and while talking with the chief engineer telling him about his changed world a hunch an idea or an inspiration call it what you wish flashed into his mind it was this impulse of thought which converted his affliction into an asset destined to pay dividends in both money and happiness to thousands for all time to come the sum and substance of that impulse of thought was this it occurred to him that he might be of help to the millions of deaf and people who go through life without the benefit of hearing devices if he could find a way to tell them the story of his changed world then and there he reached a decision to devote the remainder of his life to rendering useful service to the heart of hearing for an entire month he carried on an intensive research during which he analyzed the entire marketing system of the manufacturer of the hearing device and created ways and means of communicating with the heart of hearing all over the world for the purpose of sharing with them his newly discovered changed world when this was done he put in writing a two-year plan based upon his findings when he presented the plan to the company he was instantly given a position for the purpose of carrying out his ambition little did he dream when he went to work that he was destined to bring hope and practical relief to thousands of deaf and people who without his help would have been doomed forever to deaf mutism shortly after he became associated with the manufacturer of his hearing aid he invited me to attend a class conducted by his company for the purpose of teaching deaf mutes to hear and to speak i had never heard of such a form of education therefore i visited the class skeptical but hopeful that my time would not be entirely wasted here i saw a demonstration which gave me a greatly enlarged vision of what i had done to arouse and keep alive in my son's mind the desire for normal hearing i saw deaf mutes actually being taught to hear and to speak through application of the self-same principle i had used more than 20 years previously in saving my son from deaf mutism thus through some strange turn of the wheel of fate my son Blair and i have been destined to aid in correcting deafness for those as yet unborn because we are the only living human beings as far as i know who have established definitely the fact that deafness can be corrected to the extent of restoring to normal life those who suffer with this affliction it has been done for one it will be done for others there is no doubt in my mind that Blair would have been a deaf mute all his life if his mother and i had not managed to shape his mind as we did the doctor who attended at his birth told us confidentially the child might never hear or speak a few weeks ago dr Irving Voorhees a noted specialist on such cases examined Blair very thoroughly he was astounded when he learned how well my son now hears and speaks and said his examination indicated that theoretically the boy should not be able to hear at all but the lad does hear despite the fact that x-ray pictures show there is no opening in the skull whatsoever from where his ears should be to the brain when i planned it in his mind the desire to hear and talk and live as a normal person they're wet with that impulse some strange influence which caused nature to become bridge builder and span the gulf of silence between his brain and the outer world by some means which the keenest medical specialists have not been able to interpret it would be sacrilege for me to even conjecture as to how nature performed this miracle it would be unforgivable if i neglected to tell the world as much as i know of the humble part i assumed in the strange experience it is my duty and a privilege to say i believe and not without reason that nothing is impossible to the person who backs desire within during faith verily a burning desire has devious ways of transmuting itself into its physical equivalent Blair desired normal hearing now he has it he was born with a handicap which might easily have sent one with a less defined desire to the street with a bundle of pencils and a tin cup that handicap now promises to serve as the medium by which he will render useful service to many millions of hard of hearing also to give him useful employment at adequate financial compensation the remainder of his life the little white lies i planned it in his mind when he was a child by leading him to believe his affliction would become a great asset which he could capitalize has justified itself verily there is nothing right or wrong which belief plus burning desire cannot make real these qualities are free to everyone in all my experience in dealing with men and women who had personal problems i never handled a single case which more definitely demonstrates the power of desire others sometimes make the mistake of writing of subjects of which they have but superficial or very elementary knowledge it has been my good fortune to have had the privilege of testing the soundness of the power of desire to the affliction of my own son perhaps it was providential that the experience came as it did for surely no one is better prepared than he to serve as an example of what happens when desire is put to the test if mother nature bends to the will of desire is it logical that mere men can defeat a burning desire strange and imponderable is the power of the human mind we do not understand the method by which it uses every circumstance every individual every physical thing within its reach as a means of transmuting desire into its physical counterparts perhaps science will uncover this secret i planted in my son's mind the desire to hear and to speak as any normal person hears and speaks that desire has now become a reality i planted in his mind the desire to convert his greatest handicap into his greatest asset that desire has been realized the modus operandi by which this astounding result was achieved is not hard to describe it consisted of three very definite facts first i mixed faith with the desire for normal hearing which i passed on to my son second i communicated my desire to him in every conceivable way available through persistent continuous effort over a period of years third he believed me as this chapter was being completed news came of the death of mme shuman hank one short paragraph in the news dispatch gives the clue to this unusual woman's stupendous success as a singer i quote the paragraph because the clue it contains is none other than desire early in her career mme shuman hank visited the director of the vienna court opera to have him test her voice but he did not test it after taking one look at the awkward and poorly dressed girl he exclaimed none too gently with such a face and with no personality at all how can you ever expect to succeed in opera my good child give up the idea buy a sewing machine and go to work you can never be a singer never is a long time the director of the vienna court opera knew much about the technique of singing he knew little about the power of desire when it assumes the proportion of an obsession if he had no more of that power he would not have made the mistake of condemning genius without giving it an opportunity several years ago one of my business associates became ill he became worse as time went on and finally was taken to the hospital for an operation just before he was wheeled into the operating room i took a look at him and wondered how anyone is thin and emaciated as he could possibly go through a major operation successfully the doctor warned me that there was little if any chance of my ever seeing him alive again but that was the doctor's opinion it was not the opinion of the patients just before he was wheeled away he whispered feebly do not be disturbed chief i will be out of here in a few days the attending nurse looked at me with pity but the patient did come through safely after it was all over his physician said nothing but his own desire to live saved him he never would have pulled through if he had not refused to accept the possibility of death i believe in the power of desire backed by faith because i have seen this power lift men from lowly beginnings to places of power and wealth i have seen it rob the grave of its victims i have seen it serve as the medium by which men staged a comeback after having been defeated in a hundred different ways i have seen it provide my own son with a normal happy successful life despite natures having sent him into the world without ears how can one harness and use the power of desire this has been answered through this and the subsequent chapters of this book this message is going out to the world at the end of the longest and perhaps the most devastating depression america has ever known it is reasonable to presume that the message may come to the attention of many who have been wounded by the depression those who have lost their fortunes others who have lost their positions and great numbers who must reorganize their plans and stage a comeback to all these i wish to convey the thought that all achievement no matter what may be its nature or its purpose must begin with an intense burning desire for something definite through some strange and powerful principle of mental chemistry which she has never divulged nature wraps up in the impulse of strong desire that something which recognizes no such word as impossible and accepts no such reality as failure reality as failure reality as failure reality as failure reality as faith chapter three faith visualization of and belief in attainment of desire the second step toward riches faith is the head chemist of the mind when faith is blended with the vibration of thought the subconscious mind instantly picks up the vibration translates it into its spiritual equivalent and transmits it to infinite intelligence as in the case of prayer the emotions of faith love and sex are the most powerful of all the major positive emotions when the three are blended they have the effect of coloring the vibration of thought in such a way that it instantly reaches the subconscious mind where it is changed into its spiritual equivalent the only form that induces a response from infinite intelligence love and faith are psychic related to the spiritual side of man sex is purely biological and related only to the physical the mixing or blending of these three emotions has the effect of opening a direct line of communication between the finite thinking mind of man and infinite intelligence how to develop faith there comes now a statement which will give a better understanding of the importance the principle of auto-suggestion assumes in the transmutation of desire into its physical or monetary equivalent namely faith is a state of mind which may be induced or created by affirmation or repeated instructions to the subconscious mind through the principle of auto-suggestion as an illustration consider the purpose for which you are presumably reading this book the object is naturally to acquire the ability to transmute the intangible thought impulse of desire into its physical counterpart money by following the instructions laid down in the chapters on auto-suggestion and the subconscious mind as summarized in the chapter on auto-suggestion you may convince the subconscious mind that you believe you will receive that for which you ask and it will act upon that belief which your subconscious mind passes back to you in the form of faith followed by definite plans for procuring that which you desire the method by which one develops faith where it does not already exist is extremely difficult to describe almost as difficult in fact as it would be to describe the color of red to a blind man who has never seen color and has nothing with which to compare what you describe to him faith is a state of mind which you may develop at will after you have mastered the 13 principles because it is a state of mind which develops voluntarily through application and use of these principles repetition of affirmation of orders to your subconscious mind is the only known method of voluntary development of the emotion of faith perhaps the meaning may be made clearer through the following explanation as to the way men sometimes become criminals stated in the words of a famous criminologist when men first come into contact with crime they abhor it if they remain in contact with crime for a time they become accustomed to it and endure it if they remain in contact with it long enough they finally embrace it and become influenced by it this is the equivalent of saying that any impulse of thought which is repeatedly passed on to the subconscious mind is finally accepted and acted upon by the subconscious mind which proceeds to translate that impulse into its physical equivalent by the most practical procedure available in connection with this consider again the statement all thoughts which have been emotionalized and mixed with faith begin immediately to translate themselves into their physical equivalent or counterparts the emotions or the feeling portion of thoughts are the factors which give thoughts vitality life and action the emotions of faith love and sex when mixed with any thought impulse give it greater action than any of these emotions can do singly not only thought impulses which have been mixed with faith but those which have been mixed with any of the positive emotions or any of the negative emotions may reach and influence the subconscious mind from this statement you will understand that the subconscious mind will translate into its physical equivalent a thought impulse of a negative or destructive nature just as readily as it will act upon thought impulses of a positive or constructive nature this accounts for the strange phenomenon which so many millions of people experience referred to as misfortune or bad luck there are millions of people who believe themselves doomed to poverty and failure because of some strange force over which they believe they have no control they are the creators of their own misfortunes because of this negative belief which is picked up by the subconscious mind and translated into its physical equivalent this is an appropriate place at which to suggest again that you may benefit by passing on to your subconscious mind any desire which you wish translated into its physical or monetary equivalent in a state of expectancy or belief that the transmutation will actually take place your belief or faith is the element which determines the action of your subconscious mind there is nothing to hinder you from deceiving your subconscious mind when giving it instructions through auto suggestion as i deceive my son's subconscious mind to make this deceit more realistic conduct yourself just as you would if you were already in possession of the material thing which you are demanding when you call upon your subconscious mind the subconscious mind will transmute into its physical equivalent by the most direct and physical media available any order which is given to it in a state of belief or faith that the order will be carried out surely enough has been stated to give a starting point from which one may through experiment and practice acquire the ability to mix faith with any order given to the subconscious mind perfection will come through practice it cannot come by merely reading instructions if it be true that one may become a criminal by association with crime it is equally true that one may develop faith by voluntarily suggesting to the subconscious mind that one has faith the mind comes finally to take on the nature of the influences which dominate it understand this truth and you will know why it is essential for you to encourage the positive emotions as dominating forces of your mind and discourage and eliminate negative emotions a mind dominated by positive emotions becomes a favorable abode for the state of mind known as faith a mind so dominated may at will give the subconscious mind instructions which it will accept and act upon immediately faith is a state of mind which may be induced by auto suggestion all down the ages the religionists have admonished struggling humanity to have faith in this that and the other dogmore creed but they have failed to tell people how to have faith they have not stated that faith is a state of mind and that it may be induced by self suggestion a language which any normal human being can understand we will describe all that is known about the principle through which faith may be developed where it does not already exist have faith in yourself faith in the infinite before we begin you should be reminded again that faith is the eternal elixir which gives life power and action to the impulse of thoughts the foregoing sentence is worth reading a second time and a third and a fourth it is worth reading aloud faith is the starting point of all accumulation of riches faith is the basis of all miracles and all mysteries which cannot be analyzed by the rules of science faith is the only known antidote for failure faith is the element the chemical which when mixed with prayer gives one direct communication with infinite intelligence faith is the element which transforms the ordinary vibration of thought created by the finite mind of man into the spiritual equivalent faith is the only agency through which the cosmic force of infinite intelligence can be harnessed and used by man every one of the foregoing statements is capable of proof the proof is simple and easily demonstrated it is wrapped up in the principle of auto suggestion let us center our attention therefore upon the subject of self suggestion and find out what it is and what it is capable of achieving it is a well-known fact that one comes finally to believe whatever one repeats to oneself whether the statement be true or false if a man repeats a lie over and over he will eventually accept the lie as truth whereover he will believe it to be the truth every man is what he is because of the dominating thoughts which he permits to occupy his mind thoughts which a man deliberately places in his own mind and encourages with sympathy and with which he mixes any one or more of the emotions constitute the motivating forces which direct and control his every movement act and deed comes now a very significant statement of truth thoughts which are mixed with any of the feelings of emotions constitute a magnetic force which attracts from the vibrations of the ether other similar or related thoughts a thought thus magnetized with emotion may be compared to a seed which when planted in fertile soil germinates grows and multiplies itself over and over again until that which was originally one small seed becomes countless millions of seeds of the same brand the ether is a great cosmic mass of eternal forces of vibration it is made up of both destructive vibrations and constructive vibrations it carries at all times vibrations of fear poverty disease failure misery and vibrations of prosperity health success and happiness just as surely as it carries the sound of hundreds of orchestrations of music and hundreds of human voices all of which maintain their own individuality and means of identification through the medium of radio from the great storehouse of the ether the human mind is constantly attracting vibrations which harmonize with that which dominates the human mind any thought idea plan or purpose which one holds in one's mind attracts from the vibrations of the ether a host of its relatives adds these relatives to its own force and grows until it becomes the dominating motivating master of the individual in whose mind it has been housed now let us go back to the starting point and become informed as to how the original seed of an idea plan or purpose may be planted in the mind the information is easily conveyed any idea plan or purpose may be placed in the mind through repetition of thoughts this is why you are asked to write out a statement of your major purpose or definite chief aim commit it to memory and repeat it in audible words day after day until these vibrations of sound have reached your subconscious mind we are what we are because of the vibrations of thought which we pick up and register through the stimuli of our daily environment resolve to throw off the influences of any unfortunate environment and to build your own life to order taking inventory of mental assets and liabilities you will discover that your greatest weakness is lack of self-confidence this handicap can be surmounted and timidity translated into courage through the aid of the principle of auto suggestion the application of this principle may be made through a simple arrangement of positive thought impulses stated in writing memorized and repeated until they become a part of the working equipment of the subconscious faculty of your mind self-confidence formula first i know that i have the ability to achieve the object of my definite purpose in life therefore i demand of myself persistent continuous action toward its attainment and i hear and now promise to render such action second i realize the dominating thoughts of my mind will eventually reproduce themselves and outward physical action and gradually transform themselves into physical reality therefore i will concentrate my thoughts for 30 minutes daily upon the task of thinking of the person i intend to become thereby creating in my mind a clear mental picture of that person third i know through the principle of auto suggestion any desire that i persistently hold in my mind will eventually seek expression through some practical means of attaining the object back of it therefore i will devote 10 minutes daily to demanding of myself the development of s e l f c o n f i d n c e fourth i have clearly written down a description of my definite chief aim in life and i will never stop trying until i shall have developed sufficient self-confidence for its attainment fifth i fully realize that no wealth or position can long endure unless built upon truth and justice therefore i will engage in no transaction which does not benefit all whom it affects i will succeed by attracting to myself the forces i wish to use and the cooperation of other people i will induce others to serve me because of my willingness to serve others i will eliminate hatred envy jealousy selfishness and cynicism by developing love for all humanity because i know that a negative attitude toward others can never bring me success i will cause others to believe in me because i will believe in them and in myself i will sign my name to this formula committed to memory and repeat it aloud once a day with full faith that it will gradually influence my thoughts and actions so that i will become a self-reliant and successful person back of this formula is a law of nature which no man has yet been able to explain it has baffled the scientists of all ages the psychologists have named this law auto suggestion and let it go at that the name by which one calls this law is of little importance the important fact about it is it works for the glow and success of mankind if it is used constructively on the other hand if used destructively it will destroy just as readily in this statement may be found a very significant truth namely that those who go down and defeat and end their lives in poverty misery and distress do so because of negative application of the principle of auto suggestion the cause may be found in the fact that all impulses of thought have a tendency to clothe themselves in their physical equivalent the subconscious mind makes no distinction between constructive and destructive thought impulses it works with the material we feed it through our thought impulses the subconscious mind will translate into reality a thought driven by fear just as readily as it will translate into reality a thought driven by courage or faith the pages of medical history are rich with illustrations of cases of suggestive suicide a man may commit suicide through negative suggestion just as effectively as by any other means in a mid-western city a man by the name of Joseph Grant a bank official borrowed a large sum of the bank's money without the consent of the directors he lost the money through gambling one afternoon the bank examiner came and began to check the accounts Grant left the bank took a room in a local hotel and when they found him three days later he was lying in bed wailing and moaning repeating over and over these words my god this will kill me i cannot stand the disgrace in a short time he was dead the doctors pronounced the case one of mental suicide just as electricity will turn the wheels of industry and render useful service if used constructively or snuff out life if wrongly used so will the law of auto suggestion lead you to peace and prosperity or down into the valley of misery failure and death according to your degree of understanding and application of it if you fill your mind with fear doubt and unbelief in your ability to connect with and use the forces of infinite intelligence the law of auto suggestion will take this spirit of unbelief and use it as a pattern by which your subconscious mind will translate it into its physical equivalent this statement is as true as the statement that two and two are four like the wind which carries one ship east and another west the law of auto suggestion will lift you up or pull you down according to the way you set your sails of thought the law of auto suggestion through which any person may rise to altitudes of achievement which staggered the imagination is well described in the following verse if you think you are beaten you are if you think you dare not adults if you like to win but you think you can it is almost certain you won't if you think you'll lose you're lost for out of the world be fine success begins with a fellow's will it's all in the state of mind if you think you are 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 sooner late the man who wins is the man who thinks he can observe the words which have been emphasized and you will catch the deep meaning which the poet had in mind somewhere in your makeup their lies sleeping the seed of achievement which if aroused and put into action would carry you the heights such as you may never have hoped to attain just as a master musician may cause the most beautiful strains of music to pour forth from the strings of a violin so may you arouse the genius which lies asleep in your brain and cause it to drive you upward to whatever goal you may wish to achieve Abraham Lincoln was a failure at everything he tried until he was well past the age of 40 he was a mr nobody from nowhere until a great experience came into his life aroused the sleeping genius within his heart and brain and gave the world one of its really great men that experience was mixed with the emotions of sorrow and love it came to him through Anne Rutledge the only woman whom he ever truly loved it is a known fact that the emotion of love is closely akin to the state of mind known as faith and this for the reason that love comes very near to translating one's thought impulses into their spiritual equivalent during his work of research the author discovered from the analysis of the life work and achievements of hundreds of men of outstanding accomplishment that there was the influence of a woman's love back of nearly every one of them the emotion of love in the human heart and brain creates a favorable field of magnetic attraction which causes an influx of the higher and finer vibrations which are a float in the ether if you wish evidence of the power of faith study the achievements of men and women who have employed it at the head of the list comes the Nazarene Christianity is the greatest single force which influences the minds of men the basis of Christianity is faith no matter how many people may have perverted or misinterpreted the meaning of this great force and no matter how many dogmas and creeds have been created in its name which do not reflect its tenets the sum and substance of the teachings and the achievements of Christ which may have been interpreted as miracles were nothing more nor less than faith if there are any such phenomena as miracles they are produced only through the state of mind known as faith some teachers of religion and many who call themselves Christians neither understand nor practice faith let us consider the power of faith as it is now being demonstrated by a man who is well known to all of civilization Mahatma Gandhi of India in this man the world has one of the most astounding examples known to civilization of the possibilities of faith Donnie wields more potential power than any man living at this time and this despite the fact that he has none of the orthodox tools of power such as money battleships soldiers and materials of warfare Donnie has no money he has no home he does not own a suit of clothes but he does have power how does he come by that power he created it out of his understanding of the principle of faith and through his ability to transplant that faith into the minds of 200 million people Donnie has accomplished through the influence of faith that which the strongest military power on earth could not and never will accomplish through soldiers and military equipment he has accomplished the astounding feat of influencing 200 million minds to coalesce and move in unison as a single mind what other force on earth except faith could do as much there will come a day when employees as well as employers will discover the possibilities of faith that day is dawning the whole world has had ample opportunity during the recent business depression to witness what the lack of faith will do the business surely civilization has produced a sufficient number of intelligent human beings to make use of this great lesson which the depression has taught the world during this depression the world had evidence in abundance that widespread fear will paralyze the wheels of industry and business out of this experience will arise leaders in business and industry who will profit by the example which Gandhi has set for the world and they will apply the business the same tactics which he has used in building the greatest following known in the history of the world these leaders will come from the rank and file of the unknown men who now labor in the steel plants the coal mines the automobile factories and in the small towns and cities of america business is due for a reform make no mistake about this the methods of the past based upon economic combinations of force and fear will be supplanted by the better principles of faith and cooperation men who labor will receive more than daily wages they will receive dividends from the business the same as those who supply the capital for business but first they must give more to their employers and stop this bickering and bargaining by force at the expense of the public they must earn the right to dividends moreover and this is the most important thing of all they will be led by leaders who will understand and apply the principles employed by Mahatma Gandhi only in this way may leaders get from their followers the spirit of full cooperation which constitutes power in its highest and most enduring form this stupendous machine age in which we live and from which we are just emerging has taken the soul out of men its leaders have driven men as though they were pieces of coal machinery they were forced to do so by the employees who have bargained at the expense of all concern to get and not to give the watchword of the future will be human happiness and contentment and when this state of mind shall have been attained the production will take care of itself more effectively than anything that has ever been accomplished where men did not and could not mix faith and individual interests with their labor because of the need for faith and cooperation and operating business and industry it will be both interesting and profitable to analyze an event which provides an excellent understanding of the method by which industrialists and business men accumulate great fortunes by giving before they try to get the event chosen for this illustration dates back to 19.0 when the United States Steel Corporation was being formed as you read the story keep in mind these fundamental facts and you will understand how ideas have been converted into huge fortunes first the huge United States Steel Corporation was born in the mind of Charles M Schwab in the form of an idea he created to his imagination second he mixed faith with his idea third he formulated a plan for the trails formation of his idea into physical and financial reality fourth he put his plan into action with his famous speech at the university club fifth he applied and followed through on his plan with persistence and backed it with firm decision until it had been fully carried out sixth he prepared the way for success by a burning desire for success if you are one of those who have often wondered how great fortunes are accumulated this still of the creation of the United States Steel Corporation will be enlightening if you have any doubt that men can think and grow rich this still should dispel that doubt because you can plainly see in the story of the United States Steel the application of a major portion of the 13 principles described in this book this astounding description of the power of an idea was dramatically told by John Lowell in the New York World Telegram with whose courtesy it is here reprinted a pretty after dinner speech for a billion dollars went on the evening of December 12th 19 oh some 80 of the nation's financial nobility gathered in the banquet hall of the university club on fifth avenue to do honor to a young man from out of the west not half a dozen of the guests realized they were to witness the most significant episode in American industrial history J. Edward Simmons and Charles Stuart Smith their hearts full of gratitude for the lavish hospitality bestowed on them by Charles M Schwab during a recent visit to Pittsburgh had arranged the dinner to introduce the 38-year-old steel man to Eastern Banking Society but they didn't expect him to stampede the convention they warned him in fact that the bosoms within New York stuffed shirts would not be responsive to oratory and that if he didn't want to bore the stillments and haremans and Vanderbilt's he had better limit himself to 15 or 20 minutes of polite vape rings and let it go at that even John Pierpont Morvin sitting on the right hand of Schwab as became his imperial dignity intended to grace the banquet table with his presence only briefly and so far as the press and public were concerned the whole affair was of so little moment that no mention of it found its way into print the next day so the two hosts and their distinguished guests ate their way through the usual seven or eight courses there was little conversation and what there was of it was restrained feel of the bankers and brokers that met Schwab whose career had flowered along the banks of the Monong Dehala and none knew him well but before the evening was over they and with the money master Morgan were to be swept off their feet and a billion-dollar baby the United States Steel Corporation was to be conceived it is perhaps unfortunate for the sake of history that no record of Charlie Schwab's speech at the dinner ever was made he repeated some parts of it at a later date during a similar meeting of Chicago bankers and still later when the government brought suit to dissolve the steel trust he gave his own version from the witness stand of the remarks that stimulated Morgan into a frenzy of financial activity it is probable however that it was a holy speech somewhat ungrammatical full of epigram and threaded with wit but aside from that it had a galvanic force and effect upon the five billions of estimated capital that was represented by the diners after it was over and the gathering was still under its spell although Schwab had taught for 90 minutes Morgan led the order to a recess window where dangling their legs from the high uncomfortable seat they talked for an hour more the magic of the Schwab personality had been turned on full force but what was more important and lasting was the full fledged clearcut program he laid down for the aggrandizement of steel many other men had tried to interest Morgan in slapping together a steel trust after the pattern of the biscuit wire and hoop sugar rubber whiskey oil or chewing gum combinations john w gates the gambler had urged it but morgan distrusted him the more boys bill and jim chicago stock jobbers who had glued together a match trust and a cracker corporation had urged it and failed albert gary the sanctimonious country lawyer wanted to foster it but he wasn't big enough to be impressive until Schwab's eloquence took JP Morgan to the heights from which he could visualize the solid results of the most daring financial undertaking ever conceived the project was regarded as a delirious dream of easy money crackpots the financial magnetism that began a generation ago to attract thousands of small and sometimes inefficiently managed companies into large and competition crushing combinations had become operative in the steel world through the devices of that jovial business pirate john w gates gates already had formed the american steel and wire company out of a chain of small concerns and together with morgan had created the federal steel company the national tube and american bridge companies were too more morgan concerns and the more brothers had forsaken the match and cookie business to form the american group tim plate steel hoop sheet steel and the national steel company but by the side of andrew carnigy's gigantic vertical trust a trust owned and operated by 53 partners those other combinations were picky youn they might combine to their hearts content but the whole lot of them couldn't make a dent in the carnigy organization and morgan knew it the eccentric old scott knew it too from the magnificent heights of scebel castle he had viewed first with amusement and then with resentment the attempts of morgan's smaller companies to cut into his business when the attempts became too bold carnigy's temper was translated into anger and retaliation he decided to duplicate every mill owned by his rivals hitherto he hadn't been interested in wire pipe hoops or sheets instead he was content to sell such companies the raw steel and let them work it into whatever shape they wanted now with schwaab as his chief and able lieutenant he planned to drive his enemies to the wall so it was that in the speech of charles m schwaab morgan saw the answer to this problem of combination a trust without carnigy giant of them all would be no trust at all a plum pudding as one writer said without the plums schwaab's speech on the night of December 12 19 oh undoubtedly carried the inference though not the pledge that the vast carnigy enterprise could be brought under the morgan tent he talked of the world future for steel of reorganization for efficiency of specialization of the scrapping of unsuccessful mills and concentration of effort on the flourishing properties of economies in the ore traffic of economies and overhead and administrative departments of capturing foreign markets more than that he told the buccaneers among them wearing lay the errors of their customary piracy their purposes he inferred have been to create monopolies raise prices and pay themselves fat dividends out of privilege schwaab condemned the system in his hardiest manner the short-sightedness of such a policy he told his hearers lay in the fact that it restricted the market in an era when everything cried for expansion by cheapening the cost of steel he argued an ever expanding market would be created more uses for steel would be devised and a goodly portion of the world trade could be captured actually though he did not know it schwaab was an apostle of modern mass production so the dinner at the university club came to an end morgan went home to think about schwaab's rosy predictions schwaab went back to pittsburgh to run the steel business for weandre carnage while gary and the rest went back to their stock tickers to fiddle around in anticipation of the next move it was not long coming it took morgan about one week to digest the feast of reason schwaab had placed before him when he had assured himself that no financial indigestion was to result he sent for schwaab and found that young man rather coy mr carnage schwaab indicated might not like it if he found his trusted company president had been flirting with the emperor of wall street the street upon which carnage was resolved never to tread then it was suggested by john w gates to go between that if schwaab happened to be in the bellowview hotel in philadelphia jp morgan might also happen to be there when schwaab arrived however morgan was inconveniently ill at his new york home and so on the elder man's pressing invitation schwaab went to new york and presented himself at the door of the financiers library now certain economic historians have professed the belief that from the beginning to the end of the drama the stage was set by andrew carnage that the dinner to schwaab the famous speech the sunday night conference between schwaab and the money king were events arranged by the canny scots the truth is exactly the opposite when schwaab was called in to consummate the deal he didn't even know whether the little as andrew was called with so much as listened to an offer to sell particularly to a group of men whom andrew regarded as being endowed with something less than holiness but schwaab did take into the conference with him in his own handwriting six sheets of copper plate figures representing to his mind the physical worth and the potential earning capacity of every steel company he regarded as an essential star in the new metal firmament four men pondered over these figures all night the chief of course was morgan steadfast in his belief in the divine right of money with him was his aristocratic partner robert bacon a scholar and a gentleman the third was john w gates whom morgan scorned as a gambler and used as a tool the fourth was schwaab who knew more about the processes of making and selling steel than any whole group of men then living throughout that conference the pits perverse figures were never questioned if he said a company was worth so much then it was worth that much and no more he was insistent too upon including in the combination only those concerns he nominated he had conceived a corporation in which there would be no duplication not even to satisfy the greed of friends who wanted to unload their companies upon the broad morgan shoulders plus he left out by design a number of the larger concerns upon which the walruses and carpenters of wall street had cast hungry eyes when dawn came morgan rose and straightened his back only one question remained do you think you can persuade andrew carnagy to sell he asked i can try said schwaab if you can get him to sell i will undertake the matter said morgan so far so good but with carnagy sell how much would he demand what would he take payment in common or preferred stocks bonds cash nobody could raise a third of a billion dollars in cash there was a golf game in january on the frost cracking heath of the sin andrew's links in west chester with andrew bundled up in sweaters against the cold and charlie talking volubly as usual to keep his spirits up but no word of business was mentioned until the pair sat down in the cozy warmth of the carnagy cottage hard buy then with the same persuasiveness that had hypnotized 80 millionaires at the university club schwaab poured out the glittering promises of retirement in comfort of untold millions to satisfy the old man's social caprices carnagy capitulated wrote a figure on a slip of paper handed it to schwaab and said all right that's what we'll sell for the figure was approximately 400 million dollars and was reached by taking the 320 million dollars mentioned by schwaab as a basic figure and adding to the 80 million dollars to represent the increased capital value over the previous two years later on the deck of a transatlantic liner the scotsman said ruefully to morgan i wish i had asked you for 100 million dollars more if you had asked for it you'd have gotten it morgan told him cheerfully there was an uproar of course a british correspondent cabled that the foreign steel world was appalled by the gigantic combination president hadley of yale declared that unless trusts were regulated the country might expect an emperor in washington within the next 25 years but that able stock manipulator keen went at his work of shoving the new stock at the public so vigorously that all the excess water estimated by some at nearly 600 million dollars was absorbed in the twinkling so carnagy had his millions and the morgan syndicate had 62 million dollars for all its trouble and all the boys from gates to gary had their millions the 38 year old schwaab had his reward he was made president of the new corporation and remained in control until 1930 the dramatic story of big business which you have just finished was included in this book because it is a perfect illustration of the method by which desire can be transmuted into its physical equivalent i imagine some readers will question the statement that a mere intangible desire can be converted into its physical equivalent doubtless some will say you cannot convert nothing into something the answer is in the story of united states steel that giant organization was created in the mind of one man the plan by which the organization was provided with the steel mills that gave it financial stability was created in the mind of the same man his faith his desire his imagination his persistence were the real ingredients that went into united state steel the steel mills and mechanical equipment acquired by the corporation after it had been brought into legal existence were incidental but careful analysis will disclose the fact that the appraised value of the properties acquired by the corporation increased in value by an estimated six hundred million dollars by the mere transaction which consolidated them under one management in other words charles m schwaab's idea plus the faith with which he combated to the minds of jp morgan and the others was marketed for a profit of approximately six hundred million dollars not an insignificant sum for a single idea what happened to some of the men who took their share of the millions of dollars of profit made by this transaction is a matter with which we are not now concerned the important feature of the astounding achievement is that it serves as unquestionable evidence of the soundness of the philosophy described in this book because this philosophy was the warp and the roof of the entire transaction moreover the practice ability of the philosophy has been established by the fact that the united state steel corporation prospered and became one of the richest and most powerful corporations in america employing thousands of people developing new uses for steel and opening new markets thus proving that the six hundred million dollars in profit which the schwaab idea produced was earned riches begin in the form of thoughts the amount is limited only by the person in whose mind the thought is put into motion faith removes limitations remember also that the man who created the united state steel corporation was practically unknown at the time he was merely andrew carnage's man friday until he gave birth to his famous idea after that he quickly rose to a position of power fame and riches there are no limitations to the mind except those we acknowledge both poverty and riches are the offspring of thoughts are the offspring of thoughts are the offspring of thoughts are the offspring of thoughts are the chapter four auto suggestion the medium for influencing the subconscious mind the third step toward riches auto suggestion is a term which applies to all suggestions and all self administered stimuli which reach one's mind through the five senses stated in another way auto suggestion is self suggestion it is the agency of communication between that part of the mind where conscious thought takes place and that which serves as the seat of action for the subconscious mind to the dominating thoughts which one permits to remain in the conscious mind the principle of auto suggestion voluntarily reaches the subconscious mind and influences it with these thoughts no thought whether it be negative or positive can enter the subconscious mind without the aid of the principle of auto suggestion with the exception of thoughts picked up from the ether stated differently all sense impressions which are perceived through the five senses are stopped by the conscious thinking mind and maybe either passed on to the subconscious mind or rejected at will the conscious faculty serves therefore as an out regard to the approach of the subconscious nature has so built man that he has absolute control over the material which reaches his subconscious mind through his five senses although this is not meant to be construed as a statement that man always exercises this control in the great majority of instances he does not exercise it which explains why so many people life in poverty recall what has been said about the subconscious mind resembling a fertile garden spot in which weeds will grow in abundance if the seeds of more desirable crops are not sown therein auto suggestion is the agency of control through which an individual may voluntarily feed his subconscious mind on thoughts of a creative nature or by neglect permit thoughts of a destructive nature defined their way into this rich garden of the mind you were instructed in the last of the six steps described in the chapter on desire to read aloud twice daily the written statement of your desire for money and to see and feel yourself already in possession of the money by following these instructions you communicate the object of your desire directly to your subconscious mind in a spirit of absolute faith through repetition of this procedure you voluntarily create thought habits which are favorable to your efforts to transmute desire into its monetary equivalent so back to these six steps described in chapter two and read them again very carefully before you proceed further then read very carefully the four instructions for the organization of your master mind group described in the chapter on organized planning by comparing these two sets of instructions with that which has been stated on auto suggestion you of course will see that the instructions involve the application of the principle of auto suggestion remember therefore when reading aloud the statement of your desire that the mere reading of the words is of no consequence unless you mix emotion or feeling with your words if you repeat a million times the famous mokou formula day by day in every way I am getting better and better without mixing emotion and faith with your words you will experience no desirable results your subconscious mind recognizes and acts upon only thoughts which have been well mixed with emotion or feeling this is a fact of such importance as to warrant repetition in practically every chapter because the lack of understanding of this is the main reason the majority of people who try to apply the principle of auto suggestion get no desirable results plain and emotional words do not influence the subconscious mind you will get no appreciable results until you learn to reach your subconscious mind with thoughts or spoken words which have been well emotionalized with belief do not become discouraged if you cannot control and direct your emotions the first time you try to do so remember there is no such possibility as something for nothing ability to reach and influence your subconscious mind has its price and you must pay that price you cannot cheat even if you desire to do so the price of ability to influence your subconscious mind is everlasting persistence in applying the principles described here you cannot develop the desired ability for a lower price you and you alone must decide whether or not the reward for which you are striving is worth the price you must pay for it in effort the method of attracting money described here does not depend upon the law of averages or over the method plays no favorites it will work for one person as effectively as it will for another where failure is experienced it is the individual not the method which has failed if you try and fail make another effort and still another until you succeed your ability to use the principle of auto suggestion will depend very largely upon your capacity to concentrate upon a given desire until that desire becomes a burning obsession when you begin to carry out the instructions and connection with the six steps described in the second chapter it will be necessary for you to make use of the principle of concentration let us here offer suggestions for the effective use of concentration when you begin to carry out the first of the six steps which instructs you to fix in your own mind the exact amount of money you desire hold your thoughts on that amount of money by concentration or fixation of attention with your eyes closed until you can actually see the physical appearance of the money do this at least once each day as you go through these exercises follow the instructions given in the chapter on faith and see yourself actually in possession of the money here is the most significant fact the subconscious mind takes any orders given it in a spirit of absolute faith and acts upon those orders although the orders often have to be presented over and over again to repetition before they are interpreted by the subconscious mind following the preceding statement consider the possibility of playing a perfectly legitimate trick on your subconscious mind by making it believe because you believe it that you must have the amount of money you are visualizing that this money is already awaiting your claim that the subconscious mind must hand over to you practical plans for acquiring the money which is yours hand over the thoughts suggested in the preceding paragraph to your imagination and see what your imagination can or will do to create practical plans for the accumulation of money through transmutation of your desire do not wait for a definite plan through which you intend to exchange services or merchandise in return for the money you are visualizing but begin at once to see yourself in possession of the money demanding and expecting meanwhile that your subconscious mind will hand over the plan or plans you need beyond the alert for these plans and when they appear put them into action immediately when the plans appear they will probably flash into your mind through the sixth sense in the form of an inspiration this inspiration may be considered a direct telegram or message from infinite intelligence treat it with respect and act upon it as soon as you receive it failure to do this will be fatal to your success in the fourth of the six steps you were instructed to create a definite plan for carrying out your desire and begin at once to put this plan into action you should follow this instruction in the manner described in the preceding paragraph do not trust your reason when creating your plan for accumulating money through the transmutation of desire the reason is faulty or over your reasoning faculty may be lazy and if you depend entirely upon it to serve you it may disappoint you when visualizing the money you intend to accumulate see yourself rendering the service or delivering the merchandise you intend to give in return for this money this is important summary of instructions the fact that you are reading this book is an indication that you earnestly seek knowledge it is also an indication that you are a student of this subject if you are only a student there is a chance that you may learn much that you did not know but you will learn only by assuming an attitude of humility if you choose to follow some of the instructions but neglect or refuse to follow others you will fail to get satisfactory results you must follow all instructions in a spirit of faith the instructions given in connection with the six steps in the second chapter will now be summarized and blended with the principles covered by this chapter as follows first go into some quiet spot where you will not be disturbed or interrupted close your eyes and repeat aloud the written statement of the amount of money you intend to accumulate the time limit for its accumulation and a description of the service or merchandise you intend to give in return for the money as you carry out these instructions see yourself already in possession of the money for example suppose that you intend to accumulate fifty thousand dollars by the first of January five years hence that you intend to give personal services in return for the money in the capacity of a salesman your written statement of your purpose should be similar to the following by the first day of January 20 I will have in my possession one hundred fifty thousand dollars which will come to me in various amounts from time to time during the interim in return for this money I will give the most efficient service of which I am capable rendering the fullest possible quantity and the best possible quality of service in the capacity of salesmen of I believe that I will have this money in my possession my faith is so strong that I can now see this money before my eyes I can touch it with my hands it is now awaiting transfer to me at the time and in the proportion that I deliver the service I intend to render in return for it I am awaiting a plan by which to accumulate this money and I will follow that plan when it is received second repeat this program night and morning until you can see the money you intend to accumulate third place a written copy of your statement where you can see at night and morning and read it just before retiring and upon arising until it has been memorized remember as you carry out these instructions that you are applying the principle of auto suggestion for the purpose of giving orders to your subconscious mind remember also that your subconscious mind will act only upon instructions which are emotionalized and handed over to it with feeling faith is the strongest and most productive of the emotions follow the instructions given in the chapter on faith these instructions may at first seem abstract do not let this disturb you follow the instructions no matter how abstract or impractical they may at first appear to be the time will soon come if you do as you have been instructed in spirit as well as an act when a whole new universe of power will unfold to you skepticism in connection with all new ideas is characteristic of all human beings but if you follow the instructions outlined your skepticism will soon be replaced by belief and this in turn will soon become crystallized into absolute faith then you will have arrived at the point where you may truly say i am the master of my fate i am the captain of my soul many philosophers have made the statement that man is the master of his own earthly destiny but most of them have failed to say why he is the master the reason that man may be the master of his own earthly status and especially his financial status is thoroughly explained in this chapter man may become the master of himself and of his environment because he has the power to influence his own subconscious mind and through it gain the cooperation of infinite intelligence you are now reading the chapter which represents the keystone to the arch of this philosophy the instructions contained in this chapter must be understood and applied with persistence if you succeed in transmuting desire into money the actual performance of transmuting desire into money involves the use of auto suggestion as an agency by which one may reach and influence the subconscious mind the other principles are simply tools with which to apply auto suggestion keep this thought in mind and you will at all times be conscious of the important part the principle of auto suggestion is to play in your efforts to accumulate money through the methods described in this book carry out these instructions as though you were a small child inject into your efforts something of the faith of a child the author has been most careful to see that no impractical instructions were included because of his sincere desire to be helpful after you have read the entire book come back to this chapter and follow in spirit and in action this instruction read the entire chapter allowed once every night until you become thoroughly convinced that the principle of auto suggestion is sound that it will accomplish for you all that has been claimed for it as you read underscore with a pencil every sentence which impresses you favorably follow the foregoing instruction to the letter and it will open the way for a complete understanding and mastery of the principles of success chapter five specialized knowledge personal experience or observations the fourth step toward riches there are two kinds of knowledge one is general the other is specialized general knowledge no matter how great in quantity or variety it may be is a but little use in the accumulation of money the faculties of the great universities possess in the aggregate practically every form of general knowledge known to civilization most of the professors have but little or no money they specialize on teaching knowledge but they do not specialize on the organization or the use of knowledge knowledge will not attract money unless it is organized and intelligently directed through practical plans of action to the definite end of accumulation of money lack of understanding of this fact has been the source of confusion to millions of people who falsely believe that knowledge is power it is nothing of the sort knowledge is only potential power it becomes power only when and if it is organized into definite plans of action and directed to a definite end this missing link in all systems of education known to civilization today may be found in the failure of educational institutions to teach their students how to organize and use knowledge after they acquire it many people make the mistake of assuming that because Henry Ford had but little schooling he is not a man of education those who make this mistake do not know Henry Ford nor do they understand the real meaning of the word educate that word is derived from the latin word educo meaning to induce to draw out to develop from within an educated man is not necessarily one who has an abundance of general or specialized knowledge an educated man is one who has so developed the faculties of his mind that he may acquire anything he wants or its equivalent without violating the rights of others Henry Ford comes well within the meaning of this definition during the world war a chicago newspaper published certain editorials in which among other statements Henry Ford was called an ignorant pacifist mr. Ford objected to the statements and brought suit against the paper for libeling him when the suit was tried in the courts the attorneys for the paper pleaded justification and placed mr. Ford himself on the witness stand for the purpose of proving to the jury that he was ignorant the attorneys asked mr. for the great variety of questions all of them intended to prove by his own evidence that while he might possess considerable specialized knowledge pertaining to the manufacturer of automobiles he was in the main ignorance mr. Ford was playing with such questions as the following who was Benedict Arnold and how many soldiers did the British send over to America to put down the rebellion of 1776 in answer to the last question mr. Ford replied i do not know the exact number of soldiers the British sent over but i have heard that it was a considerably larger number than ever went back finally mr. Ford became tired of this line of questioning and in reply to a particularly offensive question he leaned over pointed his finger at the lawyer who had asked the question and said if i should really want to answer the foolish question you have just asked or any of the other questions you have been asking me let me remind you that i have a row of electric push buttons on my desk and by pushing the right button i can summon to my aid men who can answer any question i desire to ask concerning the business to which i am devoting most of my efforts now will you kindly tell me why i should clutter up my mind with general knowledge for the purpose of being able to answer questions when i have men around me who can supply any knowledge i require there certainly was good logic to that reply that answer floored the lawyer every person in the courtroom realized it was the answer not of an ignorant man but of a man of education any man is educated who knows where to get knowledge when he needs it and how to organize that knowledge into definite plans of action through the assistance of his master mind group henry ford had at his command all the specialized knowledge he needed to enable him to become one of the wealthiest men in america it was not essential that he have this knowledge in his own mind surely no person who has sufficient inclination and intelligence to read a book of this nature can possibly miss the significance of this illustration before you can be sure of your ability to transmute desire into its monetary equivalent you will require specialized knowledge of the service merchandise or profession which you intend to offer in return for fortune perhaps you may need much more specialized knowledge than you have the ability or the inclination to acquire and if this should be true you may bridge your weakness through the aid of your master mind group andrew Carnegie stated that he personally knew nothing about the technical end of the steel business moreover he did not particularly care to know anything about it the specialized knowledge which he required for the manufacturer and marketing of steel he found available through the individual units of his master mind group the accumulation of great fortunes calls for power and power is acquired through highly organized and intelligently directed specialized knowledge but that knowledge does not necessarily have to be in the possession of the man who accumulates the fortune the preceding paragraph should give hope and encouragement to the man with ambition to accumulate a fortune who has not possessed himself of the necessary education to supply such specialized knowledge as he may require men sometimes go through life suffering from inferiority complexes because they are not men of education the man who can organize and direct the master mind group of men who possess knowledge useful in the accumulation of money is just as much a man of education as any man in the group remember this if you suffer from a feeling of inferiority because your schooling has been limited Thomas Edison at only three months of schooling during his entire life he did not lack education neither did he die poor Henry Ford had less than a sixth grade schooling but he has managed to do pretty well by himself financially specialized knowledge is among the most plentiful and the cheapest forms