18271191 Laws of Success Napoleon Hill

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TTHHEELLAAWWOOFF

SSUUCCCCEESSSS IN SIXTEEN LESSONS

Teaching, for the First Time in theHistory of the World, the True Philos-ophy upon which all Personal Successis Built.

BYNAPOLEON HILL

1 9 2 8

PUBLISHED BY

The RALSTON UNIVERSITY PRESSMERIDEN, CONN.

Ebook version Minding the Future Ltd, 2003, All Rights Reserved


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NN oo tt ee FF rr oo mm GG aa rr yy VV uu rr nn uu mm

Hi, I hope that you are as excited as I am about this brand new ebook releaseof the amazing The Law of Success in Sixteen Lessons, written by

Napoleon Hill, the author of the world-famous Think & Grow Rich.

I literally stumbled upon it by accidentand boy, am I certainly glad that Idid!

If you have never read Think & Grow Richthen you will be amazed athow Napoleon Hill manages to write so clearly, and with such obviousenthusiasm, that you cannot help yourself from getting caught up in how youCAN make more of your life.

If you have already read Think & Grow Richthen you will understandwhat makes Napoleon Hills writing so special. The Law of Success hasfor many years been hidden behind Think & Grow Rich, yet almost everysuccessful person I have ever spoken to has a copy of it somewhere on their

bookshelf.

Because I had to go through the entire 1,170 page book at least ten timesIcan honestly say that The Law of Success is THE most important bookthat you have probably never read!

This ebook is a sample of excerpts from the first four Lessons from the maincourseand will give you a flavor of the wonderful and useful content thatis contained inside.

All sixteen Lessons are available from http://www.law-of-success.com foran investment of only $97which also includes over 20 amazing additionaltools and resources that complete what has been called the Holy Grail ofSelf-Improvement.

Enjoy this sampleand rememberyou can only achieve success byputting into action what you have learnedand The Law of Successcourse will certainly help you do just that.

To Our Success!

Gary Vurnum, [email protected]

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Excerpts from the first

Four Lessons of the

LAW OF SUCCESSCOURSE

By Napoleon Hill

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A PERSONAL STATEMENT BY THE

AUTHOR

Some thirty years ago a young clergyman by the

name of Gunsaulus announced in the newspapers ofChicago that he would preach a sermon thefollowing Sunday morning entitled:

"WHAT I WOULD DO IF I HAD A MILLIONDOLLARS!"

The announcement caught the eye of Philip D.Armour, the wealthy packing-house king, whodecided to hear the sermon.

In his sermon Dr. Gunsaulus pictured a greatschool of technology where young men and youngwomen could be taught how to succeed in life bydeveloping the ability to THINK in practical ratherthan in theoretical terms; where they would betaught to "learn by doing." "If I had a milliondollars," said the young preacher, "I would startsuch a school."

After the sermon was over Mr. Armour walked

down the aisle to the pulpit, introduced himself, andsaid, "Young man, I believe you could do all yousaid you could, and if you will come down to myoffice tomorrow morning I will give you the milliondollars you need."

There is always plenty of capital for those whocan create practical plans for using it.

That was the beginning of the Armour Institute ofTechnology, one of the very practical schools of thecountry. The school was born in the "imagination"

of a young man who never would have been heard ofoutside of the community in which he preached hadit not been for the "imagination," plus the capital, ofPhilip D. Armour.

Every great railroad, and every outstandingfinancial institution and every mammoth business

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enterprise, and every great invention, began in theimagination of some one person.

F. W. Woolworth created the Five and Ten CentStore Plan in his "imagination" before it became areality and made him a multimillionaire.

Thomas A. Edison created the talking machineand the moving picture machine and theincandescent electric light bulb and scores of otheruseful inventions, in his own "imagination," beforethey became a reality.

During the Chicago fire scores of merchantswhose stores went up in smoke stood near thesmoldering embers of their former places of

business, grieving over their loss. Many of them

decided to go away into other cities and start overagain. In the group was Marshall Field, who saw, inhis own "imagination," the world's greatest retailstore, standing on the selfsame spot where hisformer store had stood, which was then but a ruinedmass of smoking timbers. That store became areality.

Fortunate is the young man or young woman wholearns, early in life, to use imagination, and doublyso in this age of greater opportunity.

Imagination is a faculty of the mind which can becultivated, developed, extended and broadened byuse. If this were not true, this course on the FifteenLaws of Success never would have been created,

because it was first conceived in the author's"imagination," from the mere seed of an idea whichwas sown by a chance remark of the late AndrewCarnegie.

Wherever you are, whoever you are, whatever you

may be following as an occupation, there is roomfor you to make yourself more useful, and in thatmanner more productive, by developing and usingyour "imagination."

Success in this world is always a matter ofindividual effort, yet you will only be deceivingyourself if you believe that you can succeed without

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the co-operation of other people. Success is a matterof individual effort only to the extent that each

person must decide, in his or her own mind, what iswanted. This involves the use of "imagination."From this point on, achieving success is a matter ofskillfully and tactfully inducing others to co-operate.

Before you can secure co-operation from others;nay, before you have the right to ask for or expectco-operation from other people, you must first showa willingness to co-operate with them. For thisreason the eighth lesson of this course, THE HABITOF DOING MORE THAN PAID FOR, is one whichshould have your serious and thoughtful attention.

The law upon which this lesson is based, would,of itself, practically insure success to all who

practice it in all they do.In the back pages of this Introduction you will

observe a Personal Analysis Chart in which ten wellknown men have been analyzed for your study andcomparison. Observe this chart carefully and notethe "danger points" which mean failure to those whodo not observe these signals. Of the ten menanalyzed eight are known to be successful, whiletwo may be considered failures. Study, carefully,the reason why these two men failed.

Then, study yourself. In the two columns whichhave been left blank for that purpose, give yourselfa rating on each of the Fifteen Laws of Success atthe beginning of this course; at the end of the courserate yourself again and observe the improvementsyou have made.

The purpose of the Law of Success course is to

enable you to find out how you may become morecapable in your chosen field of work. To this endyou will be analyzed and all of your qualitiesclassified so you may organize them and make the

best possible use of them.You may not like the work in which you are now

engaged.

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There are two ways of getting out of that work.One way is to take but little interest in what you aredoing, aiming merely to do enough with which to"get by." Very soon you will find a way out,

because the demand for your services will cease.The other and better way is by making yourself so

useful and efficient in what you are now doing thatyou will attract the favorable attention of those whohave the power to promote you into moreresponsible work that is more to your liking.

It is your privilege to take your choice as towhich way you will proceed.

Again you are reminded of the importance ofLesson Nine of this course, through the aid of which

you may avail yourself of this "better way" ofpromoting yourself.

Thousands of people walked over the greatCalumet Copper Mine without discovering it. Justone lone man used his "imagination," dug down intothe earth a few feet, investigated, and discoveredthe richest copper deposit on earth.

You and every other person walk, at one time oranother, over your "Calumet Mine." Discovery is amatter of investigation and use of "imagination."This course on the Fifteen Laws of Success maylead the way to your "Calumet," and you may besurprised when you discover that you were standingright over this rich mine, in the work in which youare now engaged. In his lecture on "Acres ofDiamonds," Russell Conwell tells us that we neednot seek opportunity in the distance; that we mayfind it right where we stand! THIS IS A TRUTHWELL WORTH REMEMBERING!

NAPOLEON HILL,

Author of the Law of Success.

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THE LAW OF SUCCESSExcerpt from Lesson One

THE MASTER MIND

"You Can Do It i f You Believe You Can!"

THIS is a course on the fundamentals of Success.Success is very largely a matter of adjusting one 's

self to the ever-varying and changing environments ofl ife , in a spir i t of harmony and poise. Harmony is

based upon understanding of the forces consti tut ingone's environment; therefore, this course is in reali tya blueprint that may be followed straight to success,

because i t helps the student to interpret , understandand make the most of these environmental forces ofl ife .

Before you begin reading the Law of Successlessons you should know something of the history ofthe course. You should know exactly what the course

promises to those who follow i t unti l they haveassimilated the laws and principles upon which i t is

based. You should know its l imitat ions as well as i tspossibil i t ies as an aid in your f ight for a place in theworld.

From the viewpoint of entertainment the Law ofSuccess course would be a poor second for most any

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of the monthly periodicals of the "Snappy Story"variety which may be found upon the news stands oftoday.

The course has been created for the serious-

minded person who devotes at least a port ion of his orher t ime to the business of succeeding in l ife . Theauthor of the Law of Success course has not intendedto compete with those who write purely for the

purpose of entertaining.The author 's aim, in preparing this course, has

been of a two-fold nature, namely, first- to help theearnest student f ind out what are his or her

weaknesses, and, secondly-to help create a DEFINITEPLAN for bridging those weaknesses.

The most successful men and women on earthhave had to correct certain weak spots in their

personali t ies before they began to succeed. The mostoutstanding of these weaknesses which stand betweenmen and women and success are INTOLERANCE,CUPIDITY, GREED, JEALOUSY, SUSPICION,REVENGE, EGOTISM, CONCEIT, THE TENDENCYTO REAP WHERE THEY HAVE NOT SOWN, and theHABIT OF SPENDING MORE THAN THEY EARN.

All of these common enemies of mankind, andmany more not here mentioned, are covered by theLaw of Success course in such a manner that any

person of reasonable intel l igence may master themwith but l i t t le effort or inconvenience.

You should know, at the very outset , that the Law

of Success course has long since passed through theexperimental state; that i t a lready has to i ts credit arecord of achievement that is worthy of serious

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thought and analysis. You should know, also, that theLaw of Success course has been examined andendorsed by some of the most practical minds of thisgeneration.

The Law of Success course was f irst used as alecture, and was delivered by i ts author in practicallyevery ci ty and in many of the smaller locali t ies,throughout the United States, over a period of morethan seven years. Perhaps you were one of the manyhundreds of thousands of people who heard thislecture.

During these lectures the author had assistants

located in the audiences for the purpose ofinterpreting the reaction of those who heard thelecture, and in this manner he learned exactly whateffect i t had upon people. As a result of this study andanalysis many changes were made.

The f irst big victory was gained for the Law ofSuccess philosophy when i t was used by the author asthe basis of a course with which 3,000 men andwomen were trained as a sales army. The majori ty ofthese people were without previous experience, of anysort , in the f ield of sel l ing. Through this training theywere enabled to earn more than One Mill ion Dollars($1,000,000.00) for themselves and paid the author$30,000.00 for his services, covering a period ofapproximately six months.

The individuals and small groups of salespeoplewho have found success through the aid of this course

are too numerous to be mentioned in this Introduction,but the number is large and the benefi ts they derivedfrom the course were definite .

The Law of Success philosophy was brought to

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the at tention of the late Don R. Mellet t , formerpublisher of the Canton (Ohio) Daily News, whoformed a partnership with the author of the course andwas preparing to resign as publisher of the Canton

Daily News and take up the business management ofthe author 's affairs when he was assassinated on July16, 1926.

Prior to his death Mr. Mellet t had madearrangements with judge Elbert H. Gary, who was thenChairman of the Board of the United States SteelCorporation, to present the Law of Success course toevery employee of the Steel Corporation, at a total

cost of something l ike $150,000.00. This plan washalted because of judge Gary's death, but i t provesthat the author of the Law of Success has produced aneducational plan of an enduring nature. Judge Garywas eminently prepared to judge the value of such acourse, and the fact that he analyzed the Law ofSuccess philosophy and was preparing to invest thehuge sum of $150,000.00 in i t is proof of thesoundness of al l that is said in behalf of the course.

You will observe, in this General Introduction tothe course, a few technical terms which may not be

plain to you. Do not al low this to bother you. Make noattempt at f irst reading to understand these terms.They will be plain to you after you read the remainderof the course. This entire Introduction is intendedonly as a background for the other f if teen lessons ofthe course, and you should read i t as such. You will

not be examined on this Introduction, but you shouldread i t many t imes, as you will get from it at eachreading a thought or an idea which you did not get on

previous readings.

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In this Introduction you will f ind a description ofa newly discovered law of psychology which is thevery foundation stone of al l outstanding personalachievements. This law has been referred to by the

author as the "Master Mind," meaning a mind that isdeveloped through the harmonious co-operation of twoor more people who ally themselves for the purpose ofaccomplishing any given task.

If you are engaged in the business of sel l ing youmay profi tably experiment with this law of the"Master Mind" in your daily work. I t has been foundthat a group of six or seven salespeople may use the

law so effectively that their sales may be increased tounbelievable proportions.

Life Insurance is supposed to be the hardest thingon earth to sel l . This ought not to be true, with anestablished necessi ty such as l ife insurance, but i t is .Despite this fact , a small group of men working forthe Prudential Life Insurance Company, whose salesare mostly small policies, formed a l i t t le fr iendlygroup for the purpose of experimenting with the lawof the "Master Mind," with the result that every manin the group wrote more insurance during the f irstthree months of the experiment than he had everwrit ten in an entire year b efore.

What may be accomplished through the aid of thisprinciple, by any small group of intel ligent l i fe-insurance salesmen who have learned how to apply thelaw of the "Master Mind" wil l stagger the imagination

of the most highly optimist ic and imaginative person.The same may be said of other groups of

salespeople who are engaged in sel l ing merchandise

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NO MAN HAS A

CHANCE TO ENJOY

PERMANENT SUCCESS

UNTIL HE BEGINS TO

LOOK IN A MIRROR

FOR THE REAL CAUSEOF ALL HIS

MISTAKES.

- Napoleon Hill.

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and other more tangible forms of service than l ifeinsurance. Bear this in mind as you read thisIntroduction to the Law of Success course and i t is no tunreasonable to expect that this Introduction, alone,

may give you suff icient understanding of the law tochange the entire course of your l ife .

I t is the personali t ies back of a business whichdetermine the measure of success the business wil lenjoy. Modify those personali t ies so they are more

pleasing and more at tractive to the patrons of thebusiness and the business wil l thrive. In any of thegreat ci t ies of the United States one may purchase

merchandise of similar nature and price in scores ofstores, yet you will f ind there is always oneoutstanding store which does more business than anyof the others, and the reason for this is that back ofthat store is a man, or men, who has at tended to the

personali ties of those who come in contact with thepublic. People buy personali t ies as much asmerchandise, and i t is a question if they are notinfluenced more by the personali t ies with which theycome in contact than they are by the merchandise.

Life insurance has been reduced to such ascientif ic basis that the cost of insurance does notvary to any great extent , regardless of the companyfrom which one purchases i t , yet out of the hundredsof l ife insurance companies doing business less than adozen companies do the bulk of the business of theUnited States.

Why? Personali t ies! Ninety-nine people out ofevery hundred who purchase l ife insurance policies donot know what is in their policies and, what seemsmore star t l ing, do not seem to care. What they really

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purchase is the pleasing personali ty of some man orwoman who knows the value of cult ivating such a

personali ty.Your business in l ife , or at least the most

important part of i t , is to achieve success. Success,within the meaning of that term as covered by thiscourse on the Fif teen Laws of Success, is "theattainment of your Definite Chief Aim withoutviolat ing the r ights of other people." Regardless ofwhat your major aim in l ife may be, you will at tain i twith much less diff iculty af ter you learn how tocult ivate a pleasing personali ty and after you have

learned the delicate ar t of al lying yourself with othersin a given undertaking without fr ict ion or envy.

One of the greatest problems of l ife , i f not , infact , the greatest , is that of learning the ar t ofharmonious negotiat ion with others. This course wascreated for the purpose of teaching people how tonegotiate their way through l ife with harmony and

poise, free from the destructive effects ofdisagreement and fr ict ion which bring mill ions of

people to misery, want and fai lure every year.With this statement of the purpose of the course

you should be able to approach the lessons with thefeeling that a complete transformation is about to take

place in your personali ty.You cannot enjoy outstanding success in l ife

without power, and you can never enjoy power withoutsufficient personali ty to inf luence other people to

cooperate with you in a spiri t of harmony. This courseshows you step by step how to develop such a

personali ty.

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THE LAW OF SUCCESS

Excerpt from Lesson TwoA Definite Chief Aim

The key-note of this entire lesson may be foundin the word "definite ."

I t is most appall ing to know that ninety-f ive per

cent of the people of the world are drif t ing aimlesslythrough l ife , without the sl ightest conception of thework for which they are best f i t ted, and with noconception whatsoever of even the need of such athing as a defini te objective toward which to str ive.

There is a psychological as well as an economicreason for the selection of a defini te chief aim in l ife .

Any defini te chief aim that is deliberately f ixed inthe mind and held there, with the determination torealize i t , f inally saturates the entire subconsciousmind unti l i t automatically influences the physicalaction of the body toward the at tainment of that

purpose.Your defini te chief aim in l ife should be selected

with deliberate care, and after i t has been selected i tshould be writ ten out and placed where you will see i tat least once a day, the psychological effect of which

is to impress this purpose upon your subconsciousmind so strongly that i t accepts that purpose as a

pattern or blueprint that will eventually dominate youractivit ies in l ife and lead you, step by step, toward theattainment of the object back of that purpose.

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The principle of psychology through which youcan impress your defini te chief aim upon yoursubconscious mind is called Auto-suggestion, orsuggestion which you repeatedly make to yourself . I t

is a degree of self-hypnotism, but do not be afraid ofi t on that account, for i t was this same principlethrough the aid of which Napoleon l if ted himself fromthe lowly stat ion of poverty-str icken Corsican to thedictatorship of France. I t was through the aid of thissame principle that Thomas A. Edison has r isen fromthe lowly beginning of a news butcher to where he isaccepted as the leading inventor of the world. I t was

through the aid of this same principle that Lincolnbridged the mighty chasm between his lowly bir th, ina log cabin in the mountains of Kentucky, and the

presidency of the greatest nation on earth. It wasthrough the aid of this same principle that TheodoreRoosevelt became one of the most aggressive leadersthat ever reached the presidency of the United States.

You need have no fear of the principle ofAutosuggestion as long as you are sure that theobjective for which you are str iving is one that wil l

bring you happiness of an enduring nature. Be surethat your defini te purpose is constructive; that i tsat tainment wil l br ing hardship and misery to no one;that i t wil l br ing you peace and prosperi ty, then apply,to the l imit of your understanding, the principle ofself-suggestion for the speedy at tainment of this

purpose.

On the street corner , just opposite the room inwhich I am writ ing, I see a man who stands there al lday long and sells peanuts. He is busy every minute.When not actually engaged in making a sale he isroasting and packing the peanuts in l i t t le bags. He is

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one of that great army consti tut ing the ninety-f ive percent who have no defini te purpose in l ife . He issel l ing peanuts, not because he l ikes that work betterthan anything else he might do, but because he never

sat down and thought out a defini te purpose thatwould bring him greater returns for his labor. He issel l ing peanuts because he is a drif ter on the sea ofl ife , and one of the tragedies of his work is the factthat the same amount of effort that he puts into i t , i fdirected along other l ines, would bring him muchgreater returns.

Another one of the tragedies of this man's work is

the fact that he is unconsciously making use of theprinciple of self-suggestion, but he is doing it to hisown disadvantage. No doubt, i f a picture could bemade of his thoughts, there would be nothing in that

picture except a peanut roaster, some l i t t le paper bagsand a crowd of people buying peanuts. This man couldget out of the peanut business if he had the vision andthe ambition f irst to imagine himself in a more

profi table call ing, and the perseverance to hold thatpicture before his mind unti l i t influenced him to takethe necessary steps to enter a more profi table call ing.He puts suff icient labor into his work to bring him asubstantial return if that labor were directed towardthe at tainment of a defini te purpose that offered

bigger returns.One of my closest personal fr iends is one of the

best known writers and public speakers of this

country. About ten years ago he caught sight of thepossibil it ies of this principle of self-suggestion andbegan, immediately, to harness i t and put i t to work.He worked out a plan for i ts application that proved to

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be very effective. At that t ime he was neither a writernor a speaker.

Each night, just before going to sleep, he wouldshut his eyes and see, in his imagination , a long

council table at which he placed ( in his imagination)certain well known men whose characterist ics hewished to absorb into his own personali ty. At the endof the table he placed Lincoln, and on ei ther side ofthe table he placed Napoleon, Washington, Emersonand Elbert Hubbard. He then proceeded to talk tothese imaginary f igures that he had seated at hisimaginary council table, something after this manner:

Mr. Lincoln: I desire to build in my owncharacter those quali t ies of patience and fairnesstoward al l mankind and the keen sense of humor whichwere your outstanding characterist ics. I need thesequali t ies and I shall not be contented unti l I havedeveloped them.

Mr. Washington: I desire to build in my owncharacter those quali t ies of patr iot ism and self-sacrif ice and leadership which were your outstandingcharacterist ics.

Mr. Emerson: I desire to build in my owncharacter those quali t ies of vision and the abil i ty tointerpret the laws of Nature as writ ten in the rocks of

prison walls and growing trees and flowing brooks andgrowing f lowers and the faces of l i t t le children, whichwere your outstanding characterist ics.

Napoleon: I desire to build in my own character

those quali t ies of self-rel iance and the strategicabil i ty to master obstacles and profi t by mistakes anddevelop strength out of defeat , which were youroutstanding characterist ics.

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Mr. Hubbard: I desire to develop the abil i ty toequal and even to excel the abil i ty that you possessedwith which to express yourself in clear , concise andforceful language.

Night after night, for many months, this man sawthese men seated around that imaginary council tableunti l f inally he had imprinted their outstandingcharacterist ics upon his own subconscious mind soclearly that he began to develop a personali ty whichwas a composite of their personali t ies.

The subconscious mind may be l ikened to amagnet, and when i t has been vital ized and thoroughly

saturated with any defini te purpose i t has a decidedtendency to at tract al l that is necessary for thefulf i l lment of that purpose. Like at tracts l ike, and youmay see evidence of this law in every blade of grassand every growing tree. The acorn at tracts from thesoil and the air the necessary materials out of whichto grow an oak tree. I t never grows a tree that is partoak and part poplar . Every grain of wheat that is

planted in the soil at tracts the materials out of whichto grow a stalk of wheat .

I t never makes a mistake and grows both oats andwheat on the same stalk.

And men are subject , also, to this same Law ofAttraction. Go into any cheap boarding house distr ictin any ci ty and there you will f ind people of the samegeneral trend of mind associated together . On theother hand, go into any prosperous community and

there you will f ind people of the same generaltendencies associated together . Men who aresuccessful always seek the company of others who aresuccessful , while men who are on the ragged side of

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DO NOT TELL

THE WORLD

WHAT YOU CAN

DO

SHOW IT!

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l i fe always seek the company of those who are insimilar circumstances. "Misery loves company."

Water seeks i ts level with no f iner certainty thanman seeks the company of those who occupy his own

general status f inancial ly and mentally. A professor ofYale Universi ty and an i l l i terate hobo have nothing incommon. They would be miserable if thrown togetherfor any great length of t ime. Oil and water wil l mix asreadily as wil l men who have nothing in common.

All of which leads up to this statement:That you will at tract to you people who

harmonize with your own philosophy of l ife , whether

you wish i t or not . This being true, can you not seethe importance of vi tal izing your mind with a defini techief aim that wil l at tract to you p eople who will be ofhelp to you and not a hindrance? Suppose yourdefini te chief aim is far above your present stat ion inl ife . What of i t? I t is your privilege - nay, yourDUTY, to aim high in l ife . You owe i t to yourself andto the community in which you l ive to set a highstandard for yourself .

There is much evidence to just ify the belief thatnothing within reason is beyond the possibil i ty ofattainment by the man whose defini te chief aim has

been well developed. Some years ago Louis VictorEytinge was given a l ife sentence in the Arizona

penitentiary. At the time of his imprisonment he wasan al l-around "bad man," according to his ownadmissions. In addit ion to this i t was believed that he

would die of tuberculosis within a year .Eytinge had reason to feel discouraged, if anyone

ever had. Public feeling against him was intense and

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he did not have a single fr iend in the world who cameforth and offered him encouragement or help. Thensomething happened in his own mind that gave him

back his health, put the dreaded "white plague" to rout

and f inally unlocked the prison gates and gave him hisfreedom.

What was that "something"?Just this: He made up his mind to whip the white

plague and regain his health. That was a very defini techief aim . In less than a year from the t ime thedecision was made he had won. Then he extended thatdefini te chief aim by making up his mind to gain his

freedom. Soon the prison walls melted from aroundhim.

No undesirable environment is strong enough tohold the man or woman who understands how to applythe principle of Auto-suggestion in the creation of adefini te chief aim . Such a person can throw off theshackles of poverty; destroy the most deadly diseasegerms; r ise from a lowly stat ion in l ife to power and

plenty.All great leaders base their leadership upon a

defini te chief aim. Followers are wil l ing followerswhen they know that their leader is a person with adefinite chief aim who has the courage to back up that

purpose with action. Even a balky horse knows when adriver with a defini te chief aim takes hold of the reins;and yields to that driver . When a man with a defini techief aim s tar ts through a crowd everybody stands

aside and makes a way for him, but let a man hesitateand show by his actions that he is not sure which wayhe wants to go and the crowd will step al l over histoes and refuse to budge an inch out of his way.

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THE LAW OF SUCCESS

Excerpt from Lesson Three

SELF-CONFIDENCE

You learned in Lesson Two that any idea youfirmly f ix in your subconscious mind, by repeatedaff irmation, automatically becomes a plan or blueprintwhich an unseen power uses in directing your efforts

toward the at tainment of the objective named - in theplan.You have also learned that the principle through

which you may f ix any idea you choose in your mindis called Auto-suggestion, which simply means asuggestion that you give to your own mind.

You might well remember that Nothing can bringyou success but yourself . Of course you will need theco-operation of others if you aim to at tain success of afar-reaching nature, but you will never get thatcooperation unless you vital ize your mind with the

posit ive at t itude of self-confidence.Perhaps you have wondered why a few men

advance to highly paid posit ions while others al laround them, who have as much training and whoseemingly perform as much work, do not get ahead.Select any two people of these two types that you

choose, and study them, and the reason why oneadvances and the other stands st i l l wil l be quiteobvious to you. You will f ind that the one whoadvances believes in himself . You will f ind that he

backs this belief with such dynamic, aggressive actionthat he lets others know that he believes in himself .

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IF you want a thing

done well, call on

some busy person to

do it. Busy people are

generally the most

painstaking and

thorough in all they

do.

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You will also f ind that the one who does notadvance shows clearly, by the look on his face, by the

posture of his body, by the lack of briskness in hisstep, by the uncertainty with which he speaks, that he

lacks Self-confidence. No one is going to pay muchattention to the person who has no confidence inhimself .

He does not at tract others because his mind is anegative force that repels rather than at tracts.

In no other f ield of endeavor does Self-confidence or the lack of i t play such an important

part as in the f ield of salesmanship, and you do not

need to be a character analyst to determine, themoment you meet him, whether a salesman possessesthis quali ty of Self-confidence. If he has i t the signsof i ts inf luence are writ ten al l over him. He inspiresyou with confidence in him and in the goods he issel l ing the moment he speaks.

We come, now, to the point at , which you areready to take hold of the principle of Auto-suggestionand make direct use of i t in developing yourself into a

posit ive and dynamic and self-reliant person. You areinstructed to copy the following formula, sign i t andcommit i t to memory:

SELF-CONFIDENCE FORMULA

First: I know that I have the abil i ty to achieve theobject of my defini te purpose, therefore I demand

of myself persistent , aggressive and continuousaction toward i ts at tainment.

Second: I realize that the dominating thoughts of mymind eventually reproduce themselves in outward,

bodily action, and gradually transform themselvesinto physical reali ty, therefore I wil l concentrate

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My mind for thir ty minutes daily upon the task ofthinking of the person I intend to be, by creatinga mental picture of this person and thentransforming that picture into reali ty through

practical service.Third: I know that through the principle of Auto-

suggestion, any desire that I persistently hold inmy mind will eventually seek expression throughsome practical means of realizing i t , therefore Ishall devote ten minutes daily to demanding ofmyself the development of the factors named inthe sixteen lessons of this Reading Course on the

Law of Success.Fourth: I have clearly mapped out and writ ten down a

description of my defini te purpose in l ife , for thecoming f ive years. I have set a price on myservices for each of these f ive years; a price thatI intend to earn and receive, through str ictapplication of the principle of eff icient ,sat isfactory service which I wil l render inadvance.

Fif th: I ful ly realize that no wealth or posit ion canlong endure unless buil t upon truth and just ice,therefore I wil l engage in no transaction whichdoes not benefi t al l whom it af fects. 1 wil lsucceed by at tracting to me the forces I wish touse, and the co-operation of other people. I wil linduce others to serve me because I wil l f irstserve them. I wil l el iminate hatred, envy,

jealousy, self ishness and cynicism by developinglove for al l humanity, because I know that anegative at t i tude toward others can never bringme success. I wil l cause others to believe in me

because I wil l believe in them and in myself.

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I wil l sign my name to this formula, commit i t tomemory and repeat i t a loud once a day with full

fai th that i t wil l gradually influence my entirel ife so that I wil l become a successful and happy

worker in my chosen f ield of endeavor.

Signed.

Before you sign your name to this formula makesure that you intend to carry out i ts instructions. Backof this formula l ies a law that no man can explain. The

psychologists refer to this law as Auto-suggestion andlet i t go at that , but you should bear in mind one pointabout which there is no uncertainty, and that is thefact that whatever this law is i t actually works!

Another point to be kept in mind is the fact that ,just as electrici ty wil l turn the wheels of industry andserve mankind in a mill ion other ways, or snuff outl ife if wrongly applied, so wil l this principle of Auto-suggestion lead you up the mountain-side of peace and

prosperi ty, or down into the valley of misery andpoverty, according to the application you make of i t .I f you f i l l your mind with doubt and unbelief in yourabil i ty to achieve, then the principle of Auto-suggestion takes this spir i t of unbelief and sets i t upin your subconscious mind as your dominating thoughtand slowly but surely draws you into the whirlpool of

failure . But, i f you f i l l your mind with radiant Self-

confidence, the principle of Auto-suggestion takes thisbelief and sets it up as your dominating thought andhelps you master the obstacles that fal l in your wayunti l you reach the mountain-top of success.

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THE LAW OF SUCCESS

Excerpt from Lesson Four

THE HABIT OF SAVING

We are the vict ims of our habits , no matter whowe are or what may be our l ife-call ing. Any idea thatis deliberately f ixed in the mind, or any idea that is

permitted to set i tself up in the mind, as the result of

suggestion, environment, the influence of associates,etc. , is sure to cause us to indulge in acts whichconform to the nature of the idea.

Form the habit of thinking and talking ofprosperi ty and abundance, and very soon materialevidence of these wil l begin to manifest i tself in thenature of wider opportunity and new and unexpectedopportunity.

Like at tracts l ike! If you are in business and haveformed the habit of talking and thinking about"business being bad" business wil l be bad. One

pessimist , providing he is permitted to continue hisdestructive influence long enough, can destroy thework of half a dozen competent men, and he wil l do i t

by set t ing adrift in the minds of his associates thethought of poverty and fai lure.

Don't be this type of man or woman.

One of the most successful bankers in the state ofI l l inois has this sign hanging in his private off ice:

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YOU are a human

magnet and you are

constantly attracting to

you people whose

characters harmonize

with your own.

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"WE TALK AND THINK ONLY OFABUNDANCE HERE. IF YOU HAVE A TALE OFWOE PLEASE KEEP IT, AS WE DO NOT WANT IT."

No business firm wants the services of a

pessimist , and those who understand the Law ofAttraction and the Law of Habit wil l no more toleratethe pessimist than they would permit a burglar to roamaround their place of business, for the reason that onesuch person will destroy the usefulness of thosearound him.

In tens of thousands of homes the general topic ofconversation is poverty and want, and that is just what

they are gett ing. They think of poverty, they talk ofpoverty, they accept poverty as their lot in l ife. Theyreason that because their ancestors were poor beforethem they, also, must remain poor.

The poverty consciousness is formed as the resultof the habit of thinking of and fearing poverty. "Lo!the thing I had feared has come upon me."

THE SLAVERY OF DEBT

Debt is a merciless master , a fatal enemy of thesavings habit .

Poverty, alone, is suff icient to kil l off ambit ion,destroy self-confidence and destroy hope, but add to i tthe burden of debt and al l who are vict ims of thesetwo cruel task-masters are practically doomed tofailure.

No man can do his best work, no man can expresshimself in terms that command respect , no man caneither create or carry out a definite purpose in l ife ,with heavy debt hanging over his head. The man whois bound in the slavery of debt is just as helpless as

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the slave who is bound by ignorance, or by actualchains.

The author has a very close fr iend whose incomeis $1,000 a month. His wife loves "society" and tr ies

to make a $20,000 showing on a $12,000 income, withthe result that this poor fel low is usually about $8,000in debt. Every member of his family has the "spendinghabit ," having acquired this from the mother . Thechildren, two gir ls and one boy, are now of the agewhen they are thinking of going to college, but this isimpossible because of the father 's debts. The result isdissension between the father and his children which

makes the entire family unhappy and miserable.I t is a terr ible thing even to think of going

through l ife l ike a prisoner in chains, bound down andowned by somebody else on account of debts. Theaccumulation of debts is a habit . I t s tar ts in a smallway and grows to enormous proportions slowly, step

by step, unti l f inally i t takes charge of one 's verysoul.

Thousands of young men star t their married l iveswith unnecessary debts hanging over their heads andnever manage to get out from under the load. After thenovelty of marriage begins to wear off (as i t usuallydoes) the married couple begin to feel theembarrassment of want, and this feeling grows unti l i tleads, oftentimes, to open dissatisfaction with oneanother , and eventually to the divorce court .

A man who is bound by the slavery of debt has no

time or inclination to set up or work out ideals, withthe result that he drif ts downward with t ime unti l heeventually begins to set up l imitat ions in his ownmind, and by these he hedges himself behind prison

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walls of FEAR and doubt from which he neverescapes.

No sacrif ice is too great to avoid the misery ofdebt!

"Think of what you owe yourself and those whoare dependent upon you and resolve to be no man'sdebtor ," is the advice of one very successful manwhose early chances were destroyed by debt. This mancame to himself soon enough to throw off the habit of

buying that which he did not need and eventuallyworked his way out of slavery.

Most men who develop the habit of debt wil l not

be so fortunate as to come to their senses in t ime tosave themselves, because debt is something l ikequicksand in that i t has a tendency to draw its vict imdeeper and deeper into the mire.

The Fear of Poverty is one of the most destructiveof the six basic fears described in Lesson Three. Theman who becomes hopelessly in debt is seized withthis poverty fear , his ambition and self-confidence

become paralyzed, and he sinks gradually intooblivion.

There are two classes of debts, and these are sodifferent in nature that they deserve to be heredescribed, as follows:

1. There are debts incurred for luxuries whichbecome a dead loss.

2. There are debts incurred in the course ofprofessional or business trading which represent

service or merchandise that can be converted back intoassets.

The f irst class of debts is the one to be avoided.The second class may be indulged in, providing theone incurring the debts uses judgment and does not go

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beyond the bounds of reasonable l imitation. Themoment one buys beyond his l imitat ions he enters therealm of speculation, and speculation swallows moreof i ts vict ims than i t enriches.

Practically al l people who l ive beyond theirmeans are tempted to speculate with the hope that theymay recoup, at a single turn of the wheel of fortune,so to speak, their entire indebtedness. The wheelgenerally stops at the wrong place and, far fromfinding themselves out of debt , such people as indulgein speculation are bound more closely as slaves ofdebt.

The Fear of Poverty breaks down the wil l-powerof i ts vict ims, and they then f ind themselves unable torestore their lost fortunes, and, what is st i l l more sad,they lose al l ambit ion to extr icate themselves from.the slavery of debt.

Hardly a day passes that one may not see anaccount in the newspapers of at least one suicide asthe result of worry over debts. The slavery of debtcauses more suicides every year than al l other causescombined, which is a sl ight indication of the crueltyof the poverty fear .

During the war mill ions of men faced the front-l ine trenches without f l inching, knowing that deathmight overtake them any moment. Those same men,when facing the Fear of Poverty, often cr inge and outof sheer desperation, which paralyzes their reason,sometimes commit suicide.

The person who is free from debt may whippoverty and achieve outstanding f inancial success,but , i f he is bound by debt, such achievement is but aremote possibil i ty, and never a probabil i ty.

Fear of Poverty is a negative, destructive state of

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mind. Moreover, one negative state of mind has atendency to at tract other similar states of mind. Forexample, the Fear of Poverty may attract the fear ofI l l Health, and these two may attract the Fear of Old

Age, so that the vict im finds himself poverty-str icken,in i l l health and actually growing old long before thetime when he should begin to show the signs of oldage.

Mill ions of untimely, nameless graves have beenfi l led by this cruel state of mind known as the Fear ofPoverty!

Less than a dozen years ago a young man held a

responsible posit ion with the City National Bank, ofNew York City. Through l iving beyond his income hecontracted a large amount of debts which caused himto worry unti l this destructive habit began to show upin his work and he was dismissed from the bank'sservice.

He secured another posit ion, at less money, buthis creditors embarrassed him so that he decided toresign and go away into another ci ty, where he hopedto escape them unti l he had accumulated enoughmoney to pay off his indebtedness. Creditors have away of tracing debtors, so very soon they were closeon the heels of this young man, whose employer foundout about his indebtedness and dismissed him from his

posit ion.He then searched in vain for employment for two

months. One cold night he went to the top of one of

the tal l buildings on Broadway and jumped off . Debthad claimed another vict im.

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WHO told you it

couldn't be done? and,

what great achievement

has he to his credit that

entitles him to use the

word "impossible" so

freely?

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HOW TO MASTER THE FEAR OF POVERTY

To whip the Fear of Poverty one must take twovery definite steps, providing one is in debt. First ,

quit the habit of buying on credit , and follow this bygradually paying off the debts that you have alreadyincurred.

Being free from the worry of indebtedness youare ready to revamp the habits of your mind and re-direct your course toward prosperi ty. Adopt, as a partof your Definite Chief Aim, the habit of saving aregular proportion of your income, even if this be no

more than a penny a day. Very soon this habit wil lbegin to lay hold of your mind and you will actuallyget joy out of saving.

Any habit may be discontinued by building in i tsplace some other and more desirable habit . The"spending" habit must be replaced by the "saving"habit by al l who attain f inancial independence.

Merely to discontinue an undesirable habit is notenough, as such habits have a tendency to reappearunless the place they formerly occupied in the mind isf i l led by some other habit of a different nature.

The discontinuance of a habit leaves a "hole" inthe mind, and this hole must be f i l led up with someother form of habit or the old one wil l return andclaim i ts place.

Throughout this course many psychologicalformulas, which the student has been requested to

memorize and practice, have been described. You willf ind such a formula in Lesson Three, the object ofwhich is to develop Self-confidence.

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These formulas may be assimilated so theybecome a part of your mental machinery, through theLaw of Habit , i f you will fol low the instructions fortheir use which accompany each of them.

It is assumed that you are str iving to at tainfinancial independence. The accumulation of money isnot diff icult af ter you have once mastered the Fear ofPoverty and developed in i ts place the Habit ofSaving.

The author of this course would be greatlydisappointed to know that any student of the coursegot the impression from anything in this or any of the

other: lessons that Success is measured by dollarsalone.

However, money does represent an importantfactor in success, and i t must be given i ts proper valuein any philosophy intended to help people in becominguseful , happy and prosperous.

The cold, cruel , relentless truth is that in thisage, of material ism a man is no more than so manygrains of sand, which may be blown helter-skelter byevery^ stray wind of circumstance, unless he isentrenched behind the power of money!

Genius may offer many rewards to those whopossess i t , but the fact st il l remains that geniuswithout money with which to give i t expression is butan empty, skeleton-l ike honor.

The man without money is at the mercy of theman who has i t!

And this goes, regardless of the amount of abil i tyhe may possess, the training he has had or the nativegenius with which he was gif ted by nature.

There is no escape from the fact that people wil lweigh you very largely in the l ight of bank balances,

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no matter who you are or what you can do. The f irstquestion that ar ises, in the minds of most people,when they meet a stranger, is , "How much money hashe?" If he has money he is welcomed into homes and

business opportunit ies are thrown his way. All sorts ofat tention are lavished upon him. He is a prince, and assuch is enti t led to the best of the land.

But if his shoes are run down at the heels, hisclothes are not pressed, his collar is dir ty, and heshows plainly the signs of impoverished f inances, woe

be his lot, for the passing crowd will step on his toesand blow the smoke of disrespect in his face.

These are not pret ty statements, but they have onevirtue - THEY ARE TRUE!

This tendency to judge people by the money theyhave, or their power to control money, is not confinedto any one class of people. We all have a touch of i t ,whether we recognize the fact or not .

Thomas A. Edison is one of the best known andmost respected inventors in the world, yet i t is nomisstatement of facts to say that he would haveremained a practically unknown, obscure personagehad he not followed the habit of conserving hisresources and shown his abil i ty to save money.

Henry Ford never would have got to f irst basewith his "horseless carr iage" had he not developed,quite early in l ife , the habit of saving. Moreover, hadMr. Ford not conserved his resources and hedgedhimself behind their power he would have been

"swallowed up" by his competi tors or those whocovetously desired to take his business away fromhim, long, long years ago.

Many a man has gone a very long way toward

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success, only to stumble and fal l , never again to r ise,because of lack of money in t imes of emergency. Themortal i ty rate in business each year , due to lack ofreserve capital for emergencies, is stupendous. To this

one cause are due more of the business fai lures than toall other causes combined!

Reserve Funds are essential in the successfuloperation of business!

Likewise, Savings Accounts are essential tosuccess on the part of individuals. Without a savingsfund the individual suffers in two ways: f irst , byinabil i ty to seize opportunit ies that come only to the

person with some ready cash, and, second, byembarrassment due to some unexpected emergencycall ing for cash.

I t might be said, also, that the individual suffersin st i l l a third respect by not developing the Habit ofSaving, through lack of certain other quali t iesessential for success which grow out of the p ractice ofthe Habit of Saving.

The nickels, dimes and pennies which the averageperson al lows to sl ip through his f ingers would, ifsystematically saved and properly put to work,eventually bring f inancial independence.

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18271191 Laws of Success Napoleon Hill