Merely desiring freedom would never release a man who was confined in prison if it were not sufficiently strong to cause him to do something to entitle himself to freedom.
These are the steps leading from desire to fulfillment: First the burning desire, then the crystallization of that desire into a definite purpose, then sufficient appropriate action to achieve that purpose. Remember that these three steps are always necessary to insure success.
I once knew a very poor girl who had a burning desire for a wealthy husband, and she finally got him, but not without having transformed that desire into the development of a very attractive personality which, in turn, attracted the desired husband.
I once had a burning desire to be able to analyze character accurately and that desire was so persistent and so deeply seated that it practically drove me into ten years of research and study of men and women.
George S. Parker makes one of the best fountain pens in the world, and despite the fact that his business is conducted from the little city of Janesville, Wisconsin, he has spread his product all the way around the globe and he has his pen on sale in every civilized country in the world. More than twenty years ago, Mr. Parker’s definite purpose was established in his mind, and that purpose was to produce the best fountain pen that money could buy. He backed that purpose with a burning desire for its realization and if you carry a fountain pen the chances are that you have evidence in your own possession that it has brought him abundant success.
You are a contractor and builder, and, like men who build houses out of mere wood and brick and steel, you must draw up a set of plans after which to shape your success building. You are living in a wonderful age, when the materials that go into success are plentiful and cheap. You have at your disposal, in the archives of the public libraries, the carefully compiled results of two thousand years of research covering practically every possible line of endeavor in which one would wish to engage. If you would become a preacher you have at hand the entire history of what has been learned by men who have preceded you in this field. If you would become a mechanic you have at hand the entire history of the inventions of machines and the discovery and usages of metals and things metallic in nature. If you would become a lawyer you have at your disposal the entire history of law procedure. Through the Department of Agriculture, at Washington, you have at your disposal all that has been learned about farming and agriculture, where you may use it should you wish to find your life-work in this field.
The world was never so resplendent with opportunity as it is today. On every hand there is an ever increasing demand for the services of the man or the woman who makes a better mouse-trap or performs better stenographic service or preaches a better sermon or digs a better ditch or runs a more accommodating bank.
This lesson will not be completed until you shall have made your choice as to what your definite chief aim in life is to be and then recorded a description of that purpose in writing and placed it where you may see it every morning when you arise and every night when you retire.
Procrastination is—but why preach about it? You know that you are the hewer of your own wood and the drawer of your own water and the shaper of your own definite chief aim in life; therefore, why dwell upon that which you already know?
A definite purpose is something that you must create for yourself. No one else will create it for you and it will not create itself. What are you going to do about it? and when? and how?
Side note: Every line a man writes, and every act in which he indulges, and every word he utters serves as inescapable evidence of the nature of that which is deeply imbedded in his own heart, a confession that he cannot disavow.
Start now to analyze your desires and find out what it is that you wish, then make up your mind to get it. Lesson Three will point out to you the next step and show you how to proceed. Nothing is left to chance, in this Reading Course. Every step is marked plainly. Your part is to follow the directions until you arrive at your destination, which is represented by your definite chief aim. Make that aim clear and back it up with persistence which does not recognize the word “impossible.”
When you come to select your definite chief aim just keep in mind the fact that you cannot aim too high.
Also keep in mind the never-varying truth that you’ll get nowhere if you start nowhere. If your aim in life is vague your achievements will also be vague, and it might well be added, very meager. Know what you want, when you want it, why you want it and HOW you intend to get it. This is known to teachers and students of psychology as the WWWH formula—what, when, why and how.”
Read this lesson four times, at intervals of one week apart.
You will see much in the lesson the fourth time you read it that you did not see the first time.
Your success in mastering this course and in making it bring you success will depend very largely, if not entirely, upon how well you follow ALL the instructions it contains.
Do not set up your own rules of study. Follow those laid down in the Course, as they are the result of years of thought and experimentation. If you wish to experiment wait until you master this course in the manner suggested by its author. You will then be in position to experiment more safely. For the present content yourself by being the student. You will, let us hope, become the teacher as well as the student after you have followed the Course until you have mastered it.
If you follow the instructions laid down in this Course for the guidance of its students, you can no more fail than water can run uphill above the level of its source.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR APPLYING THE PRINCIPLES OF THIS LESSON
Through the Introductory Lesson of this course you became familiar with the principle of psychology known as the “Master Mind.”
You are now ready to begin use of this principle as a means of transforming your definite chief aim into reality. It must have occurred to you that one might as well have no definite chief aim unless one has, also, a very definite and practical plan for making that aim become a reality.
Your first step is to decide what your major aim in life shall be. Your next step is to write out a clear, concise statement of this aim. This should be followed by a statement, in writing, of the plan or plans through which you intend to attain the object of your aim.
Your next and final step will be the forming of an alliance with some person or persons who will cooperate with you in carrying out these plans and transforming your definite chief aim into reality.
The purpose of this friendly alliance is to employ the law of the “Master Mind” in support of your plans. The alliance should be made between yourself and those who have your highest and best interests at heart. If you are a married man your wife should be one of the members of this alliance, providing there exists between you a normal state of confidence and sympathy. Other members of this alliance may be your mother, father, brothers or sisters, or some close friend or friends.
If you are a single person your sweetheart, if you have one, should become a member of your alliance. This is no joke—you are now studying one of the most powerful laws of the human mind, and you will serve your own best interests by seriously and earnestly following the rules laid down in this lesson, even though you may not be sure where they will lead you.
Those who join with you in the formation of a friendly alliance for the purpose of aiding you in the creation of a “Master Mind” should sign, with you, your statement of the object of your definite chief aim. Every member of your alliance must be fully acquainted with the nature of your object in forming the alliance. Moreover, every member must be in hearty accord with this object, and in