How To Live Life And Love It
	Personal Pointers On Success <  Previous Contents Next  >

MASTER: No one ever slides into real success without personal effort. It takes all one has to attain unto real success, and to hold it: but by the very same law each person HAS ALL IT TAKES! If we are willing to reach out for achievement, and to use all of our faculties to that end, then unqualified, constant success is surely ours. It has been said that Napoleon never blundered into a victory. He always won his battles IN HIS MIND before he won them on the field. This is exactly what every successful person does!

PUPIL: What is the very first step on the high road to success?

MASTER: The very first step is to DECIDE definitely and positively what form of success you want. Henry Ford, for example, wished with all of his heart and soul to make BETTER AUTOMOBILES CHEAPER, cars that were within the financial reach of all persons. Thomas A. Edison wanted to provide various efficient electrical appliances at moderate prices for the convenience and comfort of the world. Jesus the Christ had one outstanding desire ever-present in His consciousness: To SHOW THE WAY for every human being to find the Father-Principle within himself, to show all how to find and know and trust that Infinite Divine Power which really will, and DOES, protect all, guide all, provide for all. Each of these men had a divine urge that burned within him, an all-consuming passion to do one thing better than it may have been done before. Because they KNEW EXACTLY WHAT THEY MOST WISHED TO DO THEY DID IT!

PUPIL: If one does not know exactly what line of endeavor to pursue, what is a good thing to look for in determining just what is best to do?

MASTER: Here is another most-important essential to success; this will give you your cue. The MORE GOOD a person CAN DO FOR OTHERS with his product, his life, his work, or whatever it may be, the GREATER SUCCESS will that person have! No one ever succeeded in any very great degree whose dominant motive was that of personal gain only. If one actually helps others, many others, to live happier, better, more successful lives, one need give little thought to the gain that will accompany the success; for if one does this the gain to self can not possibly be withheld. One's chief motive then in reaching out for success is not to see how much he may help himself but to see how greatly he may help many others.

PUPIL: These two steps are most helpful to me. But before taking other steps may I ask just what pitfalls I should look out for most when first I start on the road?

MASTER: Here are two of the most common snares, I think:

(1) Never yet has success come, and never shall it come, to any person who simply wishes for it. Mere wishes are idle and utterly impotent unless the wish is great enough to INSPIRE ONE TO IMMEDIATE ACTION. Yes, ACTION, not wishes, is the BIG THING.

(2) Keeping your mind centered on the big success that you "are going to be" will NEVER bring it to pass. You must KNOW yourself successful NOW. So long as one looks upon success as a FUTURE acquirement just so long will success be POSTPONED, just so long will its attainment always remain FUTURE. From the very start one must learn to BACK UP the THOUGHT with the FEELING, the absolute conviction, that I AM SUCCESS NOW!

PUPIL: These are splendid, too. Now I am ready for another step forward.

MASTER: Since you have now firmly resolved to make a business of acquiring true success in accordance with Life's immutable Laws, you must throw your whole energy into making your mind a center for positive thoughts only, for constructive thoughts only. You are deliberately careful of the words you use. You are deliberately careful of your mental reaction to the words you may hear. For instance, if you hear people talking about a tornado you should not let your thoughts dwell upon destruction but rather upon tremendous power POSITIVELY used. If you hear people talking about disease, you should inwardly know that while disease is a natural result of broken natural laws it is not necessarily evil, and that in Life as Life ALL IS GOOD AND PERFECT. In a word it will be necessary for you to avoid all detours, even though they may appear easy and short.

PUPIL: What are some of these detours? How will they be marked?

MASTER: All of them should be marked with lots of red lanterns for certainly they are dangerous to one seeking success. Here are a few of them which you will recognize as questions that you have asked yourself, just as millions of other Truth-seekers; and yet they wonder why success always eludes them.

(1) "Well, WHY doesn't it come?"

(2) "WHEN will it come?"

(3) "MAYBE this is the way it will come."

(4) "Perhaps it is not God's will that I have this."

Success does not come for the one who asks: "Well, why doesn't it come?" simply because he is asking WHY rather than KNOWING that IT NOW IS! For the one who whimpers: "When will it come?" it shall never come so long as he asks WHEN. What they wish NOW IS or else it never will be. And as concerns "God's will" for us His will for us is anything good we may desire.

PUPIL: Just why is it that if we wish success for ourselves only, for personal gain only, we shall not be apt to get it?

MASTER: Here is an illustration. Suppose you went to your own personal banker and asked him for a loan of one hundred thousand dollars, knowing that he had that much, and more to loan and that your worth justified a loan of that amount. No doubt his first question would be that one that bankers always ask first of anybody seeking a loan, i.e., "What do you want the money for?" Let's suppose you answered: "Oh, I wish to take a year's cruise on my yacht, doing nothing, just loafing, resting, sleeping; eating. I need the change, you see." Do you think he would let you have the money? No not a soul! No more will the Great Universal Banker (God) under like, or similar, circumstances. You must approach Him with a really good idea, one which will bring good to many, not just to yourself. I know men who have millions and who began with no money, who began only with an idea. Their basic ideas were so universal towards the production of good they were able to secure from others all the money necessary to finance the beginning of their enterprises. The great secret of individual success is the very same as that of the national success that has made America the wealthiest land on earth, and is this: Our men of affairs, of greatest success, have learned to share with all of our people through benefiting all of the people, either directly or indirectly, through dispensing higher quality goods at less cost, through sharing earnings more generously with employees, etc. They have learned that it is an absolute science that giving to and sharing with many always have getting as a natural correlative! Get your thought right; capture an idea that will prove helpful to many; then DRAW IN CONFIDENCE on the Unlimited Banker for all that you require. You will discover that you cannot keep money from gravitating to you. Herein lies SURE and CONTINUING SUCCESS!

PUPIL: May we have here, in conclusion, the gist of this whole matter of true success, in summary form? This will facilitate ready reference by us who are students.

MASTER: Certainly you may have this. It may be said that the steps to success are seven in number; and here they are:

(1) Thoroughly make up your mind exactly what you want most right now.

(2) Be certain that your desire has in it the element of good for many. Then ask your own inmost soul for the most perfect idea, or ideas, relative to your desire, ideas that will PRODUCE GOOD FOR MANY.

(3) Make a mental picture of your desire as FULFILLED NOW, and NOW only, making the mental picture complete, vivid, alive with feeling. This is the meaning of Jesus' great statement to "ASK BELIEVING THAT YOU (ALREADY) HAVE." In the mental picture you ACTUALLY DO HAVE (mentally, which is the realm of all TRUE CAUSATION) your desire right now. Once you really get into the FEELING that what you want already IS yours (mentally) you will SOON realize how quickly it grows into actual FORM. Keep out of your mind all fear-habits of thought. Know that fear-habits can be readily changed into FAITH-HABITS. Fear and faith are the same, one being one end of the stick and the other the other end of the same stick. The fear-end of the stick is a SHOVEL and will surely dig the grave of success; the FAITH-end is a JEWELLED CROWN ready to adorn the head of any who will wear it.

(4) If necessary, COMPEL yourself to implicitly believe that the same Power that give you your desire in the beginning will also GIVE YOU THE WAYS AND MEANS OF ITS TRIUMPHANT FULFILLMENT.

(5) Meditate carefully at frequent intervals on the REAL PURPOSE of your desire. This REAL PURPOSE of the desire, or the thing, is the ALL-IMPORTANT SPIRITUAL PROTOTYPE for the thing you want. Also go over the Lord's Prayer very carefully several times daily, it will help you much in meditating more profoundly, and will TUNE YOUR MIND IN WITH THE POWER (GOD).

(6) Every night before going to sleep, and every morning upon first awakening, make a solemn vow to live CLOSE to your God every conscious hour, to see only good in all, to entertain only good and constructive thoughts about everything and everyone.

(7) Frequently mentally see yourself ALREADY ENJOYING YOUR FULFILLED DESIRE. Do this every time you think of the desire; and especially at night and morning, just before sleeping and at once upon awakening, for at these periods the subconscious element of mind is especially amenable to suggestions. In this way you DO ALREADY HAVE your desire perfectly fulfilled (mentally); and if you persist in it you shall surely have it soon in its physical form right in the midst of your life. For example, the great bridge that now spans the Golden Gate at San Francisco was first pictured COMPLETED and IN USE by many in the MIND of its designer before it became an actual reality. But by mentally picturing the bridge as ALREADY COMPLETED and SERVING MANY PEOPLE WELL the designer DREW from the WHOLE UNIVERSE the power necessary to have it actually built.

These SEVEN points are the keys, or steps, to the attainment of real success in any line of endeavor, MARK THEM WELL, and above all other things USE THEM! They are TRUTH! THEY WORK!