The Success System That Never Fails (with linked TOC). William Clement Stone
taken men who have failed with other companies and, by motivating them to become self-builders, have prepared them for outstanding success. Anyone who wishes to be a self-builder can achieve his objectives by constantly striving to develop physical, mental, and moral health, provided he doesn’t build unseen walls.
Tear Down the Unseen Walls
In the third century B.C., Chin Shih Huang Ti, the first emperor of the China Dynasty, built two walls–the famous Great Wall of China and, simultaneously, an “unseen wall.”
The Great Wall, with its 25,000 watchtowers, stretched 2500 miles. For more than 2000 years, it prevented the barbarians from coming in and the world’s oldest civilization, with its advanced knowledge and culture, from getting out.
In the third century B.C., China was self-sufficient; it didn’t need the rest of the world. But the rest of the world needed what China had to share with it: the art of printing, the use of coal, water clocks, bronze casting, gunpowder, astronomical instruments, the naval compass, drugs, spices...and more.
As the centuries passed, the barbarians gained inspiration, knowledge, and know-how and advanced their civilization so far beyond that of Chin Shih Huang Ti that China today is primitive by comparison.
For like the leaders of nations who fear the freedom of religion, education, and the press, and who have built bamboo or iron curtains around their peoples, the Emperor stultified progress by destroying whatever literature did not correspond to his ideas, concepts, and philosophy.
Now you may not appear to be an emperor, king, or leader in the eyes of others, but you are an absolute monarch when it comes to the control of what you think, feel, believe, and try to do. And the literature that you don’t explore is as useless to you as if it were burned or destroyed.
So now may be the time to ask yourself: “What unseen walls have I built?
“Since leaving school, have I exposed myself to ideas, concepts, and philosophies that are different from those I had at the time?
“Am I keeping pace with economic, social, religious, scientific, political, and other important developments of our times?
“Do I read a self-help book as if the author were a personal friend and writing to me and me alone?
“Or have I already learned every fundamental principle that I will ever learn?”
Be a Self-Builder
Build your own life. Be a benefit to yourself and to all mankind. Build from within. But get help from without. You can do this as you search for, find, and follow your success system that never fails.
To get help from without, extract the good where you can find it. And this starts from within: the right mental attitude toward persons, places, things, knowledge, customs, beliefs–be they your own or others.
Is your future behind you because of an unseen wall that you have built so strongly within you that it prevents enlightened ideas from breaking through?
Perhaps it is ... perhaps it isn’t. You can tear down these unseen walls if they do exist. The next chapter, “Don’t Leave Your Future Behind You,” tells you how.Little Hinges That Swing Big Doors
At this moment, do you know exactly what your assets are? Are you aware of your true abilities, your potential for growth, your successes of the past, no matter how small? If you’re not, take inventory of yourself. To know where you’re going and how to get there, you must first know yourself.
Don’t Leave Your Future Behind You
Floyd Patterson crashed to the canvass. Seconds later, he was no longer the world’s heavyweight champion. lngemar Johannssen had taken the title away from him.
The experts said Floyd was through; his future as a fighter was behind him. And everyone knew that Floyd was faced with one of the oldest jinxes in sports: No heavyweight champion had ever won back the crown. But Floyd had to try–and more than that, he said he would do it!
For Floyd Patterson had developed inspirational dissatisfaction. He hew he could succeed, and he was not content to remain a failure; he had taken a fierce pride in being champion.
On reflection, he realized that he must change his mental attitude and work hard to make up for lost time. And he did work hard. He studied. He listened to his trainers.
He listened to the former champion Joe Louis, who said, “The way to get Johannssen is to make him miss. Then step inside:’ And Patterson did make Ingo miss. He did step inside. In fact from the first second of the fight until he shot his final left hook
flush on Johannsen’s chin in the fifth round, Patterson proved that the motivating power of his inspirational dissatisfaction was sufficient to develop in him the (1) inspiration to action, (2) know-how, (3) activity knowledge necessary for him to regain the world’s heavyweight championship crown.
It is significant that when newspaper photographers were taking pictures of Patterson just before the return bout, he said: The most important thing you can’t get any picture of; because the most important thing for me is my mental attitude.” You see, Floyd had changed his negative attitude to the right mental attitude. And thus his future was ahead of him.
Is Your Future Behind You?
Is your future ahead of you or behind you? Your correct answer may depend on whether you try to eliminate any existing unseen walls–negative habits and undesirable thoughts and actions–and strengthen and build positive habits–good thoughts and deeds. For character is the keystone to true success.
The essence of perfection is never reached, but you gain character by trying to reach it. Good luck or bad luck as the days pass into weeks–success or failure as the weeks pass into months and years–which will it be for you? The choice is yours. You hold the tiller. You can steer the course you choose in the direction of where you want to be–today, tomorrow, or in a distant time yet to come.
But where are you? Now is the time to find out. And now is the time to check your habits of thought and action, for these have brought you to where you are now. The thoughts you think and the things you do now will determine your future destination. Are you on the right course to get from where you are now to where you really want to be?
Regardless of what you are or what you have been, you can still become what you may want to be. For as you continue your voyage through life, you, like the captain of a ship, can select your first port of call and then continue until you arrive at the next. You’ll experience calm and stormy seas as you go from one port to another, but it is you who must steer that course. Many a ship that lost its rudder and many a person who lost character have become derelicts, lost to the world. This can happen at almost any point in a voyage at sea or in life. For character is the one common denominator of all personal qualities that will insure a truly successful future.
He Left His Future Behind Him
My mother loved the theater, music, and the opera, and when I was a boy, she often took me to see one of the great actors of that day. He was a hero to me then. When I was a man, I saw him again years later–no longer a worshiped hero. He still drew large audiences and they still applauded–but no longer for his art and talent. They applauded when he appeared on the stage at the beginning of the play, even when he was late, just because he showed up. They applauded each slip of the tongue, forgotten line, or clever ad-lib. He was no clown–but they laughed. He was no comedian–just a great man who had left his future behind him. For he had become an alcoholic derelict. I didn’t know it then, but this brilliant actor’s future was behind him when I saw him as a boy. Even then, he knew the direction in which he was headed. But he refused to grab the tiller, turn around and get back on the right course–to eliminate undesirable habits and adopt good ones.
How to Win Over Yourself
What a tragedy it is to have all the necessary ingredients to success but one–the most important: character. The development of good character is a battle that you, I, and everyone must fight for himself. But victory can be ours.
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