The Law of Success: In Sixteen Lessons. Reading Time
this Reading Course on the Law of Success, and direct them toward the attainment of a definite purpose in life, you then take advantage of the cooperative or accumulative principle out of which power is developed, which is called Organized Effort.
Andrew Carnegie’s advice was this: “Place all your eggs in one basket and then watch the basket to see that no one kicks it over.” By that advice he meant, of course, that we should not dissipate any of our energies by engaging in side lines. Carnegie was a sound economist and he knew that most men would do well if they so harnessed and directed their energies that some one thing would be done well.
When the plan back of this Reading Course was first born I remember taking the first manuscript to a professor of the University of Texas, and in a spirit of enthusiasm I suggested to him that I had discovered a principle that would be of aid to me in every public speech I delivered thereafter, because I would be better prepared to organize and marshal my thoughts.
He looked at the outline of the fifteen points for a few minutes, then turned to me and said:
“Yes, your discovery is going to help you make better speeches, but that is not all it will do. It will help you become a more effective writer, for I have noticed in your previous writings a tendency to scatter your thoughts. For instance, if you started to describe a beautiful mountain yonder in the distance you would be apt to sidetrack your description by calling attention to a beautiful bed of wild flowers, or a running brook, or a singing bird, detouring here and there, zigzag fashion, before finally arriving at the proper point from which to view the mountain. In the future you are going to find it much less difficult to describe an object, whether you are speaking or writing, because your fifteen points represent the very foundation of organization.”
A man who had no legs once met a man who was blind. To prove conclusively that the lame man was a man of vision he proposed to the blind man that they form an alliance that would be of great benefit to both. “You let me climb upon your back,” said he to the blind man, “then I will use your legs and you may use my eyes. Between the two of us we will get along more rapidly.”
Out of allied effort comes greater power. This is a point that is worthy of much repetition, because it forms one of the most important parts of the foundation of this Reading Course. The great fortunes of the world have been accumulated through the use of this principle of allied effort. That which one man can accomplish single handed, during an entire life-time, is but meagre at best, no matter how well organized that man may be, but that which one man may accomplish through the principle of alliance with other men is practically without limitation.
That “master mind” to which Carnegie referred during MY interview with him was made up of more than a score of minds. In that group were men of practically every temperament and inclination. Each man was there to play a certain part and he did nothing else. There was perfect understanding and teamwork between these men. It was Carnegie’s business to keep harmony among them.
And he did it wonderfully well.
If you are familiar with the game of football you know, of course, that the winning team is the one that best co-ordinates the efforts of its players. Team-work is the thing that wins. It is the same in the great game of life.
In your struggle for success you should keep constantly in mind the necessity of knowing what it is that you want-of knowing precisely what is your definite purpose — and the value of the principle of organized effort in the attainment of that which constitutes your definite purpose.
In a vague sort of way nearly everyone has a definite purpose — namely, the desire for money! But this is not a definite purpose within the meaning of the term as it is used in this lesson. Before your purpose could be considered definite, even though that purpose were the accumulation of money, you would have to reach a decision as to the precise method through which you intend to accumulate that money. It would be insufficient for you to say that you would make money by going into some sort of business. You would have to decide just what line of business. You would also have to decide just where you would locate. You would also have to decide the business policies under which you would conduct your business.
In answering the question, “What Is Your Definite Purpose In Life,” that appears in the questionnaire; which I have used for the analysis of more than 16,000 people, many answered about as follows:
“My definite purpose in life is to be of as much service to the world as possible and earn a good living.”
That answer is about as definite as a frog’s conception of the size of the universe is accurate!
The object of this lesson is not to inform you as to what your life-work should be, for indeed this could be done with accuracy only after you had been completely analyzed, but it is intended as a means of impressing upon your mind a clear conception of the value of a definite purpose of some nature, and of the value of understanding the principle of organized effort as a means of attaining the necessary power with which to materialize your definite purpose.
Careful observation of the business philosophy of more than one hundred men and women who have attained outstanding success in their respective callings, disclosed the fact that each was a person of prompt and definite decision.
The habit of working with a definite chief aim will breed in you the habit of prompt decision, and this habit will come to your aid in all that you do.
Moreover, the habit of working with a definite chief aim will help you to concentrate all your attention on any given task until you have mastered it.
Concentration of effort and the habit of working with a definite chief aim are two of the essential factors in success which are always found together. One leads to the other.
The best known successful business men were all men of prompt decision who worked always with one main, outstanding purpose as their chief aim.
Some notable examples are as follows:
Woolworth chose, as his definite chief aim, the belting of America with a chain of Five and Ten Cent Stores, and concentrated his mind upon this one task until he “made it and it made him.”
Wrigley concentrated his mind on the production and sale of a five-cent package of chewing gum and turned this one idea into millions of dollars.
Edison concentrated upon the work of harmonizing natural laws and made his efforts uncover more useful inventions than any other man who ever lived.
Henry L. Doherty concentrated upon the building and operation of public utility plants and made himself a multimillionaire.
Ingersoll concentrated on a dollar watch and girdled the earth with “tickers” and made this one idea yield him a fortune.
Statler concentrated on “homelike hotel-service” and made himself wealthy as well as useful to millions of people who use his service.
Edwin C. Barnes concentrated on the sale of Edison Dictating Machines, and retired, while still a young man, with more money than he needs.
Woodrow Wilson concentrated his mind on the White House for twenty-five years, and became its chief tenant, thanks to his knowledge of the value of sticking to a definite chief aim.
Lincoln concentrated his mind on freeing the slaves and became our greatest American President while doing it.
Martin W. Littleton heard a speech which filled him with the desire to become a great lawyer, concentrated his mind on that one aim, and is now said to be the most successful lawyer in America, whose fees for a single case seldom fall below $50,000.00.
Rockefeller concentrated on oil and became the richest man of his generation.
Ford concentrated on “flivvers” and made himself the richest and most powerful man who ever lived.
Carnegie concentrated on steel and made his efforts build a great fortune and plastered his name on public libraries throughout America.
Gillette concentrated on a safety razor, gave the entire world a “close shave” and made