WE BECOME WHAT WE THINK ABOUT
Now let me say that again. We become what we think about.
Throughout all history, the great wise men and teachers, philosophers, and prophets have
disagreed with one another on many different things. It is only
on this one point that they are in
complete and unanimous agreement.
Listen to what Marcus Aurelius, the great Roman Emperor said: “A man’s life is what his
thoughts make of it.”
Disraeli said this: “Everything comes if a man will only wait. I’ve brought myself by long
meditation to the conviction that a human being with a settled purpose must accomplish it.
And that nothing can resist a will that will stake even existence for its fulfillment.
Ralph Waldo Emerson said this: “A man is what he thinks about all day long.”
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William James said, “The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter
their lives by altering their attitudes of mind.” And he also said “We need only in cold blood act
as if the thing in question were real, and it will become infallibly real by growing into such a
connection with our life, that it will become real. It will become so knit with habit and emotion
that our interests in it will be those which characterize belief.” He also said, “If you only care
enough for a result you will almost certainly attain it. If you wish to be rich – you will be rich. If
you wish to be learned – you will be learned. If you wish to be good – you will be good. Only
you must then really wish these things and wish them exclusively, and not wish at the same
time 100 other incompatible things just as strongly.”
In the Bible you read in Mark 9:23,
if thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that
believeth.
My old friend Dr. Norman Vincent Peale put it this way: “This is one of the greatest laws in the
universe. Fervently do I wish that I discovered it as a very young man. It dawned upon me
much later in life, and I’ve found it to be one of the greatest if not my greatest discovery
outside of my relationship to God. The great law briefly or simply stated is that
if you think in
negative terms, you will get negative results. If you think in positive terms, you will achieve
positive results.
” That is the simple fact, he went on to say, which is at the basis of an
astonishing law of prosperity and success.
In three words: believe and succeed.
William Shakespeare put it this way, “Our doubts are traitors that make us lose the good we oft
might win by fearing to attempt.”
George Bernard Shaw said: “People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I
don’t believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up
and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can’t find them, make them.”
Well, it’s pretty apparent, isn’t it? And every person who discovered this for a while believed
that he was the first one to work it out.
We become what we think about.
Now it stands to reason that a person who is thinking about a concrete and worthwhile goal is
going to reach it, because that’s what he’s thinking about.
And we become what we think about
!
Conversely, the man who has no goal, who doesn’t know where he’s going and whose thoughts
must therefore be thoughts of confusion, and anxiety, and fear, and worry – becomes what he
thinks about. His life becomes one of frustration, and fear, and anxiety and worry. And if he
thinks about nothing – he becomes nothing.
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AS YE SOW — SO SHALL YE REAP
Now how does it work? Why do we become what we think about? Well I’ll tell you how it
works as far we know. Now to do this I want to tell you about a situation that parallels the
human mind. Suppose a farmer has some land, and it’s good fertile land. Now the land gives
the farmer a choice. He may plant in that land whatever he chooses. It's up to the farmer to
make the decision. Now remember we’re comparing the human mind with the land because
the mind, like the land, doesn't care what you plant in it. It will return what you plant, but it
doesn't care what you plant.
Now let’s say that the farmer has two seeds in his hand — one a seed of corn, the other
Nightshade, a deadly poison. He digs two holes in the earth and he plants one corn, the other
Nightshade. He covers up the holes and waters and takes care of the land. And what will
happen?
Invariably the land will return what’s planted. As it’s written in the Bible,
as ye sow, so shall ye
reap.
Now remember the land doesn't care. It will return poison in just as wonderful abundance as it
will corn. So up come the two plants — one corn, one poison.
Now the human mind is far more fertile, far more incredible and mysterious than the land, but
it works the same way. It doesn't care what we plant. Success. Failure. A concrete, worthwhile
goal – or confusion; misunderstanding, fear, anxiety, and so on. But what we plant – it must
return to us.
You see the human mind is the last great unexplored continent on earth. It contains riches
beyond our wildest dreams. It will return anything we want to plant.
Now you might say, well, if that’s true, why don’t people use their minds more? Well I think
they’ve figured out an answer to that one too. Our mind comes as standard equipment at
birth. It's free. And things that are given to us for nothing, we place little value on. Things that
we pay money for, we value.
The paradox is that exactly the reverse is true. Everything that's really worthwhile in life came
to us free — our minds, our souls, our bodies, our hopes, our dreams, our ambitions, our
intelligence, our love of family and children and friends and country. All these priceless
possessions are free.
But the things that cost us money are actually very cheap and can be replaced at any time. A
good man can be completely wiped out and make another fortune. He can do that several
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times. Even if our home burns down, we can rebuild it. But the things we got for nothing, we
can never replace.
The human mind isn’t used because we take it for granted. Familiarity breeds contempt. It can
do any kind of job we assign to it, but generally speaking, we use it for little jobs instead of big
important ones. Universities have proved that most of us are operating on about ten percent or
less of our abilities.
So decide now. What is it you want? Plant your goal in your mind. It's the most important
decision you'll ever make in your entire life.
What is it you want?
Do you want to be an outstanding salesman? A better worker at your particular job? Do you
want to go places in your company – in your community? Do you want to get rich? All you’ve
got do is plant that seed in your mind, care for it, work steadily toward your goal, and it will
become a reality.
It not only will, there's no way that it cannot. You see, that's a law — like the laws of Sir Isaac
Newton, the laws of gravity. If you get on top of a building and jump off, you'll always go down
— you'll never go up. And it's the same with all the other laws of nature. They always work.
They're inflexible.
Think about your goal in a relaxed, positive way. Picture yourself in your mind's eye as having
already achieved this goal. See yourself doing the things you will be doing when you’ve reached
your goal.
Ours has been called the Phenobarbital Age, the age of ulcers – of nervous breakdowns and
tranquilizers. At a time when medical research has raised us to a new plateau of good health
and longevity, far too many of us worry ourselves into an early grave trying to cope with things
in our own little personal ways, without learning a few great laws that will take care of
everything for us.
These things we bring on ourselves through our habitual way of thinking. Every one of us is the
sum total of his own thoughts. He is where he is because that's exactly where he really wants to
be — whether he’ll admit that or not. Each of us must live off the fruit of his thoughts in the
future, because what you think today and tomorrow — next month and next year — will mold
your life and determine your future. You're guided by your mind.
I remember one time I was driving through eastern Arizona and I saw one of those giant
earthmoving machines roaring along the road at about 35 miles per hour with what looked like
30 tons of dirt in it — a tremendous, incredible machine — and there was a little man perched
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way up on top with the wheel in his hands, guiding it. And as I drove along I was struck by the
similarity of that machine to the human mind. Just suppose you're sitting at the controls of such
a vast source of energy. Are you going to sit back and fold your arms and let it run itself into a
ditch? Or are you going to keep both hands firmly on the wheel and control and direct this
power to a specific, worthwhile purpose? It's up to you. You're in the driver's seat.
You see, the very law that gives us success is a two-edged sword. We must control our thinking.
The same rule that can lead a man to a life of success, wealth, happiness, and all the things he
ever dreamed of for himself and his family — that very same law can lead him into the gutter.
It's all in how he uses it – for good or for bad.
This is the strangest secret in the world!
Now, why do I say it's strange, and why do I call it a secret? Actually, it isn't a secret at all. It was
first promulgated by some of the earliest wise men, and it appears again and again throughout
the Bible. But very few people have learned it or understand it. That's why it's strange, and why
for some equally strange reason it virtually remains a secret.
I believe that you can go out and walk down the main street in your town and ask one man
after another, what the secret of success is, and you probably wouldn’t run into one man in a
month who could tell you.
This information is enormously valuable to us – if we really understand it and apply it. It’s
valuable to us not only for our own lives, but the lives of those around us – our families,
employees, associates and friends. Life should be an exciting adventure. It should never be a
bore. A man should live fully, be alive, and be glad to get out of bed in the morning. He should
be doing a job he likes to do because he does it well.
One time I heard Grove Patterson, the late, great Editor-In-Chief of the Toledo Daily Blade make
a speech, and as he concluded his speech he said something I’ve never forgotten, he said “My
years in the newspaper business have convinced me of several things: among them, that people
are basically good. And that we came from someplace, and that we’re going someplace. So we
should make our time here an exciting adventure. The Architect of the Universe didn’t build a
stairway leading nowhere.”
And the greatest teacher of all, the carpenter from the plains of Galilee gave us the secret time
and time again – “
As ye believe, so it shall be done unto you.”
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30 DAY PRACTICAL TEST
I’ve explained the strangest secret in the world and how it works. Now on this side I want to
explain how you can prove to yourself the enormous returns possible in your own life by
putting the Secret to a practical test. I want you to make a test that will last 30 days. It isn’t
going to be easy, but if you’ll give it a good try, it will completely change your life for the better.
Now back in the 17
th century Sir Isaac Newton, the English mathematician and natural
philosopher gave us some natural laws of Physics which apply as much to human beings as they
do to the movement of bodies in the universe. And one of these laws is that for every action,
there is an equal and opposite reaction.
Simply stated as it applies to you and me, it means we can achieve nothing
without paying the
price
. The results of your 30 day experiment will be in direct proportion to the effort you put
forth.
To be a doctor you must pay the price of long years of difficult study. To be successful in selling
– and remember that each of us succeeds to the extent of his ability to sell – selling our families
on our ideas, selling education in schools, selling our children on the advantages of living the
good and honest life, selling our associates and employees on the importance of being
exceptional people, and to, of course, the profession of selling itself.
But to be successful in selling our way to the good life we must be willing to pay the price. And
what is that price?
Well, it’s many things.
First it’s understanding emotionally as well as intellectually that
we literally become what we
think about. That we must control our thoughts if we are to control our lives. It’s
understanding fully that “as ye sow, so shall ye reap.”
Second, it’s cutting away all fetters from the mind, and permitting it to soar as it was divinely
designed to do. It’s the realization that your limitations are self-imposed, and that the
opportunities for you today are enormous beyond belief. It’s rising above narrow-minded
pettiness and prejudice.
And third, it’s using all your courage to force yourself to think positively on your own problem.
To set a definite and clearly defined goal for yourself. To let your marvelous mind think about
your goal from all possible angles. To let your imagination speculate freely upon many different
possible solutions. To refuse to believe that there are any circumstances sufficiently strong to
defeat you in the accomplishment of your purpose. To act promptly and decisively when your
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course is clear. And to keep constantly aware of the fact that you are at this moment standing
in the middle of your own “Acres of Diamonds,” as Russell Conwell used to point out.
And fourth, save at least 10% of every dollar you earn.
It’s also remembering that no matter what your present job, it has enormous possibilities if
you’re willing to pay the price.
Now, let’s go over the important points in the price each of us must pay to achieve the
wonderful life that can be ours. It is of course worth any price.
1) You will become what you
THINK about.
2) Remember the word
IMAGINATION and let your mind begin to soar.
3)
COURAGE. Concentrate on your goal every day.
4) Save 10% of what you earn.
5)
ACTION. Ideas are worthless unless we act on them.
Now I’ll try to outline the 30 day test I want you to make keeping in mind that you have nothing
to lose by making this test and everything you could possibly want to gain.
There are two things that may be said of everyone:
each of us wants something, and each of us
is afraid of something.
I want you to write on a card what it is that you want more than anything else.
It may be more money. Perhaps you'd like to double your income, or make a specific amount of
money. It may be a beautiful home. It may be success at your job. It may be a particular
position in life. It could be a more harmonious family.
Each of us wants something.
Now write down on your card specifically what it is you want. Make sure it's a single goal and
clearly defined. You needn't show it to anyone, but carry it with you so that you can look at it
several times a day. Think about it in a cheerful, relaxed, positive way each morning when you
get up, and immediately you have something to work for — something to get out of bed for,
something to live for.
Look at it every chance you get during the day and just before going to bed at night. And as you
look at it, remember that you must become what you think about, and since you're thinking
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about your goal, you realize that soon it will be yours. In fact, it's yours really the moment you
write it down and begin to think about it.
Look at the abundance all around you as you go about your daily business. You have as much
right to this abundance as any other living creature. It’s yours for the asking.
Now we come to the difficult part. Difficult because it means the formation of what is probably
a brand new habit. And new habits are not easily formed. Once formed however, it will follow
you for the rest of your life.
Stop thinking about what it is you fear.
Each time a fearful or negative thought comes into your consciousness, replace it with a mental
picture of your positive and worthwhile goal. And there will come times when you'll feel like
giving up. It's easier for a human being to think negatively than positively. That's why only five
percent are successful. You must begin now to place yourself in that group.
For 30 days you must take control of your mind. It will think about only what you permit it to
think about. Each day for this 30 day test –
do more than you have to do. In addition to
maintaining a cheerful, positive outlook, give of yourself more than you’ve ever done before.
Do this knowing that your returns in life must be in direct proportion to what you give.
The moment you decide on a goal to work toward,
you're immediately a successful person. You
are then in that rare and successful category of people who know where they're going. Out of
every hundred people, you belong to the top five.
Don't concern yourself too much with
how you are going to achieve your goal — leave that
completely to a power greater than yourself. All you have to do is
know where you're going.
The answers will come to you of their own accord, and at the right time.
Remember these words from The Sermon On The Mount, and remember them well. Keep
them constantly before you this month of your test:
“Ask and it shall be given you. Seek and ye shall find. Knock and it shall be opened unto
you. For everyone that asketh, receiveth. And he that seeketh, findeth. And him that
knocketh, it shall be opened.”
It’s as marvelous and as simple as that. In fact, it’s so simple that in our seemingly complicated
world it’s difficult for an adult to understand that all he needs is a purpose and faith.
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For 30 days do your very best. If you’re a salesman go at it as you have never done before. Not
in a hectic fashion, but with the calm, cheerful assurance that time well spent will give you the
abundance in return you deserve and want.
If you’re a homemaker, devote your 30 day test to completely giving of yourself without
thinking about receiving anything in return. And you’ll be amazed at the difference it makes in
your life.
No matter what your job – do it as you’ve never done it before for 30 days. And if you’ve kept
your goal before you every day, you’ll wonder and marvel at this new life you've found.
Dorothea Brande, the outstanding editor and writer discovered it for herself and tells about it in
her fine book Wake Up and Live. Her entire philosophy is reduced to the words:
"Act as though it were impossible to fail."
She made her own test, with sincerity and faith, and her entire life was changed – and one of
overwhelming success.
Now, you make
your test for 30 full days. Don’t start your test until you’ve made up your mind
to stick with it. You see, by being persistent you’re demonstrating faith. Persistence is simply
another word for faith. If you didn’t have faith you’d never persist.
If you should fail during your 30 days – by that I mean should you find yourself overwhelmed by
negative thoughts – you’ve got to start over again from that point and go 30 days more days.
Gradually your new habit will form, until you find yourself one of the wonderful minority to
whom virtually nothing is impossible.
And don’t forget the card. It’s vitally important as you begin this new way of living. On one
side of the card – write your goal, whatever it may be. On the other side, write the words
quoted from The Sermon On The Mount:
“Ask and it shall be given you. Seek and ye shall find. Knock and it shall be opened unto
you.”
Nothing great was ever achieved without inspiration. See that during these crucial first 30 days
your own inspiration is kept at a peak.
And above all, don't worry! Worry brings fear, and fear is crippling. The only thing that can
cause you to worry during your test is trying to do it all yourself. Know that all you have to do is
hold your goal before you –
everything else will take care of itself.
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Remember also to keep calm and cheerful. Don’t let petty things annoy you and get you off
course.
Now since making this test is difficult, some will say – why should I bother? Well, look at the
alternative. No one wants to be a failure. No one really wants to be a mediocre individual; no
one wants a life constantly filled with worry and fear and frustration.
Therefore remember that you must reap that which you sow. If you sow negative thoughts your
life will be filled with negative things. If you sow positive thoughts, your life will be cheerful,
successful, and positive.
Gradually, you’ll have a tendency to forget what you’ve heard on this recording. Play it often.
Keep reminding yourself of what you must do to form this new habit. Gather your whole family
around at regular intervals and listen to what’s been said here.
You know, most men will tell you that that they want to make money without understanding
the law. The only people who make money work in a mint.
The rest of us must
earn money.
This is what causes those who keep looking for something for nothing, or a free ride, to fail in
life. The only way to earn money is by providing services or products which are needed and
useful. We exchange our time and our product or service for the other man’s money.
Therefore, the law is:
our financial return will be in direct proportion to our service.
Now success is not the result of making money – making money is the result of success. And
success is in direct proportion to our service.
Most people have this law backwards. They believe that you’re successful if you earn a lot of
money. The truth is that you can only earn money after you’re successful.
It's like the story of the man who sat in front of the stove and said to it: "Give me heat and
then
I'll add the wood." How many men and women do you know, or do you suppose there are
today, who take the same attitude toward life? There are millions.
We've got to put the fuel in before we can expect heat. Likewise, we've got to be of service first
before we can expect money. Don't concern yourself with the money. Be of service ... build ...
work ... dream ... create! Do this and you'll find there is no limit to the prosperity and
abundance that will come to you.
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Prosperity, you know, is founded upon a law of mutual exchange. Any person who contributes
to prosperity must prosper in turn himself. Sometimes the return will not come from those
whom you serve. But it must come to you from someplace – because that’s the law.
For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
As you go daily through your 30 day test period remember that your success will always be
measured by the quality and quantity of service you render. And money is a yardstick for
measuring this service. No man can get rich himself, unless he enriches others.
Now there are no exceptions to a law. You can drive down any street in America, and from
your car estimate the services being rendered by the people living on that street. Have you
ever thought of this yardstick before?
It’s interesting – some, like ministers or priests, or other devoted people measure their returns
in the realm of the spiritual – but again, their returns are equal to their service.
Once this law is fully understood any thinking person can tell his own fortune. If he wants
more, he must be of more service to those from whom he receives his return. If he wants less,
he has only to reduce his service. This is the price that you must pay for what you want.
If you believe that you can enrich yourself by deluding others – you can end only by deluding
yourself. It may take some time, but just as surely as breath, you’ll get back what you put out.
Don’t ever make the mistake of thinking you can avert this – it’s impossible. The prisons and
the streets where the lonely walk are filled with people who tried to make new laws just for
themselves. We may avoid the laws of man for awhile, but there are greater laws that cannot
be broken.
An outstanding medical doctor recently pointed out six steps that will help you realize success:
1. Set yourself a definite goal.
2. Quit running yourself down.
3. Stop thinking of all the reasons why you cannot be successful and instead think of all the
reasons why you can.
4. Trace your attitudes back through your childhood and try to discover where you first got
the idea why you couldn’t be successful, if that’s the way you’ve been thinking.
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5. Change the image you have of yourself by writing out a description of the person you
would like to be.
6. Act the part of the successful person you have decided to become.
The doctor who wrote those words is a noted west coast psychiatrist, Dr. David Harold Fink.
Do what the experts since the dawn of recorded history have told you what you must do: pay
the price, by becoming the person you want to become. It's not nearly as difficult as living
unsuccessfully.
Make your 30 day test, and repeat it ... then repeat it again. And each time it will become more
a part of you until you'll wonder how you could have ever have lived any other way.
Live this new way and the floodgates of abundance will open and pour over you more riches
than you may have dreamed existed. Money? Yes, lots of it. But what's more important, you'll
have peace. You'll be in that wonderful minority who lead calm, cheerful, successful lives.
Start today. You have nothing to lose — but you have a whole life to win.
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