Ep. 1405: Think Right with Michael Covel on Trend Following Radio

Please enjoy my monologue Think Right with Michael Covel on Trend Following Radio. This episode may also include great outside guests from my archive. --- I'm MICHAEL COVEL, the host of TREND FOLLOWING RADIO, and I'm proud to have delivered 10+ million podcast listens since 2012. Investments, economics, psychology, politics, decision-making, human behavior, entrepreneurship and trend following are all passionately explored and debated on my show. To start? I'd like to give you a great piece of advice you can use in your life and trading journey… cut your losses! You will find much more about that philosophy here: https://www.trendfollowing.com/trend/ You can watch a free video here: https://www.trendfollowing.com/video/ Can't get enough of this episode? You can choose from my thousand plus episodes here: https://www.trendfollowing.com/podcast My social media platforms: Twitter: @covel https://twitter.com/covel Facebook: @trendfollowing https://www.facebook.com/trendfollowing/ LinkedIn: @covel https://linkedin.com/in/covel/ Instagram: @mikecovel https://www.instagram.com/mikecovel/ Hope you enjoy my never-ending podcast conversation!

• 0:00Speaker 00

  Since all the rage in America right now appears to be for so many of my fellow Americans to be in support of a crazy woman who killed her three kids, let me bring something positive. Because all that stuff, whatever the negative is of the right now, and it is the right now negative of a crazy mother who killed her three kids, and then so many Americans think this is a great idea, they approve of this. It makes me wonder, what planet am I on? Are these people even people anymore? Well, that's a whole different discussion, but

• 0:40Speaker 00

  let me reach back to something that I put on this podcast over a decade ago. A man who brings the mind energy, the way out energy, the timeless energy to keep you going, to make you better, to find some success. Without any further delay from me, let's jump right into something you must know. I hope you enjoy.

• 1:23Speaker 00

  Let me read a brief biography. This is a biography for Napoleon Hill. Born October 26th, 1883. He died in 1970. An American author in the area of the new thought movement, and was one of the earliest producers of the modern genre of personal success literature. His most famous work, Think and Grow Rich, published in 1937, is one of the best-selling books of all time. At the time of his death in 1970, it had sold 20 million copies. Hill's works examined the power of personal beliefs and the role they play in personal success.

• 2:03Speaker 00

  Most of his books describe principles to achieve success. I've never read this book. I've heard about it a lot. I've seen people reference it. I might have picked it up and started to read it. I think the only reason I did not is it seemed like I had read most of these messages, and they're very nice messages, in other books, other works. Seth Godin, for one, seems to be clearly influenced by Napoleon Hill. Maybe I'm completely off-base, Seth, but it seems like that was probably one of his biggest influences. Probably a big influence for a lot of people. So no excuses that I've not read this book that

• 2:45Speaker 00

  has sold so many millions and millions and millions of copies. 20 million copies of a book? That's freaking astronomical. That's incredible. Let me read some famed quotations from Napoleon Hill.

• 3:01Speaker 00

  "The starting point of all achievement is desire. Keep this constantly in mind. Weak desire brings weak results, just as a small fire makes a small amount of heat."

• 3:14Speaker 00

  Pretty easy to see where he's gonna go. And maybe you say to yourself, "I don't need all that motivational stuff." Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever. I do. I love it.

• 3:26Speaker 00

  "You are the master of your destiny. You can influence, direct, and control your own environment. You can make your life what you want it to be." So many people just don't want to believe that, right? You know them, their friends, their family. They've got every excuse imaginable.

• 3:45Speaker 00

  "When defeat comes, accept it as a signal that your plans are not sound. Rebuild those plans and set sail once more towards your coveted goal." You get kicked in the ass. He's just saying, "Get up."

• 4:01Speaker 00

  You take that punch in the solar plexus, "Get up. Move on. Try again." What are you gonna do? Sit there and get fat? Watch TV? Come on, that's boring as shit.

• 4:17Speaker 00

  "Before success comes in any man's life, he is sure to meet with much temporary defeat, and perhaps some failure. When defeat overtakes a man, the easiest and most logical thing to do is to quit. That is exactly what the majority of men do." More than 500 of the most successful men this country has ever known told this author, he's talking about himself, told the author their greatest success came just one step beyond the point at which defeat had overtaken them.

• 4:49Speaker 00

  I'm not saying defeat feels good. Who the hell wants your ass kicked? But when you get your ass kicked, you get tough. Because if they don't kill you, if you're still alive, if you're still scraping, if you still have blood still pumping,

• 5:15Speaker 00

  they, whoever they might be, are going to rue the day that they actually did not kill you. Because if they just leave a little bit of that brain still chugging along, a little bit of energy still in your fingertips, you can get back in the game.

• 5:37Speaker 00

  "The way of success is the way of continuous pursuit of knowledge." Again, these are from Napoleon Hill. "A quitter never wins and a winner never quits. Every adversity, every failure, every heartbreak carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit. We refuse to believe that which we don't understand." I see this all the time. First off, it's almost impossible to understand everything. The best you've got is to go with the flow, minimize error, account for uncertainty. But you sure as hell aren't gonna understand everything. Nobody can. "To win the big stakes

• 6:22Speaker 00

  in this changed world, you must catch the spirit of the great pioneers of the past, whose dreams have given to civilization all that it has of value. The spirit that serves is the lifeblood of our own country, your opportunity and mine, to develop and market our talents." I'm sorry to say, just having a job to just pay the bills is not exactly a talent.

• 6:49Speaker 00

  Oh, sure, I've had my share of shit jobs, whether it was cutting lawns, or working in the warehouse at Circuit City, packing what it was, stereo and TVs when I was like 19. But I made that decision to break away. I made that decision to walk away.

• 7:08Speaker 00

  Before anything, I'm an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurism is. It just is. Everything else is secondary. And by entrepreneurism, I can mean something as simple as opening a store, painting a picture. You paint a picture, you have to sell it. Entrepreneurism is not just what some people think it is. Entrepreneurism is you taking a risk without knowing exactly what's gonna happen.

• 7:44Speaker 00

  A minimum wage job is [bleep] death. A minimum wage job is [bleep] slavery. Who wants to die while they're alive? Who wants to still be a slave? Guess what? Millions of people groove off this. Millions of people want to be a slave. They want the dog collar around their neck. They want to be hooked to a chain. And they want someone to pat them on the head and give them a food dish. I'm being too strong? Not exactly. I could be stronger.

• 8:18Speaker 00

  A slight tangent, let me get back to Napoleon Hill. "Neglecting to broaden their view has kept some people doing one thing all of their lives." Well, I guess that's what I was just kind of saying. He says it in a nicer sort of way, right? I'm a little aggressive. "Those who succeed in an outstanding way seldom do so before the age of 40. More often, they do not strike their real pace until they are well beyond the age of 50." See, Zuckerberg has ruined it for everybody. I salute Zuckerberg. But damn, man, there's only one Zuckerberg, and you're not it. He's it. He won the lottery of all lotteries.

• 9:01Speaker 00

  Do some simple compounding, some simple math. Unless Facebook is overtaken, that man is gonna be the richest guy ever.

• 9:11Speaker 00

  But what can you learn from a, I don't know, what is he, what, forty, fifty billion dollars? What can you learn from Mark Zuckerberg? Beyond the basics of good business, fine, but you're not going to be Zuckerberg. It ain't happening. But you can get ahead in a major way, a big way. This one is great, again, from Napoleon Hill. "Put your foot upon the neck of the fear of criticism by reaching a decision not to worry about what other people think, do, or say." Sure, we all like to have friends that agree with us.

• 9:52Speaker 00

  It's more fun for me to see positive feedback on my work, but it's the criticism that makes me stronger. It's the criticism that makes me better. It's the criticism that emboldens me. Now Napoleon's saying, "Don't listen to it, don't listen to it." I get it, I get it. But sometimes even that harsh criticism is constructive, even if the critic did not intend that to be. This one is great. "You've got to be sure of yourself before you can ever win a prize." Damn straight, you ain't winning anything if you're not sure of yourself. If you're only halfway there, you're going to get halfway results.

• 10:35Speaker 00

  No ifs, ands, and buts about that. Now, before you think Napoleon Hill is only about some monetary success, consider this great line about love, truly Zen-inspired. "One who has loved truly can never lose entirely. Love is whimsical and temperamental. Its nature is ephemeral and transitory. It comes when it pleases and goes away without warning. Accept and enjoy it while it remains, but spend no time worrying about its departure. Worry will never bring it back." We're all guilty of worrying about something.

• 11:20Speaker 00

  Every last one of us. But there is literally no benefit from it, none. The moment of now changes right now, right now, right now. Permanence. Silly concept, isn't it? What's permanent? Absolutely nothing is permanent. Now, of course, for those of you that listen to this podcast and only want to know about trading advice, trading insights, trading formulas, trading systems, trading psychology, oh, well, actually, everything I've talked about today fits in perfectly from a trading

• 12:04Speaker 00

  psychology perspective. And if you want to apply mathematical rules to Napoleon Hill's comments, well, that's pretty seamless too, isn't it? One more that I really like. "There is a difference between wishing for a thing and being ready to receive it. No one is ready for a thing until he believes he can acquire it. The state of mind must be belief, not mere hope or wish. Open-mindedness is essential for belief." That is, again, from Napoleon Hill, the author of Think and Grow Rich, who has been dead

• 12:48Speaker 00

  for, I don't know, forty-five years? He hasn't been with us for a long time. It's amazing how that timelessness just sneaks up on you. There's no way that a guy that wrote a book in 1937, there's no way that that information, that insight, those parables, those stories, those narratives, those foundational principles for success, there's absolutely no way that any of that can be useful to my life in 2015. Well, if you do think like that, please go away, don't listen to my podcast.

• 13:31Speaker 00

  Some of your negative energy might somehow or another come back to me. I don't want any of it. Now, as I mentioned at the top of this podcast, I have not read Napoleon Hill's famous book. But through the magic of the internet, I found a great piece of audio from him. Without interruption from me, I would like to introduce Napoleon Hill. Let him have the floor for about an hour. Well worth your time. I hope you enjoy this presentation from Napoleon Hill.

• 14:09Speaker 01

  Now then, let's break down the lesson on definite purpose and see exactly what it means, why it's the starting point of all achievement. Because it is the starting point of all individual achievements. A definite purpose must be accompanied by a definite plan for its attainment, followed by appropriate action. Now, you have to have a purpose, you have to have a plan, and you have to start putting that plan into action. And ladies and gentlemen, it's not too important that your plan be sound. It is, in fact, it's not too important, because if you find that you've adopted a plan that's not sound, that's not working, you can always change. You can modify your plan. But it is very important that you be definite about what it is you're going after, what

• 14:54Speaker 01

  your purpose is. That must be very definite. There can be no ifs, ands about it, and you'll see before you get through this lesson why it's got to be definite. Now, just to understand this philosophy, to read it or to hear me talk about it, it wouldn't be of very much value to you. The value will come when you begin to form your own patterns out of this philosophy and put it into work in your daily lives, in your business, in your professions, or in your jobs, or in your human relations. That's where the benefits will really come. The second premise, "All individual achievements are the results of a motive or a combination of motives."

• 15:32Speaker 01

  I just want to impress upon you that you have no right to ask anybody to do anything at any time without what? Without giving that person an adequate motive. And incidentally, that's the warp and the whoop of all salesmanship. The ability to plant in the mind of the prospective buyer an adequate motive for his buying. Learning to deal with people by planting in their minds adequate motives for their doing the things that you want them to do.

• 16:15Speaker 01

  Now, there are a lot of people who call themselves salesmen, who have never heard of the nine basic motives, who do not know that they have no right to ask for a sale until they have planted a motive in the mind of the buyer for his buying. The third premise, "Any dominating idea, plan, or purpose held in the mind through repetition of thought, any dominating idea, plan, or purpose held in the mind through repetition of thought and emotionalized with a burning desire for its realization, is taken over by the subconscious section of the mind and acted upon through whatever natural and logical means that may be available."

• 17:00Speaker 01

  Now, in that paragraph, you've got a tremendous lesson in psychology. If you want the mind to pick up an idea and to form a habit so that the mind will automatically act upon that idea, you've got to tell the mind what you want over and over and over again. No end to it. When Mr. Kuy came over here some years ago with his famous formula, "Day by day in every way, I'm getting better and better," he cured thousands of people, but a very great number more than that he didn't cure, and I wonder if you would know why?

• 17:47Speaker 01

  There was no desire, there was no feeling put into that statement. You might just as well blow in the wind as to make a statement unless you put some feeling back of it.

• 17:57Speaker 01

  Unless you believe it.

• 18:01Speaker 01

  And incidentally, if you tell yourself anything often enough, you'll get to where you will believe it, even a lie.

• 18:09Speaker 01

  It is funny, isn't it? But it happens to be true. You know, there are people who tell little white lies, and sometimes they're not so white as at that, until they get to where they believe them themselves. Now, the subconscious mind doesn't know the difference between right or wrong. It doesn't know the difference between positive or negative. It doesn't know the difference between a penny or a million dollars. It doesn't know the difference between success and failure. It'll accept any statement that you keep repeating to it by thoughts, or by words, or by any other means.

• 18:44Speaker 01

  And incidentally, it's up to you, in the beginning, to lay out your definite purpose, write it out so that it can be understood, memorize it, and start repeating it day in and day out until your subconscious mind picks it up and automatically acts upon it.

• 19:04Speaker 01

  Now, this is going to take a little time. You can't expect to undo overnight what you've been doing to your subconscious mind back down through the years by allowing negative thoughts to get into it. You can't expect that to happen overnight. But you will find that if you emotionalize any plan that you send over to your subconscious mind and repeat it in a state of enthusiasm, and back it up with a spirit of faith, if you do that, the subconscious mind not only acts more quickly, but it acts more definitely and more positively. And the fourth premise: Any dominating desire, plan, or purpose which is backed by that state of mind known as faith

• 19:48Speaker 01

  is taken over by the subconscious section of the mind and acted upon immediately. That state of mind, ladies and gentlemen, is the only state of mind that will produce immediate action through the subconscious mind.

• 20:02Speaker 01

  And when I say faith, I don't have reference to wishing, or hoping, or mildly believing. I don't have reference to any of those things. I have reference to a state of mind wherein, whatever it is that you're going to do, you can see it already in a finished act before you even begin it. Now, that's pretty positive, isn't it? I can truthfully tell you that not ever in my whole life have I undertaken to do anything that I didn't do it, unless I got careless in my desire to do it, and backed away from it, or changed my mind or my mental attitude. I have never failed to do anything that I made up my mind to do,

• 20:45Speaker 01

  and I'll tell you that you can put yourself in a frame of mind where you can do whatever you make up your mind to do, unless you weaken as you go along. So many people do.

• 20:57Speaker 01

  Now, let's get back to this fourth premise again. Any dominating desire, plan, or purpose which is backed by that state of mind known as faith is taken over by the subconscious section of the mind and acted upon immediately. I don't know for sure, ladies and gentlemen, but I suspect that there's a relatively small number of people in the world at any one time who understand the principle of faith. Who really understand it and know how to apply. And even if you do understand it, if you don't back it up with action and make it a part of your habit life, you might just as well not understand. Because faith without deeds is dead.

• 21:34Speaker 01

  Faith without action is dead. Faith without absolute positive belief is dead.

• 21:43Speaker 01

  I don't know how you're going to get into results through believing unless you put some action back of that belief. And incidentally, if you tell your mind often enough that you have faith in anything, the time will come when your subconscious mind will accept that, even if you tell your mind often enough that you have faith in yourself.

• 22:02Speaker 01

  Had you ever thought what a nice thing it would be if you had such complete faith in yourself that you wouldn't hesitate to undertake anything you wanted to do in life? Had you ever thought what a benefit that would be to you? Do you know how many people there are that sell themselves short all the way through life because they don't have the right amount of confidence, let alone faith? Give a guess as to the percentage.

• 22:29Speaker 01

  Well, it's somewhere between ninety-eight and a hundred.

• 22:33Speaker 01

  The margin, who do, is so small that I wouldn't begin to guess just exactly what it is. But judging by the good many thousands of people that I've come into contact with, and you know it without my telling you, that my audiences and my classes are always above average, judging by those people, I would say that it's well over ninety-eight percent of the people who never in their whole lives developed a sufficient amount of confidence in themselves to go out and to undertake and to do the things they want to do in life. They accept from life whatever life hands them. Isn't it a strange thing how nature works? She gives you a set of tools.

• 23:16Speaker 01

  Everything that you need to attain all that you can use or aspire to have in this world. She gives you a set of tools adequate for your every need. And she rewards you bountifully for accepting and using those tools. That's all you have to do, just accept them and use them. She penalizes you beyond compare if you don't accept them and use them. Nature hates vacuums and idleness. She wants everything to be in action. And especially does she want the human mind to be in action. The mind is not different from any other part of the body. If you don't use it, if you don't rely upon it, it atrophies and withers away

• 23:59Speaker 01

  and finally gets to where anybody can push you around. Anybody. And oftentimes, you don't have the willpower to even resist or protest when people push you around. The fifth premise:

• 24:16Speaker 01

  The power of thought is the only thing over which any human being has complete unquestionable means of control, a fact so astounding that it connotes a close relationship between the mind of man and infinite intelligence. Now, there are only five known things in the whole universe, ladies and gentlemen, just five, and out of those five is shaped everything that's in existence, from the smallest electrons and protons of matter on up to the largest suns that float out there in the heavens, including you and me.

• 24:54Speaker 01

  Just five things.

• 24:57Speaker 01

  There's time, and there's space. There's energy, and there's matter.

• 25:05Speaker 01

  And those four things would be no good without the fifth thing. They'd be nothing. Everything would be chaos. You and I would never could have existed. Without that fifth thing, what do you think it is?

• 25:20Speaker 01

  A universal intelligence. And it reflects itself in every blade of grass, everything that grows out of the ground, in all of the electrons and protons of matter. It reflects itself in space and in time, in everything it is. There is intelligence. Intelligence, operating all the time. And the person who is the most successful is the one who finds ways and means of appropriating most of this intelligence through his brain and putting it into action.

• 25:50Speaker 01

  This intelligence permeates the whole universe: space, time, matter, energy, everything else. And every individual has the privilege of appropriating to his own use as much of this intelligence as he chooses. He can only appropriate it by using it.

• 26:10Speaker 01

  Just understanding it or believing in it is not enough. You've got to put it into specialized use in some form. And the responsibility of this course mainly is to give you a pattern, a blueprint, by which you can take possession of your own mind and put it into operation.

• 26:31Speaker 01

  All you have to do is to follow the blueprint. Don't just pick out that part of it which you like best and discard the other. Take it all as is. This experiment, the subconscious section of the mind, appears to be the only doorway of individual approach to infinite intelligence. Now, I want you to study that language very carefully. I said it appears to be. I don't know if it is, and I doubt if you do, and I doubt if anyone knows definitely. We have, a lot of people have a lot of different ideas about it, but from the best intelligence that I have been able to use, best observations that I have been able to make through thousands

• 27:10Speaker 01

  of experiments, it is true that the subconscious section of the mind is the only doorway of individual approach to infinite intelligence, and it is capable of influence by the individual through the means described in this subsequent lessons. The basis of approach is faith based upon definiteness of purpose. Now, there is one sentence that gives you the whole key to that paragraph. Faith based upon definiteness of purpose. Do you have any idea why it is that you don't have as much confidence in yourself as you should have? Had you ever stopped to think about that? Had you ever stopped to think about why it is that when you see an opportunity coming

• 27:54Speaker 01

  along, or what you believe to be an opportunity, you begin to question your ability to embrace it and use it? Haven't you had that happen to you many times? Doesn't it happen every day? And if you've had a chance to be closely associated with people who are very successful, you'll know that that is one thing that they are not bothered by. If they want to do something, it never occurs to them, they can't do it. I hope that in your association with the Point and Hill Associates, you'll come to know my distinguished business associate, Mr. W. Clement Stone, better, because if I ever saw a man that knows the power of his mind and is willing to rely upon that mind, Mr. Stone is that man. I don't think Mr. Stone has any worries. I don't believe he would tolerate a worry.

• 28:37Speaker 01

  I think it would be an insult to his intelligence if he recognized that anything was worrying him. Why? Because he has confidence in his ability to use his mind and to make that mind to create the circumstances that he wants created, and that's the condition and the operation of any successful mind, and that's going to be the condition of your mind when you get through with this philosophy. You're going to be able to project your mind into whatever objective you choose, and you'll be never any question in your mind as to whether you can do what you want to do or not. Never a question in the world. Both a receiving set and a broadcasting station for the vibrations of thought, a fact which

• 29:20Speaker 01

  explains the importance of moving with definiteness of purpose instead of drifting, since the brain may be so fairly charged with the nature of one's purpose, that it will begin to attract the physical or material equivalence of that purpose. Get it into your consciousness that the first radio broadcasting and receiving set was the one that exists in the brain of man. And not only does it exist in the brain of man, but it exists in a great many animals. I have a couple of Pomeranian dogs, and they know exactly what I'm thinking sometimes before I know. They're so smart, they can tune in on me, they know when we start off for an automobile ride whether they're going or whether they're not.

• 30:01Speaker 01

  Don't have to say a word, not a word, because they're in constant attunement with us. Your mind is sending out vibrations constantly, and if you're a salesman and you're going to call on a prospective buyer, the sale ought to be made before you ever come into presence of the buyer. Had you ever thought of that? If you're going to do anything requiring the cooperation of other people, condition your mind so that you know the other fellow's going to cooperate. Why, first, because the plan that you're going to offer him is so fair and honest and so beneficial to him that he can't refuse it. In other words, you have a right to his cooperation. You'll be surprised to know what a change there will be in people when you come sending

• 30:46Speaker 01

  out over this broadcasting station of yours, positive thoughts instead of thoughts of fear. Now, if you want a good illustration of how this broadcasting station works, you need a thousand dollars real bad lend. You go down to the bank somewhere, and you've got to have that thousand, by the day after tomorrow, they're going to take the car back, or the furniture, or something else. You just have to have that thousand dollars. Why, the banker can tell the moment you walk inside the door that you just have to have it, and he doesn't want you to have it. Isn't that funny? No, it's not funny, it's tragic. You carry the matches round in your pocket oftentimes to set your own house afire.

• 31:28Speaker 01

  You broadcast your thoughts, and they precede you, and when you get there, you find that instead of getting the cooperation you went after, the other person reflects back to you what? That state of doubt, that state of mind that you set out ahead of you. I used to teach salesmanship. I made my living that way for a long time while I was doing the research on this philosophy, and I have taught over thirty thousand salesmen, many of them now life members of the coveted million-dollar roundtable in the life insurance field. And if there is one thing in this world that has to be sold, it's life insurance. Nobody ever buys life insurance. It has to be sold. And the first thing that I taught those people under my direction was that they must make

• 32:11Speaker 01

  the sale to themselves before they try to make it to the other fellow. And if they don't do that, they're not going to make a sale. Somebody might buy something from them, but they'll never make a sale unless they first make it to themselves. Every brain, a broadcasting station, and a receiving set, and you can attune that brain so that it'll attract only the positive vibrations released by other people. Now, that's the point I'm coming to them that I wanted you to get. By habit, you can train your own mind to pick up all of that myriad of vibrations that are floating out there constantly. Train your mind to pick up only the things that are related to what you want most in life. And how do you do that?

• 32:56Speaker 01

  Why, you do that by keeping your mind on what you want most in life, your definite major purpose, so that by repetition, by thought, by action, until finally the brain will not pick up anything not related to that definiteness of purpose. Now, is that a marvelous thought? You can educate your brain so that it will absolutely refuse to pick up any vibrations except those related to what you want. And ladies and gentlemen, when you get your brain under control like that, you will be on the path, really and truly on the beam. Now, let's see what are some of the benefits of definiteness of purpose.

• 33:37Speaker 01

  First of all, definiteness of purpose automatically develops self-reliance, personal initiative, imagination, enthusiasm, self-discipline, and concentration of effort. All of these being prerequisites for success of vital importance. Now, that's quite an array of things that you really developed. You develop through definiteness of purpose, that is to say, knowing what you want, having a plan for getting it, having your mind occupied mostly with the carrying out of that plan. And if you happen to adopt a plan, and unless you're an unusual person, you're almost sure

• 34:19Speaker 01

  to adopt some plans that are not going to work so well, when you find out that your plan is not right, immediately discard it and get another one, and keep on until you find one that will work. And in the process of doing this, just remember one thing that maybe somewhere along the line that infinite intelligence, being gifted with a great deal of wisdom, might have a plan for you better than the one you had yourself. Have an open mind. If you adopt a plan to carry out your major purpose or a minor purpose and it doesn't work well, dismiss that plan and ask for guidance from infinite intelligence.

• 35:03Speaker 01

  You may get that guidance, and what can you do to be sure that you will get it? Why, you can believe that you'll get it. You can believe that you'll get it, and it's not going to hurt if you say out loud orally that you believe it. I suspect that the Creator knows your thoughts, but I've found that if you express yourself with a lot of enthusiasm, it doesn't hurt any, and I'm sure that it doesn't hurt in arousing your subconscious mind. When I wrote Think and Grow Rich, the original title of it was The Thirteen Steps to Riches, and both the publisher and I knew that that was not a box office title, we had to have a million-dollar title.

• 35:48Speaker 01

  Well, they went ahead and set the book up and typed, and the publisher kept prodding me every day to give him the title that I wanted, and I wrote it, five or six hundred titles, and weren't any of them any good. Not any of them.

• 36:06Speaker 01

  And then one day, he scared the dickens out of me. He called me up and said, "Well," he said, "tomorrow morning, I've got to have that title." And he said, "If you don't have one, I have one that's a humdinger." I said, "What is it?" He said, "We're going to call it 'Use Your Noodle and Get the Bootle.'" I said, "My goodness, you'll ruin me." Why, he said, "That, uh, uh, this is a dignified book." And that's a flippant title, why that will ruin the book and me too. He said, "Whether it will or not, that's the title, unless you give me a better one by tomorrow morning."

• 36:37Speaker 01

  Now, I want you to follow this incident, because it's, uh, it's, uh, it's potent with, uh, food for thought, what I'm now telling you.

• 36:46Speaker 01

  I went in that night and sat down on my bed, as I was going to, on the side of the bed, and I had a talk with my subconscious mind. And I said, "Now, look here, old sub. You and I have gone a long way together, and you've done a lot of things for me and some things to me, thanks to my ignorance. But I've got to have a million-dollar title, and I've got to have it tonight, do you understand that?" I got to talking so loudly, that the man in the apartment above me thumped on the floor. And I don't blame him, because I guess he thought I was quarreling with my wife or something.

• 37:18Speaker 01

  Well, I really gave the subconscious mind no doubt as to what I wanted. Now, I didn't tell him, I didn't tell the subconscious mind exactly what kind of a title. I said, "It's got to be a million-dollar title."

• 37:30Speaker 01

  I went to bed, when I, when I had charged my subconscious mind until I reached that psychological moment where I knew it was going to produce what I wanted. And if I hadn't have, if I hadn't have gotten to that point, I'd have been up there still, sitting on the side of that bed, talking to my subconscious.

• 37:48Speaker 01

  There is a psychological moment, and you can feel it, when, uh, you, the power of faith, uh, takes over whatever you're trying to do, and says, "All right, now you can relax, this is it." I went to bed, and about two o'clock in the morning, I woke up as if somebody had shaken me real hard, and as I came out of my sleep, "Think and Grow Rich" was in my mind. Oh, boy, I let out an Indian hoop. I jumped at my typewriter and wrote it down, and I grabbed the telephone, and I called the publisher. He said, "What's the matter, is it coming on for a little?" It was about two thirty in the morning for this time. I said, "Yes, you bet it is, with a million-dollar title." He said, "Let's have her." I said, "Think and Grow Rich." He said, "Boy, you've got it." "Yes, I'll say we've got it.

• 38:30Speaker 01

  That book has grossed outside of the United States over twenty-three million dollars already, and probably will gross over a hundred million dollars before I pass on. And there's no end to it. A million dollar, a multi-million dollar title." Well, after the thrashing that I gave my subconscious, I'm not surprised that it really came over and did a good job. Now, uh, why didn't I, uh, use that method in the first place?

• 38:59Speaker 01

  Isn't that a funny thing? Why, I know the law. Why did I fool around about it and temporize? Why didn't I go to the source and get my subconscious mind all heated up, instead of sitting down at my typewriter, writing out five or six hundred titles? Why didn't I? Well, I'll tell you why, for the same reason that you oftentimes know what to do, but won't do it. There's no explaining the indifference of mankind toward himself. Even after you know what the law is, you'll know what the score is, and you fool around until the last limit before you do anything about it. Just like in prayer. Fool around about prayer until it's time of need comes, and then you're scared to death. And of course, you don't get any results from prayer.

• 39:41Speaker 01

  If you want to have results from prayer, you condition your mind so that your life is a prayer, day in and day out, every minute of your life. A constant prayer. Because it's based upon belief. Belief in your dignity and your right to tune in on infinite intelligence and to have the things that you need in this world. And so it is with this human mind. You've got to condition the mind as you go along from day to day, so that when any emergency arises, you'll be right there ready to deal with it.

• 40:12Speaker 01

  Also, the definiteness of purpose induces one to budget one's time and to plan day-to-day endeavors which lead to the attainment of one's major purpose. If you would sit down and put out, uh, an hour-by-hour account of the actual work that you put in each day for one week, and then an hour-by-hour account of the time that you waste that you could devote to anything you want to, if you want to do, badly enough, you're going to get one of the shocks of your life. We're not efficient. You know, we have three hour, uh, about eight hours to sleep, and about eight hours to earn a living, and then have eight hours of free time, that you can do anything that you want to with, here in this country where we live. And then...

• 40:54Speaker 01

  Definiteness of purpose makes one more alert in recognizing opportunities related to the object of one's major purpose. And it inspires the courage to embrace and act upon those opportunities.

• 41:07Speaker 01

  And now, we all see opportunities almost every day of our lives, which, if we embrace them and acted upon them, could benefit us. But there's, uh, there's something in us that we call procrastination. We just don't, uh, have the will, the alertness, the determination to embrace opportunities when they come along.

• 41:30Speaker 01

  But if you condition your mind with this philosophy, you'll not only embrace opportunities, but you'll do something better. What could you do better than embrace an opportunity? Make the opportunity, that's, uh, that's the idea.

• 41:47Speaker 01

  One of Napoleon's generals, the other Napoleon, came to him one day, and they were fixing to attack next morning. And this general says, "Sir, the conditions, the circumstances are not just right for the attack tomorrow." And Napoleon says, "Circumstances not right? Hell, I make circumstances. Attack."

• 42:13Speaker 01

  And I have never seen a successful man yet in any business that didn't say, when somebody says it can't be done, he says, "Attack. Attack. Start where you are." And when you get around to that curve in the road, although you can't see by it until you get there, you'll always find that the road goes on around. Attack. Don't procrastinate, don't stand still, attack.

• 42:39Speaker 01

  And definiteness of purpose inspires confidence in one's integrity and character, and it attracts the favorable attention of other people.

• 42:49Speaker 01

  Have you ever thought about that? I think the whole world loves to see a person walking with his chest sticking out, walking with, uh, an atmosphere that tells the whole doggone world that he knows what he's doing, and he's probably right on the way doing it. Why, you know, people will get out of the way on the sidewalk and let you go by if you are determined to get by. And you don't have to whistle at them either, or holler at them, or anything of that kind. You just have to send your thoughts ahead with determination that you're going through that proud. And believe me, they stand aside and let you go through. And the world's like that. The man who knows where he is going and is determined to get there will always find willing helpers to cooperate with him. Now, there's another very important thing.

• 43:31Speaker 01

  The greatest of all its benefits, that is definiteness of purpose, it opens the way for the full exercise of that state of mind known as faith. By making the mind positive and freeing the mind from the limitations of fear and doubt and discouragement and indecision and procrastination. The very minute that you decide upon something, you know that's what you want, you know you're going to do it, all of these negatives that have been bothering you, they pick up their baggage and get out.

• 44:05Speaker 01

  They just move out.

• 44:09Speaker 01

  They can't live in a positive mind.

• 44:15Speaker 01

  Can you imagine a negative frame of mind and a positive frame of mind occupying the same space at the same time? Could you imagine that? No, you can't, because it can't be done. And did you know that the slightest bit of a, a negative mental attitude is sufficient to destroy the power of prayer? Did you know that the slightest bit of a, of a negative mental attitude is sufficient to destroy your plan, whatever it is you're doing, carrying out your definiteness of purpose? You have to move with courage, with faith, with determination, in connection with carrying out your definiteness of purpose.

• 44:52Speaker 01

  And next, definiteness of purpose makes one success-conscious. You know what I mean by success-conscious?

• 45:01Speaker 01

  If I said, uh, it makes one also health-conscious, would you know what I meant by that? What do I mean?

• 45:10Speaker 01

  Why, your thoughts are predominantly about health, and, uh, with reference to success-consciousness, your thoughts are predominantly about success. The can-do part of life, and not the no-can-do.

• 45:25Speaker 01

  Did you know that that ninety-eight percent of the people who never get anywhere in life, and we were talking about a while ago, are no-can-do people? Any circumstance that you place before them, or that is placed before them, or that overtakes them, immediately, they fasten their attention upon the no-can-do part, the negative part. I'll never forget, as long as I live, what happened to me when Mr. Carnegie surprised me and gave me a, a chance to organize this philosophy.

• 45:56Speaker 01

  I tried everywhere in the world to give him all the reasons I could think of and had about six, about six reasons why I couldn't do it. I didn't have sufficient education, I didn't have the money, I didn't have the influence, I didn't know what the word philosophy meant. Well, and there was about two others that immediately popped into my mind, and I was trying to get my mouth open to tell Mr. Carnegie that I thanked him for the compliment he'd paid me. But what was going on in my mind was that I was doubting that Mr. Carnegie was such a good judge of human nature as he had been reported to be when he was picking me to do a job like that. Now that's what went on in my mind.

• 46:39Speaker 01

  But there were silent persons standing, looking over my shoulder, and he said, "Go ahead and tell him you can do it. Spit it out." And I said, "Yes, Mr. Carnegie, I'll accept the commission, and you can depend upon it, sir, that I will complete it." He reached over and grabbed me by the hand, he said, "I not only like what you said, but I like the way you said it." That's what I was waiting for. He saw that I, my mind was on fire with belief that I could do it, even though I hadn't the slightest asset to give me a beginning, other than my determination that I would get the assets necessary to create this philosophy.

• 47:21Speaker 01

  And if I had wavered in the slightest, if I had have said to Mr. Carnegie, "Well, yes, Mr. Carnegie, I'll do my best." I am sure, I never asked him about this, but I am sure that he would have taken the opportunity away from me instantly. Because it would have indicated that I wasn't too determined to do it. "Yes, Mr. Carnegie, you can depend upon me, sir, to complete it, and you're living witnesses here, although Mr. Carnegie has long since been gone, you're living witnesses that Mr. Carnegie didn't pick wrongly." He knew what he was about.

• 48:06Speaker 01

  He had found something in the human mind, in my mind, that he'd been searching for for years. He found it. I didn't know its value, but I found out the value of it later, and I want you to recognize the value of it, because you have that same thing in your mind. That same capacity to know what you want and to be determined that you'll get it even though you don't know where to make the first start. And what does make a great man? Give me a good definition. What makes a great man or a great woman? Do you have any idea what greatness is? Greatness is the ability to recognize the power of your own mind, to embrace it and use it. That's what makes greatness.

• 48:49Speaker 01

  And in my book of rules, every man and every woman can become truly great by the simple process of recognizing his or her own mind, embracing it, and using it. Now here are instructions for applying the principle of a definite major purpose. And these instructions are to be carried out to the letter. Don't overlook any part of them. First, write out a clear statement of your major purpose, sign it, commit it to memory, and repeat it overly at least once a day in the form of a prayer or an affirmation if you choose. You can see the advantages of this, because it places your faith in your Creator squarely

• 49:34Speaker 01

  back of you. Now, I've found from experience, ladies and gentlemen, here is the weakest spot in the students' activities. They read this, they say, "Well, it's simple enough, I understand it," and what's the use of going to the trouble of writing it out? You might just as well not have this lesson if you're going to take that attitude to it. You must write it out, you must go through the physical act of translating a thought into, onto paper, and then you must memorize it, and then you must start talking to your subconscious mind about it. Give that subconscious mind a pretty good idea of what it is you want. And it won't hurt any if you remember the story I told you in the first half of the

• 50:17Speaker 01

  lesson tonight about what I did to get my million-dollar book title. It won't do a bit of harm if you give your subconscious mind to understand from here on out that you're the boss, and that you're gonna do something about it. But you can't expect the subconscious mind or anything else to help you if you don't know what it is you want, if you're not definite about it. Ninety-eight out of every hundred people, taking cross-section of humanity in general, do not know what they want in life and consequently never get it. They take whatever life hands them. Now, in addition to your definite major purpose, you can have minor purposes, as many as

• 51:00Speaker 01

  you want, provided they lead you in the direction of your major purpose. Provided they are related to or lead you in the direction of your major purpose. Your whole life should be devoted to carrying out your major purpose in life. Find out what it is you want, and incidentally, it's all right to be modest like I am when you go to asking for what you want, but don't be too modest. Reach out and ask for a bounty, ask for the things that you are sure you're entitled

• 51:43Speaker 01

  to, but in asking, be sure that you don't overlook the subsequent instructions I'm going to give you about what it is you're going to give in return for what you expect. Second, write out a clear, definite outline of the plan or plans by which you intend to achieve the object of your purpose, and state the maximum of time within which you intend to attain it. And describe it in detail precisely what you intend to give in return for the realization of the object of your purpose. Make your plan flexible enough to permit changes any time you are inspired to do so, remembering that infinite intelligence may present you with a better plan than yours

• 52:24Speaker 01

  and oftentimes will if you are definite about what you want. Have any of you ever had a hunch that you couldn't describe, you couldn't explain away? You know what a hunch is? It's your subconscious mind trying to get an idea over to you, and oftentimes you are too indifferent to even let the subconscious mind talk to you for a few moments. I've heard people say, "Well, I had the darnedest fool idea today, but that darned fool idea, you know, might have been a million-dollar idea if you'd have listened to it and have done something about it." Have great respect for these hunches that come to you, because there's something outside of yourself trying to communicate with you, undoubtedly.

• 53:07Speaker 01

  I have a great respect for these hunches that come to me, and they come to me constantly. And I find them always related to something that my mind's been dwelling upon, something that I want to do, something that I'm engaged in. Write out a clear, definite outline of the plan or plans, and state the maximum of time within which you intend to attain it. Now, that timing is important, very important. Don't write out that your definite major aim, "That I intend to become the best salesman in the world," or that "I intend to become the best employee in my organization," or "That I intend to make a lot of money." That's not definite.

• 53:50Speaker 01

  Whatever it is that you consider to be your major objective in life, write it out clearly and time it. "I intend to attain within blank number of years, so-and-so," and then go ahead and describe so-and-so, what it is. And then in the next paragraph down below, "I intend to give in return for the thing that I request, so-and-so," and then go ahead and describe it. Now, this business of timing, you know, nature has a system of timing everything. If you go out, if you're a farmer, you want to plant some wheat in the field, you go out and you prepare that ground, you sow the wheat at the right season of the year,

• 54:34Speaker 01

  then after you sow it, you go back the next day with the harvester and start harvesting, the very next day. Well, isn't anybody gonna catch me up on that one?

• 54:47Speaker 01

  What do you wait for?

• 54:50Speaker 01

  For nature to do her part! Infinite intelligence, or God, whatever you want, it's all, no matter what you call it, we're talking about the same thing, but there is an intelligence that does its part if you do your part first. Intelligence is not going to direct you to, nor attract to you, the object of your major purpose unless you know what it is. And unless you properly time it.

• 55:14Speaker 01

  It'd be quite ridiculous if you started out with only a mediocre talent and said that you're gonna make a million dollars within the next thirty days. It'd be quite ridiculous.

• 55:24Speaker 01

  In other words, make your major purpose within reason of what you know you are able to, uh, to deserve.

• 55:32Speaker 01

  And next, keep your major purpose strictly to yourself, except insofar as you will receive further instructions on this subject in the lesson on the mastermind. Now, why do I, why do I suggest that you keep your major purpose to yourself? Well, the reason, of course, that you don't disclose your major purpose to other people is that there are a lot of, uh, idle, curious people in this world who like to stand on the sidelines and stick their toes out when you go by, especially if you've got a high head and look like you're gonna accomplish more in life than they are. And for no good reason at all, as you go along, they stick their toes out just to see you fall.

• 56:07Speaker 01

  They'll throw monkey wrenches in your machinery. They don't have monkey wrenches, they'll put sand in your gearbox. But they will, uh, slow you down. Why? Because of the envy of mankind. Now...

• 56:21Speaker 01

  The only way to speak about your definite major purpose is in action after the fact, not before the fact, after you've achieved it. Let it speak for itself. Let it speak for itself. The only way anybody can afford to boast or brag about himself is not by words, but by deeds. And then if you do, if the deeds are engaged in, you don't need any words, they speak for themselves. Now, about making your plan flexible, don't, uh, don't become determined that the plan you worked out is perfect just because you worked it out.

• 56:53Speaker 01

  You'll make a mistake if you do that. Leave your plan flexible. Give it a good trial, and if it's not working properly, change it. Next, call your major purpose into your consciousness as often as may be practical. Eat with it. Sleep with it. And take it with you wherever you go, keeping in mind the fact that your subconscious mind can thus be influenced to work for its attainment while you sleep. Your conscious mind, he's a very jealous mind, it stands guard and doesn't want anything to get by except the things that you are afraid of and the things that you're very enthusiastic about.

• 57:28Speaker 01

  And especially the things that you are afraid of.

• 57:32Speaker 01

  It does let those get by sometimes, too.

• 57:37Speaker 01

  But generally speaking, if you want to plant an idea in your subconscious mind, you have to do it with a tremendous amount of faith, tremendous amount of enthusiasm, you've got to rush the conscious mind so that it's, uh, steps aside and lets you go through to the subconscious. Because of your enthusiasm and your faith. And then repetition is a marvelous thing, too. The conscious mind finally gets tired of hearing you say a thing over and over and over, says, "All right, if you're bound to repeat that, I can't stand here and watch you forever go on in there and take it into sub and see what he'll do with it."

• 58:09Speaker 01

  That's the way it works. This, uh, this conscious mind's a very contrary thing, and you know it, it learns all of the things that won't work. Did you know that? It has a tremendous stock of things that won't work, and things that are not right. And it has a tremendous stock of old pieces of string, horseshoes, nails. Like some misers gather up. A whole stock of those things lying around, useless trash that it's gathering, impediment you, that you don't need. And that's the kind of stuff it's feeding to your subconscious mind. Every night, just before you go to bed, you should give your subconscious mind some sort of an order for the night, what it is you want done.

• 58:52Speaker 01

  I should say, the healing of your body, certainly, the body needs repairing every day. When you lay the carcass down for sleep, by turning it over to the infinite intelligence and request your subconscious mind to go to work and heal every, every cell in your body, every organ, and to give you tomorrow morning a perfectly conditioned body in which the mind may function. Uh, don't go to bed without giving orders to your subconscious mind. Tell it what you want. Get in the habit of telling it what you want. If you keep on long enough, it'll believe you and deliver what you, what you ask for. And therefore, you better be careful about what you ask for, because if you keep on asking for it, you're gonna get it.

• 59:31Speaker 01

  I wonder if you wouldn't be surprised if you knew, uh, right now what you've been asking for back down through the years?

• 59:38Speaker 01

  You ever thought of that? You've been asking for it, sure you have. Everything that you have that you don't want, you've been asking for it. Maybe by neglect. Maybe by neglect, maybe you didn't tell the subconscious mind what you really wanted and it stocked up on a lot of stuff you didn't want. It works that way. Now, here are some important factors in connection with your definite major purpose. First of all, it should represent your greatest purpose in life. The one, single purpose which above all others you desire to achieve, and the fruits of which you are willing to leave behind you as a monument to yourself. Now, that's what your definite major purpose should be.

• 1:00:21Speaker 01

  I'm not talking about your minor purposes, now, I'm talking about your major, overall purpose, your lifelong purpose.

• 1:00:27Speaker 01

  And believe me, friends, if you don't have an overall lifelong purpose, you're wasting, you're just wasting the better portion of your life. The wear and tear of living is not worth the price you pay for it unless you really are aiming for something, unless you're going somewhere in life. Unless you're doing something with this opportunity here on this plane. I imagine you were sent over here to do something. I imagine you were sent over here with a mind capable of hewing out, attaining your own destiny. And if you don't attain that, if you don't use that mind, I imagine that, uh, your life, to a large extent, will have been wasted. From the viewpoint of the one who sent you over. Take the sense of your mind, aim high.

• 1:01:08Speaker 01

  Don't leave because, uh, in the past you may not have achieved much you can't achieve in the future. Don't measure your future by your past, if you do, you're sunk.

• 1:01:19Speaker 01

  A new day is coming, you're gonna be born again. You're setting up a new pattern. You're in a new world, you're a new person.

• 1:01:29Speaker 01

  Well, if not, why not? I intend that every one of you shall be born again. Mentally, physically, and maybe spiritually. A new aim, a new purpose. A new realization of your own individual power.

• 1:01:48Speaker 01

  And a new realization of your own dignity as a unit of mankind.

• 1:01:56Speaker 01

  If you asked me what I'd be, to be the greatest sin of mankind, I'd bet you'd be surprised at what my answer would be. What would yours be? What do you think the greatest sin of mankind is?

• 1:02:08Speaker 01

  The greatest sin of mankind is neglect to use his greatest asset. That's the greatest sin of mankind. It's bound to be that, because if you use that greatest asset, you'll have everything you want and you'll have it in abundance.

• 1:02:28Speaker 01

  You notice, I didn't say you'll have everything within reason, I said you'd have everything you want and have it in abundance. I didn't put any qualifying words in there. You're the only one that can put qualifying words in there as to what you want, you're the only one that can set up limitations for yourself, nobody else can do it for you. Unless you let them.

• 1:02:48Speaker 01

  Your major purpose, or some portion of it, should remain a few jumps ahead of you at all times as something to which you may look forward with hope and anticipation.

• 1:02:59Speaker 01

  Now, if you ever catch up with your major purpose and attain it, then what? What are you gonna do there? Get another one, of course you. And you will have learned, by having attained your first one, that, uh, you can attain a major purpose, and the chances are, when you select your per, next one, you'll make it a bigger objective than you did your first one.

• 1:03:19Speaker 01

  If your objective is to acquire material riches, why don't aim for too high for the first year? Get a, work out a twelve-month plan within reason, and watch how easily you can attain it, and then next year, double it. Then next year, double that.

• 1:03:34Speaker 01

  One's major purpose should keep a few jumps ahead of him, what's the purpose of that?

• 1:03:40Speaker 01

  Why not, uh, lay out a definite purpose that you can catch up with, uh, well, just tomorrow, say? Well, now, obviously, if you do that, your definite major purpose is not gonna be very extensive, is it? And you're not gonna have the fun of pursuit.

• 1:03:56Speaker 01

  Uh, do you, you know the fun of pursuit is a great thing? If you've found success, or if you've found your objective, uh, then there's no fun in it, but you have to turn around and start after something else.

• 1:04:09Speaker 01

  Life is less interesting when one has no definite purpose to be attained other than that of merely living. The hope of future achievement in connection with a major purpose is among the greatest of man's pleasures. Sorry is the man indeed who's caught up with himself and no longer has anything to do. I've found a lot of them. They're all miserable.

• 1:04:32Speaker 01

  No, you've got to keep active, keep doing something, keep working, keep an objective ahead of you.

• 1:04:39Speaker 01

  One's major purpose may, and it generally does, consist of that which can be attained only by a series of day-to-day and month-to-month and year-to-year steps.

• 1:04:50Speaker 01

  Because it is something which should, uh, be so designed as to consume an entire lifetime of endeavor. It should harmonize with one's occupation, business or profession, for each day's work should enable one to come one day nearer to the attainment of his major purpose in life. I, I, I feel sorry, indeed, I feel sorry, for the individual who is just working day in and day out in order to have something to eat and some clothes to wear and a place to sleep. I, I feel sorry for that kind of a person that has no, no aim beyond just enough to exist on.

• 1:05:24Speaker 01

  I can't imagine anybody in this class satisfying himself sitting down with an existence. I think you want to live, I think you want abundance, I think you want everything that's necessary for you to do the thing you want to do in life. Including money.

• 1:05:40Speaker 01

  One's major purpose may, and it generally does, consist of that which can be attained only by a series of day-to-day or month-to-month steps.

• 1:05:51Speaker 01

  Now, remember that when you start in pursuit of your definite major purpose. One's major purpose may consist of many different combinations of lesser aims such as the nature of one's occupation, which should be something of his own choice. When you come to write out your definite major purpose, you write it out like planks in a platform. Number one, so-and-so. Number two, so-and-so. And somewhere along there, right near the head, be sure that you include in your definite major purpose, perfect harmony between yourself and your mate. You think that's important? Do you know of anything more important than that? Do you know of anything, any human relationship, more important than that of a man and his wife? No, of course you don't.

• 1:06:35Speaker 01

  I'll answer that one for you. Nobody does. And have you ever heard of a relationship, man and wife, where there was not harmony? Have you ever seen a thing like that? You have, huh? Yes, I'll answer that for you too. I know you have. Not pleasant, is it? Not pleasant even to be around people who are not in step with one another. Well, you can be harmonious. And there is where you ought to start applying your mastermind relationship first. Your wife or your husband should be your first mastermind ally. Maybe you'll have to go back and court him or her over again, but all right, that's nice too. I don't know of anything I ever did in my life that I enjoyed as much as courting. It's a wonderful experience. Go back and court the gal over again. Or the man.

• 1:07:20Speaker 01

  It's a wonderful experience. Or if you're not on the right kind of terms with your business associate, or your fellow worker, or your... the people you work with every day, go back and rededicate yourself to the business of striking out on a new basis. You'll be surprised at what a little confession on your part will do. Wonderful thing. The confession is really a marvelous thing. Most people claim they have too much pride to confess their weaknesses. I'll tell you, it's a good thing to get that out, get so many weaknesses out of your system by confession. Acknowledge that maybe you're not perfect. Well, I'm perfect, but not entirely perfect. Maybe the other fellow say, "Well, come to think about it, neither am I." And then you're off to the races.

• 1:08:04Speaker 01

  Rededicate yourself to a better relationship with the people that you come into contact every day, whoever they may be. What a wonderful thing it is. You can do that. You can handle it. You can handle it. I know you can. You know, most of these inharmonies in human relations are due to the neglect of people. You just neglect to build up your human relations. You could do it if you wanted to do it. And the budgeting of income and expenses, so as to provide for the accumulation of a definite amount for old age and security, the security of loved ones and so forth. And the budgeting of time, so as to provide whatever income that is necessary to support one's plan for the attainment of a definite major purpose. That should be a part of your definite major purpose. Write out your platform of life.

• 1:08:48Speaker 01

  And include that down under these minor purposes, the things that are related to your major purpose, the things that you're going to have to get in the step-by-step movement up toward your major purpose. And a definite plan for developing harmony in all of your relations, and especially these in the home where one works, where one plays or relaxes. The human relationship like is the most important one in connection with one's major aim, since the aim is attainable very largely through the cooperation of others. Have you ever thought of that, that the things that you do in life that are worthwhile have to be done through harmonious cooperation with other people?

• 1:09:30Speaker 01

  And how are you going to get that harmonious cooperation if you don't cultivate people? If you don't understand them? If you don't make allowances for their weaknesses? Did you ever have a friend that appreciated your trying to reform him or change his mind about something? Have you liked to have a friend come around, try to reform you? No. No, you don't. Nobody does. But there are certain things you can do for a friend by example, that's a mighty effective way of doing it. But start in to tell a man where he's wrong, and chances are that he'll have business around the corner. The next time he sees you coming, he'll get on the other side of the street.

• 1:10:13Speaker 01

  In your human relations, you can develop a marvelous relationship, but you can't do it by criticizing people, harping upon their faults, because we all have faults. A better thing to do is to talk about a person's virtues and his good qualities. I have never seen a person yet so lowly that he didn't have some good qualities. And if you concentrate upon those good qualities, that person on whom you're concentrating will go out of his way and lean over backwards to make sure that you're not disappointed. One should not hesitate to choose a major aim, which may be for the time being out of his reach. For one may always prepare himself to attain pretty much any desired purpose in life.

• 1:10:56Speaker 01

  Certainly, when I chose as my definite major purpose, the organizing and taking to the world of the first practical philosophy of individual achievement, it was way beyond my reach. And what do you think it was that kept me down through twenty years of unproductive effort of research? What do you think it was that kept me striving and struggling in face of the fact that the majority of people I knew were criticizing me? What do you think it was? I had to have an abundance of faith, and I had to keep that faith alive by moving, moving always, as if I knew in advance that I was going to complete the task that Mr. Carnegie assigned to me. There were times when it looked as if what my friends and relatives were saying about me was absolutely true.

• 1:11:39Speaker 01

  And in a sense, it was, that I was wasting my time. From their viewpoint and their measuring stick and their standards, I was wasting twenty years of my time. But from the viewpoint of the millions of people who have benefited and will benefit by my work during those twenty years, I was not wasting my time. You can fail, unless you think you can. If you think you can fail, then you can. If you stay around me long enough, I'll get you so you're not going to think you can fail. You know you're not going to fail. Our greatest demonstration of the universal application of the principle of definiteness of purpose may be seen by observing how nature applies it as follows, and there is a great

• 1:12:21Speaker 01

  string of applications, the way nature moves with definiteness of purpose. And ladies and gentlemen, if there is anything in this universe that's definite, it's the laws of nature. They don't deviate, they don't temporize, they don't subside. You can't go around them, you can't avoid them. However you can, learn their nature and adjust yourselves to them and benefit by them. Nobody ever heard of the law of gravitation being suspended, not even for one fraction of a second. It never has been done and never will be. Because nature's whole setup, throughout the whole universe, system of universes perhaps,

• 1:13:03Speaker 01

  is so definite that everything moves with precision, like clockwork. If you want an example of the necessity of an individual's moving with definiteness, you only have to have a smattering of understanding of the sciences, to see the way that nature does things, and then you'll have that example. The orderliness of the universe and the interrelation of all of the natural laws, the fixation of all of the stars and planets in immovable relationship to one another. Isn't it a marvelous thing to know that the astronomers can sit down and with a pencil and a few pieces of paper, predetermine hundreds of years in advance, the exact relationship

• 1:13:44Speaker 01

  of given planets and stars, right where they'll be with relationship to one another, in advance? And you know they couldn't do that if there was not a purpose, a plan, under which we're working. We want to find out what that purpose is, as it relates to us as individuals. That's why you're in this course. That's why I'm teaching you. I'm giving you that little bit that I have picked up from life, and from the experiences of men, and from my own experience, so that you will learn how to adjust yourself to the laws of nature, in order that you may use those laws, instead of allowing yourself to be abused by your neglect in using them. To me, one of the most horrible things to contemplate is the possible cessation of natural laws.

• 1:14:27Speaker 01

  Imagine all of the chaos, all of the stars and planets running together, why they make the H-bomb look like a firecracker. If nature allowed her laws to be suspended, but she doesn't do that. She has very definite laws to go by. And you'll find that if you check these seventeen principles, they check perfectly with all of the laws of nature. You get over to that principle of going the extra mile, you'll find that nature is profound in her application of the principle of going the extra mile. When she produces blooms on the trees, she doesn't produce just enough to fill the trees, she produces enough to take care of all of the damages, the winds and the storms.

• 1:15:11Speaker 01

  When she produces fish in the sea, she doesn't just produce enough to perpetuate the fish, she produces enough to feed the bullfrogs and the snakes, and the alligators, and all the other things that still have left to carry out her purpose. She has an abundance of things, overabundance. And also, she forces man to go the extra mile, or else he'll perish. He would perish in one season if he didn't go the extra mile. If nature didn't compensate a man when he goes out and puts a grain of wheat in the ground by giving him back five hundred grains to compensate him for his intelligence, why we'd starve to death in one season. If you do your part, nature does her part, and she does it in abundance, in abundance, in superabundance.

• 1:15:53Speaker 01

  And one of the strange things about nature is that if you keep your mind focused on the positive side of life, it becomes greater than the negative side. Always does that. If you keep your mind on the positive side, it becomes greater than all of the negatives that may try to penetrate your mind and influence your life. Look around, and you'll find examples, living examples, all around you, of people that you want to emulate and people you do not want to emulate. People that are failing, and you'll be able to tell why they're failing. I dare say that from this time on, you will be able to use this philosophy as a measuring stick, and wherever you find a success or a failure, you will be able to lay your finger right on the cause of it, right on it, and that includes you too.

• 1:17:01Speaker 00

  But for those of us that still like to learn, still like to have our brains knocked in with some great new insights, Mr. Napoleon Hill, long dead, back from the grave now on Michael Covell's podcast. What a welcome, what a welcome breath of fresh air. One last request from me. If you like my podcast series, go to covell.com/itunes. That's C-O-V-E-L.com/itunes.

• 1:17:45Speaker 00

  Write me a review. It really helps to land great guests if I participate in this social proof nonsense of current day life. And social proof nonsense of current day life means, write a review. And for your time and toil, I don't know what kind of toil it is. It's not very hard to write a review on my podcast. But if you do, send me an email, [email protected]. My first name at my last name dot com. I will send you a CD of trend following extras anywhere in the world.

• 1:18:29Speaker 00

  No cost, just write the review, send me an email. It's off to you. And going out, I would like to read one more quote from Napoleon Hill that I really like. "I will eliminate hatred, envy, jealousy, selfishness, and cynicism by developing love for all humanity, because I know that a negative attitude toward others can never bring me success. I will cause others to believe in me, because I will believe in them and in myself." I like this guy, Napoleon Hill.

• 1:19:12Speaker 00

  I see a time when those awake will understand how to make money in up, down, and surprise markets. Whether new trader or experienced, college student or financial advisor, protecting against a crash, or just trying to make a lot of money, trend following offers everyone an answer in uncertain times. To get started immediately, send me an email, [email protected]. I will send you the right trend following steps to take, along with my free video. But if you want to buy and hold, trust the government and trust Wall Street, this is absolutely not for you.