Definite Purpose: The Blueprint for Conquering Fear and Achieving Success - The Napoleon Hill

 let's break down the lesson on the purpose and see exactly what it means. Why? It's the starting point of all human. Because it is the starting point of all individual achievements. And 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 found or it isn't. In fact, it's not too important because if you find that you've adopted a plan that's not found, it'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 your purpose is.

That must be very definite. So there can be no ifs ands about it. And you 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, I wouldn't be a very much value to you. The value will come when you begin to find 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 result of a motive or a combination of motives. I just want to impress upon you that you have no right to ask anybody to do anything at any time, without what a motive, without giving that person an adequate motive.

And incidentally, that's the warp in the loop of all salesmanship, the ability to plant in the mind of the prospective buyer, an adequate motive for his mind. Learning to deal with the people by planting in their mind adequate motives for their doing the things that you want them to do. Now, there are a lot of people who call themselves salesmen who have never heard of the mind 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 mind.

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 emotion allied with a burning desire for its realisation, is taken over by the subconscious action of the mind, and acted upon through whatever natural and logical means that may be available.

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. Coupé came over here some years ago with this famous formula, day by day in every way on 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. That there was no desire. There was no feeling for the end of that statement. You might just as well blow in the wind as to make a statement, unless you put some feeling back of it, unless you believe it. And incidentally, if you tell yourself anything often enough, you will get to where you will believe it.

It's funny, isn't it? But it happens to be true. You know, there are people who tell a little white lie, and sometimes it the white at that until they get well, they believe in themselves. Now the subconscious mind doesn't care, 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 $1 million.

It doesn't know the difference between success and failure. It it'll accept any statement that you keep repeating to it by thoughts or by words, or by any other means. 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 pick it up and automatically act upon it.

Now this is going to take a little time. You can't expect to undo it overnight, but here's what you've been doing to your subconscious mind there. Back down through the years by allowing negative thoughts to get into it. You can expect that to happen overnight, but you will find that if you emotional as 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, is taken over by the subconscious action 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. 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 where in whatever it is that you're going to do, you can see it already in the finished act before you even begin. Now, that's pretty positive, isn't it? I can truly 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, and I'll tell you that you can put yourself in a frame of mind where you're going to do whatever you make up your mind to do, unless you weaken as you go along. Now, so many people do. 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 taking over the subconscious action of the mind and acting 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. Faith without action is dead. Faith without absolute positive belief is dead. I don't know how you're going to get any 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.

And you ever thought what my thinking would be if you had complete faith in yourself, that you wouldn't hesitate to undertake anything you want to do in life? Had you ever thought what a benefit that would be to you? Do you know how many people are that sell them so 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. 99? 98? Well, it's somewhere between 98 and 100. The margin. Who does is so small that I wouldn't begin to guess just exactly who did it. But judging by the good many thousands of people that I have come into contact with and I, you know, without my telling you that my audiences in my classes are always above average.

Judging by those people, I would say that the it's well over 98% of the people who never and our whole lives, develop a sufficient amount of confidence in themselves to go out and undertake and to do the things they want to do in life. They accept from life whatever life hands them into the strange thing, how nature works.

She gives you a set of tools. Everything that you need to attain, all that you can use or aspire to have in this world. She give you a set of tools adequate for your every need, and she rewards you bountifully for accepting and using those tools that all you have to do just accept them and use them. She penalizes give beyond compare.

If you don't accept them and use them, make you hate vacuums and idols. She wants everything to be in action, and especially though 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 it don't, rely upon it at your knees and withered away 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, 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 cannot see 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 ones that float out there in the heavens, including you and me.

Just five things. There's time and there's space. There's energy and there's matter. And those four things would be no good without the fifth. They. They be nothing. Everything would be chaos. You and I wouldn't have. Never could have existed without that fifth thing. What do you think it is? All right. Now, universal intelligence. And it reflect itself in every blade of grass, everything that grows out of the ground, and all of the electrons and protons of matter, it reflect 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 his intelligence through his brain and putting it into action. His 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 his intelligence as he chooses.

He can only appropriate it by using it. Just understanding it or believing in it is not enough. You have 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. 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 next frame is the subconscious section of the mind appears to be the only doorway of the individual approach to Infinite Intelligence. I want you to study that language very carefully. I said, it appears to be. I don't know if it is.

I doubt if you do. And I doubt if anyone knows devils. But 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 of experiments, it is true that the subconscious selection of the mind is the only doorway of individual approach to infinite intelligence, and it is capable of influenced by the individual through the means described in this.

The 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. They, 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?

If you ever stopped to think about why it is when you see an opportunity coming along, or what you believe to be an opportunity, you begin to question your ability to embrace it. Use it. Haven't you had that happen to you many times? Did it happen every day? Yeah.

And if you've had a chance to be closely associated with people who are very successful, you know that that is one thing that they are not bothered by. If they want to do something that never occurred to them, they can't do it. I hope that in your association with the pointed heel associate, you 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. I think it would be an insult to his intelligence if he recognised that. And the thing worrying him.

Why? Because he has confidence in his ability to use his mind. And to make that mind is create the circumstances that he wants created. And that's the condition and the operation of the man, 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 forget your mind and do 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. More of a receiving set and the broadcasting station for the vibrations of the effect, which explains the importance of moving with definiteness. A purpose instead of drifting. Since the brain may be so thoroughly charged with the nature of one's purpose that it will begin to attract the physical or material equivalent of that purpose, get it into your consciousness that the first radio broadcasting and receiving that 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 the great many animals. I have a couple of Pomeranian dogs, and they all 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 or not, you don't have to say a word, not a word.

The gods are in constant attainment with us. Your mind is sending out vibrations constantly. And if you're a salesman, then you are going to call on a prospective buyer. The sale ought to be made before you ever come in the presence of the buyer. Had you ever thought of that? If you are going to do anything requiring the cooperation of other people, conditioned 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 will be surprised. I know what a change there will be in people when you come back standing 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 $1,000 real badly. And you go down to the bank somewhere and you've got to have that thousand by a 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.

He doesn't want you to have it. In that money. No, it's not fun. It's tragic. You carry the matches around in your pocket, oftentimes in your own house. If a you broadcast your thoughts and they increase in you, and when you get there, 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 me?

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 30,000 salesmen, many of them now. I've met live members of the coveted Million Dollar Round table 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 the sale to themselves before they try to make it to the other belt. If they don't do that, they're not going to make a sale. Somebody might buy something wrong, but they'll never make a sale unless they first make it for themselves.

A red brain, a broadcasting station and a receiving said, and you're going to kill that brain so that it'll attract only the positive vibrations released by other people. Oh, that's the point. I'm coming to them. If I wanted you to get by, had it. You can train your own mind to pick up out 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? 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.

Definitely the purpose. Now is that a marvelous thought? You're going to educate your brain so that it will absolutely refuse to pick up any vibrations except those related to what you are. 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 that?

The purpose, first of all, there is a purpose automatically developed self-reliance.

Personal initiative. Imagination, enthusiasm, self-discipline and concentration of effort, all of these being prerequisites for success of vital importance. You know, 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 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 may be 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.

You yourself have an open mind if you adopt the plan to carry out your major purpose or a minor purpose, and that doesn't work well, dismiss that plan and ask for guidance from Infinite Intelligence.

You may get that guidance. Well, what can you do to be sure that you will get it? Why? You can believe that you'll get it. You can believe it. You'll get it. And it's not going to hurt. If you go say out loud or clear that you believe it. I suspect that the creator can know your thoughts, but I have 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 Thinking Grow Rich, the original title of it was The 13 Steps to Riches, and both the publisher and I knew that was not a box office title. We had to have $1 million title. Well, I 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, I wrote it 5 or 600 titles, and already I'm in a good not any other.

And then one day he scared the Dickens out of me. He called me up, said, well, he said, tomorrow morning, I've got to have that title. And they said, if you don't have one, I have on that one humdinger. I said, why did he said, we'll go to call it your noodle and get the boodle. I said, my goodness, you're writing me.

Why is it that this is a dignified book and that to flip a title, why, that will ruin the book and me too. Well said. The whether it will or not, that's the title. Unless you give me a better one by tomorrow morning. Now I want you to follow this incident because it's it's too late. It's it's potent with the food for thought.

But I'm now telling. 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 to talk, but my subconscious mind and I said, now look, you're 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 $1 million talent. I gotta have it tonight. 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 he thought I was falling with my wife or something. Well, I really gave the subconscious mind, no doubt. I said what I want to know.

I didn't tell him. I didn't tell a subconscious mind exactly what kind of a title I said. It's got to be $1 million title.

I went to bed when I when I had tried 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 that bed, talking to my subconscious. There is a psychological moment, and you can feel it.

When you have the power of faith, it takes over. Whatever you're trying to do is to go right now. You can relax. This is it. I went to bed and about 2:00 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 literally Indian. Whoop! I jumped in my typewriter and wrote it down, and I grabbed the telephone and I called the publisher. You know what's the matter? Leave town on the phone all night about 230 in the morning. But this time I said yes. You bet it is. With $1 million title. Listen, let's have a. I said think and go read.

You didn't buy. You've got it. Yeah, they'll say we've got it. That book has grossed outside of the United States over $23 million already, and probably will gross over $100 million before I back down. And there's no end to it. $1 million, a multi-million dollar tied up. Well, after the thrashing that I gave my subconscious, I'm not surprised that they really came over and did a good job.

Now, why didn't I use that method in the first place?

He's not a phony thing. Well, I know the law. Why did I fool around about it and pamper eyes? Why didn't I go to the source and get my subconscious mind all heated up instead of sitting down there, my typewriter writing out 5 or 600 times, why didn't the. Well, I tell you why. For the same reason that you will 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 lowest. 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 his time of need comes. And then you're scared to death. And of course you don't get any results from prayer.

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 believe. Believe in your dignity. And you're right. The tune in on Infinite Intelligence is to have the things that you need in this world.

And so it is with the human mind. You've got the condition, the mind, as you go along from day to day. So when any emergency arises, you will be right there, ready to deal with it. You might also the devil. There's a purpose in duties 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 up a 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. If you want to do that, you're going to get one of the shock to your life.

We're not efficient. You don't have three hour a mom, eight hours to sleep, about eight hours to earn a living. Now to have eight hours of free time. But you can do anything that you want to do it here in this country where we live. And then. There is a 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.

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 a there's something in us that we call procrastination. We just don't have the will or the alertness, the determination to embrace opportunities when they come along.

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

One of, Napoleon's general, the other Napoleon, came to him one day and they were fixing to attack the next morning. And this general said, sir, the conditions, the circumstances are not just right for the attack tomorrow. And Napoleon says second, that is not right here. I make circumstances attack. And I have never seen a successful man yet in any business that didn't say, well, somebody says it can be done, is that attack, attack, stand where you are.

And when you get around to that curve in the road, you don't know. 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.

And, definitely the purpose inspires confidence in one's integrity and character, and it attracts the favorable attention of other people. Did you ever thought about that? I think the whole world loves to see a person walking with his chest sticking out. Walking? Well, I an atmosphere that tells the whole doggone world that he knows what he's doing in his party.

Right along the way, doing well. You know, people get out of the way on the sidewalk and then you go by. If you are determined to get by and you don't have to whistle at them either. All right. They're really to that guy. You just have to send your thoughts ahead with determination as you're going through that crowd.

And believe me, they stand aside and let you go through. And the world 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, the greatest of of all its benefits. But it has to go the purpose. It opens the way for the full exercise of a 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'll know you're going to do it. All of these negatives that have been bothering you, they pick up their baggage and get out. Now just move out. The gate. Live in a positive mind.

Can you imagine a negative frame of mind in a positive frame of mind occupying the same space at the same time? Could you imagine that? No. You can, because it can't be done. And did you know that the slightest bit of a negative and mental attitude is sufficient to destroy the power of prayer? Did you know 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 the purpose you have to move with courage, with faith, with determined action in connection with carrying out your definite. There's a purpose. And next level. The purpose makes one success conscious. You know what I mean by this conscious. If I said it makes one out of a health conscious, would you know what I meant by that?

What do I mean by thinking here? What are your thoughts predominantly about health and with reference to success? God is it. Your thoughts are predominantly about success. The can-do part of life are not the no can do. Did you know that that 98% of the people who never get anywhere enlightened, we've talked about while ago, no can do people any circumstances you place before them or that is placed before them all that overtakes them immediately.

They fasten their attention upon the no can do by the negative back. I'll never forget as long as I live, what happened to me when Mr. Carnegie surprised me and gave me a chance to organize this philosophy? I tried every way 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 a special education. I didn't have the money. I didn't have the influence. I didn't know what the word philosophy man. 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.

But there were silent person 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 what I was waiting for.

He saw that all my mind was on fire with the belief that I could do it, even though I hadn't the slightest effort to give me a beginning, other than my determination that I would get the assets necessary to create this philosophy. And if I had wavered in the slightest, if I had 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.

He would have indicated that I wasn't too determined to do it.

Yes, Mr. Carnegie, you can depend upon me. Thank you completely. And you're living witnesses here? Oh, no. Mr. Carnegie, as long as it's been gone, you're living with this, is that Mr. Carnegie didn't pick wrongly.

He knew what he was about. 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 if you get it, even though you don't know where to make the first stop.

And what does make a great man give me a good definition. What makes a great man or a great moment? Do you have any idea what greatness is beneath the perfect?

Greatness is the ability to recognize the power of your own mind, to embrace it and use it. That's what makes greatness. Then, 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. Embrace ING 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. First, write out a clear statement of your major purpose, saying it committed to memory, and repeat it orally 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 back of you.

Now, I've found from experience, ladies and gentlemen, here is the weakest part in the students activities. They read this. They say what's simple enough, I understand. And what you just go to the trouble writing it out. That way 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 into, or onto paper, and then you must memorize it, and then you must start talking to your subconscious mind about it, and give that subconscious mind a pretty good idea of what it is you want, and it won't hurt. And if you remember the story I told you in the first half of the lesson tonight about what I did to get my $1 million book title, but 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 going to 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. Mighty 98 out of every 100 people taking a cross-section of humanity in general do not know what they want in life and consequently never again they take whatever life hands them. Now, in the day, in addition to your definite major purpose, you can have minor purposes as many as you are providing.

Did 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 motive. As for the things that you are sure you're entitled 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 in a time you are inspired to do so, remembering that infinite intelligence may present you with a better plan than yours, and oftentimes will. If you are definite about what you want.

If any of you ever had a hunch that you couldn't describe, you couldn't explain away. You don't want to hurt you. 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 darndest fool idea today, but that darn good idea.

You know, it might mean $1 million idea if you would have listened to it and have done something about it. I have great respect for these hunches that come to you, because there's something outside of yourself trying to communicate with you. Undoubtedly.

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 the my mind's been dwelling upon, something that I want to do, something that I'm engaged in right out, a clear, definite outline of the plan or plans, and state the maximum of time within which it within which you intend to attain it.

Now that timing is important. Very important. Don't write out your definite major aim at. 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. 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 a 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. And, then after you select, you go back the next day with the harvester and start harvesting. The very next day.

Well, isn't anybody going to catch me up on that one? Wait, what do you wait for? For nature to do. However infinite, intelligent or God, whatever you want, it's all a matter of what you call it. We're talking about the same thing, but there is an intelligence that does its part. If you do your by faith that intelligence is not going to direct you to, nor attract to you the object to your major purpose, I make you know what it is.

And unless you properly time it, it would be quite ridiculous if you started out with only a mediocre talent and said that you're going to make $1 million within the next 30 days, it'd be quite ridiculous. In other words, make your major purpose within reason of what you know. You are able to, to desert and that you keep your major purpose strictly to yourself, except insofar as you will receive further instructions on this subject in the lesson on the master mind.

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, I know 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 going to accomplish more in life than they are, and for no good reason at all.

As you go along, they stick their toes out. And just to see you bow, they'll throw a monkey wrench into your machinery. They don't have monkey wrenches but sand in your gear box, but they will slow you down. Why? Because of the envy of mankind. Now the only way to speak about your major purpose is in action after the fact, not before the fact.

After you have achieved that is, speak for itself. Let it speak for itself. The only way anybody can afford to boast a brag about himself is not by words, but by deeds. And then if you do after deeds are engaged, then you don't need any words. They speak for themselves now, and by making your plan flexible, don't, don't become determined that the plan you worked out is perfect just because you worked it out.

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 best be influenced to work for entertainment while you sleep, your conscious mind is 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 are very enthusiastic about, and especially the things that you are afraid of. It does let those get by. Sometimes who. But generally speaking, if you want to plant an idea in your subconscious mind, you have to do it with an a tremendous amount of faith, tremendous amount of enthusiasm.

You've got to write the conscious mind so that it's stepped aside to let you go through to the subconscious because of your enthusiasm and your faith. And then repetition is a marvelous thing to the conscious mind that finally gets tired of hearing you say a thing over and over and over says, all right, you bound to repeat that?

I can't stand here and watch you forever go on in and take it in up and see what you do with it. That's the way it works, he said. This conscious mind is a very contrary thing, and you know it. It learns all of the things that won't work. Did you know that there's a tremendous stock of things that won't work and things that are not right?

It has a tremendous stock, 800 pieces of string, horseshoes, nails, like some misers. Gather up a whole stock of those things lying around. Useless trash, because it's getting impediment here 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 a do. If you want to, I should say, the healing of your body. Certainly the body needs repairing. Every day when you lay the carcass down for sleep by turn it over to infinite Intelligence and request your subconscious mind to go to work and heal every every cell in your body, every Oregon, and to give you tomorrow morning a perfectly conditioned body in which the mind may function.

Don't go to bed without giving orders to your subconscious mind. Tell us what you want. Get in the habit of feeling what you want. If you keep on long enough to believe you, deliver what you what you asked for. And therefore, you better be careful about what you ask for. Because if you keep on asking for it, you're going to get it.

I wonder if you wouldn't be surprised if you knew right now what you've been asking for back down through the years. 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 in 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 major purpose. First of all, it should represent your greatest purpose in life. The one single purpose which above all, the things 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. I'm not talking about your minor purposes. I'm talking about your major overall purpose, your life long purpose. And believe me, friends, if you don't have an overall lifelong purpose, you're a wasting. You're just wasting the better portion of your life. The way entirely of living is not worth the price you pay for it, unless you really are aiming for some.

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 healing out and attaining your own destiny. And if you don't contain that, if you don't use that mind. I imagine that your life, to a large extent will have been wasted from the viewpoint of the one who sent you over.

Take possession of your mind. Aim high. Don't leave because, in the bank you may not have achieved much it can't achieve in the future. Don't make your future by your past. If you know you're sunk, a new day is coming. You're going to be born again. You're setting up a new pattern. You're in a new world. You're a new person.

I mean, 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 realisation of your own individual power. And a new realization of your own dignity. You as a unit of mankind.

If you ask me what I believe to be the greatest thing of mankind, I bet you'd be surprised with what my answer would be. What would you choose? Me? What do you think the greatest thing of mankind is?

The greatest sin of mankind is neglect to use his greatest asset. That's the greatest thing 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.

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 are. You are the only one that can set up limitations for yourself. Nobody else can do it for you unless you let them.

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

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

If your objective is to acquire material riches. While I don't aim for too high for the first year and get a work out of a 12 month plan within reason and watch how easily you can attain it. And then next year double it. Then next year develop. One's major purpose. Good. Keep a few jumps ahead of him. What's the purpose of that?

Why not, lay out a definite purpose that you can catch up with? Well, just tomorrow he will. Now, obviously, if you do that, your definite major purpose is not going to be very expensive, is it? And you're not going to have the fun of pursuing.

You know, the fun of pursuit is a great thing. Have you found success? Or if you found your objective, then there's no fun in. But you have to turn around and start something else. 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.

He is among the greatest of man's pleasures. Sorry is the man indeed, who is caught up with himself, no longer has anything to do. I found a lot of them. They're all miserable. No, you've got to keep active. Keep doing something, keep working. Keep an objective ahead of you. One's made. Your 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.

That because it is something which should 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 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 feel sorry for that kind of a person that has no no aim beyond just enough to exist on. 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.

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

Now remember that when you start in pursuit of your 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 the planks in the platform number one so-and-so, number two on zone, and somewhere along the right, near the head.

Be sure that you include in your major purpose perfect harmony between yourself and your mate. I think that's important. Do you know of anything more important than that? Do you know of anything, any human relation, to get more important than that of a man and his wife? No, of course you don't. I'll answer that one for you. Nobody does.

And have you ever heard of, a relationship man wife where there was not harmony? Have you ever seen anything like that? Do you have? Yeah. I'll answer that for you. Do I know you have? Not pleasant. Not pleasant. Even be around people who are not in step with one another. But you can be harmonious. And there is where you ought to start applying your mind, your mind relationship for your wife or your husband should be your first match your mind 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 if anything I ever did in my life, but I do enjoy enjoyed as much as courting. It's a wonderful experience. Go back to court the girl over again or the May. Say, wonderful experience. Or if you're not on the right kind of terms with your business associate or your fellow, worker, or you're the people you work with every day, go back and read.

Dedicate yourself to the business of striking up on a new basis. Know you'll be surprised. I've got a little confession on your part. Will do. Wonderfully. The confession is really a marvelous thing. Most people claim they have too much pride to confess to their weaknesses. I tell you, it's a good thing to get that out of it. Get some of the weaknesses out of your system by confession.

Acknowledge that maybe you're not perfect or, well, not perfect, but not entirely perfect. Maybe the other fellows they will complain about. Neither am I. And then you're off to the races. Rededicate yourself to a better relationship. But the people 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 in harmony, in human relations is due to the neglect, the 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 right out your your platform of love.

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 for one plays or relaxes the human relationship.

Blank is the most important one in connection with one's major aim, since the aim is attainable very largely through the cooperation of others. As 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. 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? Do you like to have a friend come around and 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 mighty effective way of doing it. But start in to tell a man where he is wrong.

The chances are that you have business around the corner. The next time he sees you coming, he'll get on the other side of the street.

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 folks. A better thing to do is to talk about a person's, his 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.

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 1st May always prepare himself to attain pretty much any desired purpose in life.

Certainly, when I chose as my major, purposely organizing and taking to the world of the first practical philosophy of individual achievement, it is a way beyond my reach.

And what do you think it was that kept me down through 20 years of unproductive effort of research? What do you think it was that kept me striving and struggling in the 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. With 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, and in the sense it was that I was wasting my time from their viewpoint and their measuring stick and their standards, I was wasting 20 years of my time.

But from the viewpoint of the millions of people who have benefited and will benefit by my work during those 20 years, I was not wasting my time. You can't fail unless you think you can. If you think you can fail and 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 Definite is the purpose may be seen by observing how nature applies it as follows. And there is a great string of applications for the way nature moves with 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 temperatures, they don't subside. You can't go around them. You can't avoid them. And, however, you can learn their nature and adjust yourself 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 holds terror throughout the whole universe.

System of the universe, perhaps, is so definite that everything moves with precision like clockwork. But if you are an example of the necessity of an individuals 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. In the orderliness of the universe and the interrelation of all of the natural laws, the fixation of all of the stars and planets in their movable relationship, the one like the marvelous thing to know that the astronomers can sit down and with a pencil on a piece of paper, predetermined hundreds of years in advance the exact relationship of given planets and

stars right where they will 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 it. I'm giving you that little bit that I picked up from life and from the experiences of men, and for 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 make you one of the most horrible things to contemplate is the possible cessation of natural laws. Imagine all of the chaos, all of the stars and planets running together while 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 will find that if you check these 17 principles, they check perfectly with all of the laws of nature.

We get over to that. The principle of going the extra mile. You will find that nature is found 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 military. She produces enough to take care of all of the damages that may wind the storms. But she produces fish in the sea.

She doesn't just produce enough to perpetuate the fish, he produces enough to feed the bullfrogs and the snakes and the alligators and all the other things that still have a little left to carry out her purpose. She has an abundance of things over abundance, and also she forces man to go the extra mile or else you'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 500 grains to compensating for his intelligence, why would starve to death in one season? If you do your part? Nature does her part and she does it in abundance, in abundance, in super abundance. 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. It may try to penetrate your mind and influence your life. Look around and you'll find examples living examples all around you, 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 daresay 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. And that includes you, too.