law of success lesson 13 - co-operation

8/3/2019 Law of Success Lesson 13 - Co-Operation

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TTHHEE

LLAAWWOOFF

SSUUCCCCEESSSS IN SIXTEEN LESSONS

Teaching, for the First Time in theHistory of the World, the True Philos-ophy upon which all Personal Successis Built.

BYNAPOLEON HILL

1 9 2 8

Ebook version Abundance Prosperity, 2006, All Rights Reserved


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COPYRIGHT, 1928, BY

NAPOLEON HILL

______

Printed in the U.S.A.

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Lesson Thirteen

CO-OPERATION

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YOU have failed many

times? How fortunate!You ought to know, by

now, some of the

things NOT to do.

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THE LAW OF SUCCESS

Lesson Thirteen

CO-OPERATION

"You Can Do It i f You Believe You Can!

CO-OPERATION is the beginning of al l organized

effort . As was stated in the second lesson of thiscourse, Andrew Carnegie accumulated a giganticfortune through the co-operative efforts of a smallgroup of men numbering not more than a score.

You, too, can learn how to use this principle.There are two forms of Co-operation to which

your at tention wil l be directed in this lesson; namely:First , the Co-operation between people who group

themselves together or form all iances for the purposeof at taining a given end, under the principles knownas the Law of the Master Mind.

Second, the Co-operation between the consciousand the subconscious minds, which forms a reasonablehypothesis of man's abil i ty to contact , communicatewith and draw upon inf ini te intel l igence.

To one who has not given serious thought to thissubject , the foregoing hypothesis may seem

unreasonable; but follow the evidence of i ts

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soundness, and study the facts upon which thehypothesis is based, and then draw your ownconclusions.

Let us begin with a brief review of the physical

construction of the body:"We know that the whole body is traversed by a

network of nerves which serve as the channels ofcommunication between the indwell ing spir i tual ego,which we call mind, and the functions of the externalorganism.

"This nervous system is dual. One system, knownas the Sympathetic , is the channel for al l those

activit ies which are not consciously directed by ourvoli t ion, such as the operation of the digestive organs,the repair of the daily wear and tear of the t issues, andthe l ike.

"The other system, known as the Voluntary orCerebro-spinal system, is the channel through whichwe receive conscious perception from the physicalsenses and exercise control over the movements of the

body. This system has its center in the brain, whilethe other has i ts center in the ganglionic mass at the

back of the stomach known as the solar plexus, andsometimes spoken of as the abdominal brain. Thecerebro-spinal system is the channel of our voli t ionalor conscious mental act ion, and the sympatheticsystem is the channel of that mental act ion whichunconsciously supports the vital functions of the

body.

"Thus the cerebro-spinal system is the organ ofthe conscious mind and the sympathetic is that of thesubconscious mind.

"But the interaction of conscious and sub-conscious minds requires a similar interaction betweenthe corresponding systems of nerves, and one

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conspicuous connection by which this is provided isthe "vagus" nerve. This nerve passes out of thecerebral region as a port ion of the voluntary system,and through i t we control the vocal organs; then i t

passes onward to the thorax, sending out branches tothe heart and lungs; and f inally, passing through thediaphragm, i t loses the outer coating whichdist inguishes the nerves of the voluntary system and

becomes identified with those of the sympatheticsystem, so forming a connecting l ink between the twoand making the man physically a single enti ty.

"Similarly different areas of the brain indicate

their connection with the objective and subjectiveactivit ies of the mind respectively, and, speaking in ageneral way, we may assign the frontal port ion of the

brain to the former, and the posterior port ion to thelat ter , while the intermediate port ion partakes of thecharacter of both.

"The intuit ional faculty has i ts correspondence inthe upper area of the brain, si tuated between thefrontal and the posterior port ions, and,

physiologically speaking, i t is here that intuit ive ideasfind entrance. These, at f irst , are more or lessunformed and generalized in character , but are,nevertheless, perceived by the conscious mind;otherwise, we should not be aware of them at al l . Thenthe effort of Nature is to bring these ideas into moredefinite and usable shape, so the conscious mind layshold on them and induces a corresponding vibratory

current in the voluntary system of nerves, and this inturn induces a similar current in the involuntarysystem, thus handing the idea over to the subjectivemind. The vibratory current which had f irst descended

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from the apex of the brain to the frontal brain and thusthrough the voluntary system to the solar plexus isnow reversed and ascends from the solar plexusthrough the sympathetic system to the posterior brain,

this return current indicating the action of thesubjective mind."

If we were to remove the surface port ion of theapex of the brain we should f ind immediately below itthe shining belt of brain substance called the "corpuscallous." This is the point of union between the

subjective and objective , and, as the current returnsfrom the solar plexus to this point , i t is restored to the

objective port ion of the brain in a fresh form which i thas acquired by the si lent alchemy of the subjective

mind. Thus the conception which was at f irst onlyvaguely recognized is restored to the objective mindin a definite and workable form, and then theobjective mind, acting through the frontal brain - thearea of comparison and analysis - proceeds to workupon a clearly perceived idea and to bring out the

potential i t ies that are latent in i t .*The term "subjective mind" is the same as the

term "sub-conscious mind," and the term "objectivemind" is the same as the term "conscious mind."

Please understand these different terms.By studying this dual system through which the

body transmits energy, we discover the exact points atwhich the two systems are connected, and the mannerin which we may transmit a thought f rom the

conscious to the subconscious mind.This Co-operative dual nervous system is the

*J udge T . Towar d , i n The Ed i nbur gh Lec t u r es on Men t a lSc i ence .

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most important form of co-operation known to man;for i t is through the aid of this system that the

principle of evolution carr ies on i ts work ofdeveloping accurate thought, as described in Lesson

Eleven.When you impress any idea on your sub-conscious

mind, through the principle of Auto-suggestion, youdo so with the aid of this dual nervous system : andwhen your sub-conscious mind works out a definite

plan of any desire with which you impress i t , the planis delivered back to your conscious mind through thissame dual nervous system .

This Co-operative system of nerves l i teral lyconsti tutes a direct l ine of communication betweenyour ordinary conscious mind and inf ini teintel l igence.

Knowing, from my own previous experience as abeginner in the study of this subject , how diff icult i tis to accept the hypothesis here described, I wil li l lustrate the soundness of the hypothesis in a simpleway that you can both understand and demonstrate foryourself .

Before going to sleep at night impress upon yourmind the desire to ar ise the next morning at a givenhour, say at four A.M., and if your impression isaccompanied by a posi t ive determination to ar ise atthat hour, your sub-conscious mind will register theimpression and awaken you at precisely that t ime.

Now the question might well be asked:

"If I ran impress my sub-conscious mind with thedesire to ar ise at a specif ied t ime and i t wil l awakenme at that t ime, why do I not form the habit ofimpressing i t with other and more important desires?"

I f you will ask yourself this question, and insistupon an answer, you will f ind yourself very near , i f

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YOU can not scare a man

who is at peace with God,

his fellow men and

himself. There is no room

for fear in such a man's

heart. When fear finds a

welcome there is

something that needs

awakening.

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not on the pathway that leads to the secret door toknowledge , as described in Lesson Eleven.

We will now take up the subject of Co-operation

between men who unite, or group themselves togetherfor the purpose of at taining a given end. In the secondlesson of this course we referred to this sort ofcooperation as organized ef fort .

This course touches some phase of co-operationin practically every lesson. This result was inevitablefor the reason that the object of the course is to helpthe student develop power, and power is developed

only through organized ef fort . We are l iving in an age of co-operative effort .

Nearly al l successful businesses are conducted undersome form of co-operation. The same is true in thefield of industry and f inance, as well as in the

professional field.Doctors and lawyers have their al l iances for

mutual aid and protection in the form of BarAssociat ions and Medical Associat ions.

The bankers have both local and nationalAssociat ions for their mutual aid and advancement.

The retai l merchants have their Associat ions forthe same purpose.

The automobile owners have grouped themselvesinto Clubs and Associat ions.

The Printers have their Associat ions; theplumbers have theirs and the coal dealers have theirs.

Co-operation is the object of al l theseAssociat ions.

The laboring men have their unions and thosewho supply the working capital and superintend the

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efforts of laboring men have their al l iances, undervarious names.

Nations have their co-operative al l iances,al though they do not appear to have yet discovered the

full meaning of co-operation. The at tempt of thelate President Wilson to perfect the League of

Nations, fol lowed by the efforts of the late PresidentHarding to perfect the same idea under the name ofthe World Court , indicates the trend of the t imes inthe direction of co-operation.

I t is slowly becoming obvious to man that thosewho most eff iciently apply the principle of co-

operative effort survive longest , and, that thisprinciple applies from the lowest form of animal l ifeto the highest form of human endeavor.

Mr. Carnegie, and Mr. Rockefeller , and Mr. Fordhave taught the business man the value o f co-operativeeffort ; that is , they have taught al l who cared toobserve, the principle through which they accumulatedvast fortunes.

Co-operation is the very foundation of al lsuccessful leadership. Henry Fords most tangibleasset is the well organized agency force that he hasestablished. This organization not only provides himwith an outlet for al l the automobiles he canmanufacture, but , of greater importance st i l l , i t

provides him with f inancial power suff icient to meetany emergency that may arise, a fact which he hasalready demonstrated on at least one occasion.

As a result of his understanding of the value ofthe co-operative principle Ford has removed himselffrom the usual posit ion of dependence upon f inancialinst i tut ions and at the same t ime provided himself

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with more commercial power than he can possibly use.The Federal Reserve Bank System is another

example of co-operative effort which practicallyinsures the United States against a money panic.

The chain-store systems consti tute another formof commercial co-operation that provides advantagethrough both the purchasing and the distr ibuting endof the business.

The modern department store, which is theequivalent of a group of small stores operating underone roof, one management and one overhead expense,is another i l lustrat ion of the advantage of co-operative

effort in the commercial f ield.In Lesson Fif teen you will observe the

possibil it ies of co-operative effort in its highest formand at the same t ime you will see the important partthat i t plays in the development of power.

As you have already learned, power is organizedeffort . The three most important factors that enter intothe process of organizing effort are:

Concentration,

Co-operation andCo-ordination.

HOW POWER IS DEVELOPED THROUGHCO-OPERATION

As we have already seen, power is organizedeffort or energy. Personal power is developed by

developing, organizing and co-ordinating the facult iesof the mind. This may be accomplished by masteringand applying the f if teen major principles upon whichthis course is founded. The necessary procedure

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through which these principles may be mastered isthoroughly described in the sixteenth lesson.

The development of personal power is but thefirst step to be taken in the development of the

potential power that is available through the mediumof al l ied effort , or co-operation , which may be calledgroup power.

I t is a well known fact that al l men who haveamassed large fortunes have been known as ableorganizers. By this is meant that they possessed theabil i ty to enlist the co-operative efforts of other menwho supplied talent and abil i ty which they,

themselves, did not possess.The chief object of this course is so to unfold the

principles of organized and co-operative or al l iedeffort that the student wil l comprehend theirsignif icance and make them the basis of his

philosophy.Take, as an example, any business or profession

that you choose and you will observe, by analysis, thati t is l imited only by lack of application of organizedand co-operative effort . As an i l lustrat ion, considerthe legal profession.

If a law firm consists of but one type of mind i twil l be greatly handicapped, even though i t may bemade up of a dozen able men of this part icular type.The complicated legal system calls for a greatervariety of talent than any one man could possibly

provide.

I t is evident, therefore, that mere organized effortis not suff icient to insure outstanding success; theorganization must consist of individuals each of whomsupplies some special ized talent which the othermembers of the organization do not possess.

A well organized law firm would include talent

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that was special ized in the preparation of cases; menof vision and imagination who understood how toharmonize the law and the evidence of a case under asound plan. Men who have such abil i ty are not always

possessed of the abili ty to try a case in court ;therefore, men who are proficient in court proceduremust be available. Carrying the analysis a stepfurther , i t wil l be seen that there are many differentclasses of cases which call for men of various types ofspecial ized abil i ty in both the preparation and the tr ialof these cases. A lawyer who had prepared himself asa special ist in corporation law might be wholly

unprepared to handle a case in cr iminal procedure.In forming a law partnership, the man who

understood the principles of organized, co-operativeeffort , would surround himself with talent that wasspecial ized in every branch of law and legal procedurein which he intended to practice. The man who had noconception of the potential power of these principleswould probably select his associates by the usual hitor miss method, basing his selections more upon

personali ty or acquaintanceship than consideration ofthe part icular type of legal talent that each possessed.

The subject of organized ef fort has been coveredin the preceding lessons of this course, but i t is again

brought up in connection with this lesson for thepurpose of indicating the necessi ty of formingall iances or organizations consist ing of individualswho supply all of the necessary talent that may be

needed for the attainment of the object in mind. In nearly al l commercial undertakings, there is a

need for at least three classes of talent; namely,buyers, salesmen and those who are familiar with

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A GOOD stock of self-

confidence and a new suit

of clothes will help you

land a position without

"pull," but remember that

nothing will go so far

toward helping you hold it

as will push, enthusiasm

and determination to do

more than that for which

you are paid.

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f inance. I t wil l be readily seen that when these threeclasses of men organize and co-ordinate their effortsthey avail themselves, through this form of co-operation , of power which no single individual of the

group possesses.Many a business fai ls because al l of the men back

of i t are salesmen, or f inancial men or buyers. Bynature, the most able salesmen are optimist ic ,enthusiast ic and emotional; while able f inancial men,as a rule, are unemotional , deliberate andconservative. Both classes are essential to the successof a commercial enterprise; but ei ther class wil l prove

too much of a load for any business, without themodifying influence of the other class.

I t is generally conceded that James J. Hil l was themost eff icient rai lroad builder that America ever

produced; but i t is equally well known that he was nota civil engineer , nor a bridge builder , nor alocomotive engineer , nor a mechanical engineer , nor achemist , al though these highly special ized classes oftalent are essential in rai lroad building. Mr. Hil lunderstood the principles of organized ef fort and co-operation; therefore, he surrounded himself with menwho possessed al l this necessary abil i ty which helacked.

The modern department store is a splendidexample of organized, co-operative ef fort .

Each merchandising department is under themanagement of one who understands the purchasing

and marketing of the goods carr ied in that department.Back of al l these department managers is a

general staff consist ing of special ists in buying,sell ing, f inancing, and the management of units , orgroups, of people. This form of organized ef fort

places back of each department both buying and

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sel l ingpower such as that department could not affordif i t were separated from the group and had to beoperated under i ts own overhead, in a separatelocation.

The United States of America is one of the r ichestand most powerful nations of the world. Uponanalysis, i t wil l be seen that this enormous power hasgrown out of the co-operative efforts of the states ofthe Union.

I t was for the purpose of saving this power thatthe immortal Lincoln made up his mind to erase theMason and Dixon l ine. The saving of the Union was of

far greater concern to him than was the freedom of theslaves of the South. Had this not been so, the presentstatus of the United States as a power among thenations of the world would be far different from whati t is .

I t was this same principle of co-operative effortthat Woodrow Wilson had in mind when he created his

plan for a League of Nations. He foresaw the need ofsuch a plan as a medium for preventing war betweennations; just as Lincoln foresaw it as a medium forharmonizing the efforts of the people of the UnitedStates, thereby preserving the Union.

Thus i t is seen that the principle of organized, co-operative effort through the aid of which theindividual may develop personal power, is theselfsame principle that must be employed indeveloping group power.

Andrew Carnegie easi ly dominated the steelbusiness during his active connection with thatindustry, for the reason that he took advantage of the

principle of organized, co-operative effort bysurrounding himself with highly special ized f inancialmen, chemists, sales managers, buyers of raw

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materials, t ransportat ion experts and others whoseservices were essential to that industry. He organizedthis group of co-operators into what he called a"Master Mind."

Any great universi ty affords an excellent exampleof the necessi ty of organized, co-operative effort . The

professorate is made up of men and women of highlyspecial ized, though vastly different , abil i ty. Onedepartment is presided over by experts in l i terature;another department by expert mathematicians; anotherdepartment by experts in chemistry; anotherdepartment by experts in economic philosophy;

another department by experts in medicine; another ,by experts in law, etc. The universi ty, as a whole, isthe equivalent of a group of colleges each of which isdirected by experts in i ts own l ine, whose eff iciencyis greatly increased through al l ied or co-operative effort that is directed by a single head.

Analyze power, no matter where, or in what form,it may be found, and you will f ind organization andco-operation as the chief factors back of i t . You willf ind these two principles in evidence in the lowestform of vegetat ion no less than in the highest form ofanimal, which is man.

Off the coast of Norway is the most famous and

irresist ible maelstrom in the world. This greatwhirlpool of ceaseless motion has never been knownto give UP any vict im who was caught in i ts circl ing

embrace of foaming water .No less sure of destruction are those unfortunate

souls who are caught in the great maelstrom of l ifetoward which al l who do not understand the principle

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of organized, co-operative effort are traveling. We areliving in a world in which the law of the survival ofthe f i t test is everywhere in evidence. Those who arefi t are those who have power, and power is

organized ef fort . Unfortunate is the person who either through

ignorance, or because of egotism, imagines that he cansail this sea of l i fe in the frai l bark of independence.Such a person will discover that there are maelstromsmore dangerous than any mere whirlpool of unfr iendlywaters. All natural laws and al l of Nature 's plans are

based upon harmonious, co-operative effort , as al l

who have at tained high places in the world havediscovered.

Wherever people are engaged in unfr iendlycombat, no matter what may be i ts nature, or i ts cause,one may observe the nearness of one of thesemaelstroms that awaits the combatants.

Success in l ife cannot be at tained except throughpeaceful , harmonious, co-operative effort . Nor cansuccess be at tained single-handed or independently.Even though a man l ive as a hermit in the wilderness,far from all signs of civil izat ion, he is , nevertheless,dependent upon forces outside of himself for anexistence. The more he becomes a part of civil izat ionthe more dependent upon co-operative effort he

becomes.Whether a man earns his l iving by days' work or

from the interest on the fortune he has amassed, bee

will earn i t with less opposit ion through fr iendly co-operation with others. Moreover, the man whose

philosophy is based upon co-operation instead ofcompeti t ion wil l not only acquire the necessi t ies andthe luxuries of l i fe with less effort , but he wil l enjoy

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an extra reward in happiness such as others wil l neverfeel .

Fortunes that are acquired through co-operative effort inf l ict no scars upon the hearts of their owners,

which is more than can be said of fortunes that areacquired through confl ict and competi t ive methodsthat border on extort ion.

The accumulation of material wealth, whether theobject is that of bare existence or luxury, consumesmost of the t ime that we put into this earthly struggle.If we cannot change this material ist ic tendency ofhuman nature, we can, at least , change the method of

pursuing i t by adopting co-operation as the basis ofthe pursuit .

Co-operation offers the two-fold reward ofproviding one with both the necessit ies and theluxuries of l i fe and the peace of mind which thecovetous never know. The avaricious and covetous

person may amass a great fortune in material wealth;there is no denying this fact; but he wil l have sold hissoul for a mess of pottage in the bargain.

Let us keep in mind the fact that al l success isbased upon power, and power grows out of knowledge,that has been organized and expressed in terms ofACTION.

The world pays for but one kind of knowledge,and that is the kind which is expressed in terms ofconstructive service. In addressing the graduatingclass of a business college one of the best known

bankers in America said:"You ought to feel proud of your diplomas,

because they are evidence that you have beenpreparing yourselves for action in the great f ield ofbusiness.

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QUIBBLING" over salary "to

start with" has lost many a

man the big opportunity of

a life-time. If the position

you seek is one that you

know you can throw your

whole heart into, take it,

even if you have to work for

nothing until you deliver a

good sample of your

"goods." Thereafter you will

receive pay in proportion to

the quality and quantity of

the work you perform.

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One of the advantages of a business collegetraining is that i t prepares you for action! Not to

beli t t le other methods of education, but to exalt themodern business college method, I am reminded to say

that there are some colleges in which the majori ty ofthe students are preparing for practically everythingelse except action.

You came to this business college with but oneobject in view, and that object is to learn to renderservice and earn a l iving. The latest style of clothinghas been of l i t t le interest to you because you have

been preparing yourself for work in which clothes of

the latest style wil l play no important part . You didnot come here to learn how to pour tea at an af ternoon

party nor to become masters at affecting friendlinesswhile inwardly feeling envy for those who wear f inergowns and drive costly motor cars - you came here tolearn how to work!

In the graduating class before which this manspoke were thir teen boys, al l of whom were so poorthat they had barely enough money with which to paytheir way. Some of them were paying their own way

by working before and after school hours.That was twenty-f ive years ago. Last summer, I

met the president of the business college which theseboys attended and he gave me the history of each oneof them, from the t ime that they graduated unti l thetime when I talked to him. One of them is the

president of one of the big wholesale drug companies,

and a wealthy man; one is a successful lawyer; twoown large business colleges of their own; one is a

professor in the department of economics in one of thelargest universi t ies in America; one is the president of

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one of the large automobile manufacturing companies;two are presidents of banks, and wealthy men; one isthe owner of a large department store; one is the vice-

president of one of the great rai lway systems of the

country; one is a well established Cert if ied PublicAccountant; one is dead; and the thir teenth iscompiling this Reading Course on the Law of Success.

Eleven successes out of a class of thir teen boys isnot a bad record, thanks to the spir i t of action developed by that business college training.

I t is not the schooling you have had that counts;i t is the extent to which you express that which you

learned from your schooling through well organizedand intel l igently directed action.

By no means would I beli t t le higher education,but I would offer hope and encouragement to thosewho have had no such education, provided theyexpress that which they know, be i t ever so l i t t le , inintensive action, a long constructive l ines.

One of the greatest Presidents who ever occupiedthe White House had but l i t t le schooling, but he didsuch a good job of expressing what knowledge heacquired by that l i t t le schooling, through properlydirected action , that his name has been inseparablywoven into the history of the United States.

Every ci ty, town and hamlet has i ts population ofthose well known characters called ne 'er-do-wells,and if you will analyze these unfortunate people, youwill observe that one of their outstanding features is

procrastinat ion. Lack of action has caused them to sl ip backward

unti l they got into a rut , where they will remain

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unless, through accident, they are forced out into theopen road of struggle where unusual action wil l

become necessary.Don't let yourself get into such a condit ion.

Every off ice, and every shop, and every bank, andevery store, and every other place of employment hasits outstanding vict ims of procrastination who aredoing the goose-step down the dusty road of failure

because they have not developed the habit ofexpressing themselves in action.

You can pick out these u nfortunates al l about youif you will begin to analyze those with whom you

come in contact each day. If you will talk to them youwill observe that they have buil t up a false philosophysomewhat of this nature:

I am doing al l I am paid to do, and I am gett ingby.

Yes, they are gett ing by - but that is al l theyare gett ing.

Some years ago, at a t ime when labor was scarceand wages unusually high, I observed scores of able-

bodied men lying about in the parks of Chicago, doingnothing. I became curious to know what sort of analibi they would offer for their conduct, so I went outone afternoon and interviewed seven of them.

With the aid of a generous supply of cigars andcigarettes and a l i t t le loose change I bought myselfinto the confidence of those whom I interviewed andthereby gained a rather int imate view of their

philosophy. All gave exactly the same reason forbeing there, without employment. They said: Theworld wil l not give me a chance!!!

The exclamation points are my own.

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Think of i t - the world would not give them achance.

Of course the world wouldn't give them a chance.I t never g ives anyone a chance. A man who wants

a chance may create i t through action, but if he waitsfor someone to hand i t to him on a si lver plat ter hewill meet with disappointment.

I fear that this excuse that the world does not give a man a chance is quite prevalent , and I stronglysuspect that i t is one of the commonest causes of

poverty and fai lure.The seventh man that I interviewed on that well-

spent af ternoon was an unusually f ine lookingspecimen, physically. He was lying on the groundasleep, with a newspaper over his face. When I l i f tedthe paper from his face, he reached up, took i t out ofmy hands, put i t back over his face and went r ight onsleeping.

Then I used a l i t t le strategy by removing thepaper from his face and placing i t behind me, wherehe could not get i t . He then sat up on the ground and Iinterviewed him. That fel low was a graduate from twoof the great universi t ies of the east , with a master 'sdegree from one, and a Ph.D. from the other .

His story was pathetic .He had held job after job, but always his

employer or his fel low employee had i t in for him.He hadn't been able to make them see the value of hiscollege training. They wouldn't give him a chance.

Here was a man who might have been at the headof some great business, or the outstanding f igure inone of the professions had he not buil t his house uponthe sands of procrastination and held to the false be-

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l ief that the world should pay him for what he knew! Luckily, most college graduates do not build upon

such f l imsy foundations, because no college on earthcan crown with success the man who tr ies to collect

for that which he knows instead of that which he cando with what he knows.

The man to whom I have referred was from one ofthe best known families of Virginia. He traced hisancestry back to the landing of the Mayflower. Hethrew back his shoulders, pounded himself on the

breast with his f ist and said: Just think of i t , sir! Iam a son of one of the f irst families of old Virginia!

My observations lead me to believe that being theson of a f irst family is not always fortunate foreither the son or the family. Too often these sons offirst families try to sl ide home from third base ontheir family names. This may be only a peculiar notionof mine, but I have observed that the men and womenwho are doing the world's work have but l i t t le t ime,and less inclination, to brag about their ancestry.

Not long ago I took a trip back to southwestVirginia, where I was born. I t was the f irst t ime I had

been there in over twenty years. It was a sad sight tocompare the sons of some of those who were known as"first families" twenty years ago, with the sons ofthose who were but plain men who made i t their

business to express themselves in action of the mostintensive nature.

The comparison ref lected no credit upon the f irst

family boys! I t is with no feeling of exaltat ion that Iexpress my grati tude for not having been brought intothe world by parents who belonged to the f irstfamily class. That , of course, was not a matter of

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HERE'S a good joke to playon your employer: Get toyour work a little earlierand leave a little later thanyou are supposed to.

Handle his tools as if theybelonged to you. Go out ofyour way to say a kindword about him to yourfellow-workers. When thereis extra work that needs to

be done, volunteer to do it.Do not show surprise whenhe gets on to you andoffers you the head of thedepartment or a partnershipin the business, for this isthe best part of the joke.

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choice with me, and if i t had been perhaps I , too,would have selected parents of the f irst family type.

Not long ago I was invited to deliver an addressin Boston, Mass. After my work was f inished, a

reception committee volunteered to show me thesights of the ci ty, including a tr ip to Cambridge,where we visi ted Harvard Universi ty. While there, Iobserved many sons of f irst families - some ofwhom were equipped with Packards. Twenty years agoI would have fel t proud to be a student at Harvard,with a Packard car , but the i l luminating effect of mymore mature years has led me to the conclusion that

had I had the privilege of going to Harvard I mighthave done just as well without the aid of a Packard.

I noticed some Harvard boys who had noPackards. They were working as waiters in arestaurant where I ate , and as far as I could see theywere missing nothing of value because they owned noPackards; nor did they seem to be suffering bycomparison with those who could boast of theownership of parents of the f irst family type.

All of which is no ref lection upon HarvardUniversi ty - one of the great universi t ies of the world- nor upon the f irst families who send boys toHarvard. To the contrary, i t is intended as a bit ofencouragement to those unfortunates who, l ike myself ,have but l i t t le and know but l i t t le , but express whatl i t t le they know in terms of constructive, usefulaction.

The psychology of inaction is one of the chiefreasons why some towns and ci t ies are dying with thedry-rot!

Take the ci ty of X, for example. You'l l recognizethe ci ty by i ts description, if you are familiar with

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this part of the country. Sunday blue-laws have closedup al l the restaurants on Sunday. Railroad trains mustslow down to twelve miles an hour while passingthrough the ci ty. Keep off the grass signs are

prominently displayed in the parks. Unfavorable ci tyordinances of one sort or another have driven the bestindustr ies to other ci t ies. On every hand one may seeevidence of restraint . The people of the streets showsigns of restraint in their faces, and in their manner,and in their walk.

The mass psychology of the ci ty is negative.The moment one gets off the train at the depot,

this negative atmosphere becomes depressinglyobvious and makes one want to take the next train outagain. The place reminds one of a grave-yard and the

people resemble walking ghosts.They register no signs of action! The bank statements of the banking inst i tut ions

reflect this negative, inactive s tate of mind. The storesreflect i t in their show windows and in the faces oftheir salespeople. I went into one of the stores to buya pair of hose. A young woman with bobbed hair whowould have been a f lapper if she hadn't been toolazy, threw out a box of hose on the counter . When I

picked up the box, looked the hose over and registereda look of disapproval on my face, she languidlyyawned:

They're the best you can get in this dump!Dump! She must have been a mind reader, for

dump was the word that was in my mind before shespoke. The store reminded me of a rubbish dump; thecity reminded me of the same. I fel t the stuff gett inginto my own blood. The negative psychology of the

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people was actually reaching out and gathering me in.Maine is not the only state that is aff l icted with a

city such as the one I have described. I could nameothers, but I might wish to go into poli t ics some day;

therefore, I wil l leave i t to you to do your ownanalyzing and comparing of ci t ies that are al ive withaction and those that are slowly dying with the dry-rotof inaction.

I know of some business concerns that are in thissame state of inaction, but I wil l omit their names.You probably know some, too.

Many years ago Frank A. Vanderl ip, who is one

of the best known and most capable bankers inAmerica, went to work for the National City Bank, of

New York City.His salary was above the average from the star t ,

for the reason that he was capable and had a record ofsuccessful achievement that made him a valuable man.

He was assigned to a private off ice that wasequipped with a f ine mahogany desk and an easychair . On the top of the desk was an electr ic push

button that led to a secretary's desk outside.The f irst day went by without any work coming to

his desk. The second, and third, and fourth days wentby without any work. No one came in or said anythingto him.

By the end of the week he began to feel uneasy.(Men of action a lways feel uneasy when there is nowork in sight .)

The following week Mr. Vanderl ip went into thepresident 's office and said, Look here, you are paying

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me a big salary and giving me nothing to do and i t isgrating on my nerves!

The president looked up with a l ively twinkle inhis keen eyes.

Now I have been thinking, Mr. Vanderl ipcontinued, while si t t ing in there with nothing to do,of a plan for increasing the business of this bank.

The president assured him that both thinkingand plans were valuable, and asked him to continuewith his interview.

I have thought of a plan, Mr. Vanderl ip wenton, that wil l give the bank the benefi t of my

experience in the bond business. I propose to create abond department for this bank and advert ise i t as afeature of our business.

What! this bank advert ise? queried thepresident. Why, we have never advert ised since webegan business. We have managed to get alongwithout i t .

Well , this is where you are going to beginadvert ising, said Mr. Vanderl ip, and the f irst thingyou are going to advert ise is this new bond departmentthat I have planned.

Mr. Vanderl ip won! Men of action usually win -that is one of their dist inctive features. The NationalCity Bank also won, because that interview was the

beginning of one of the most progressive andprofi table advert ising campaigns ever carried on byany bank, with the result that the National City Bank

became one of the most powerful financial inst i tut ionsof America.

There were other results , also, that are worthnaming. Among them the result that Mr. Vanderl ipgrew with the bank, as men of action usually grow in

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whatever they help to build, unti l f inally he becamethe president of that great banking house.

In the lesson on Imagination you learned how torecombine old ideas into new plans, but no matter how

practical your plans may be they will be useless ifthey are not expressed in action . To dream dreams andsee visions of the person you would l ike to be or thestat ion in l ife you would l ike to obtain are admirable

provided you transform your dreams and visions intoreali ty through intensive action.

There are men who dream, but do nothing more.There are others who take the visions of the dreamers

and translate them into stone, and marble, and music,and good books, and rai lroads, and steamships. Thereare st i l l others who both dream and transform thesedreams into reali ty. They are the dreamer-doer types.

There is a psychological as well as an economicreason why you should form the habit of intensiveaction. Your body is made up of bil l ions of t iny cellsthat are highly sensit ive and amenable to the influenceof your mind. If your mind is of the lethargic, inactive type, the cells of your body become lazy and inactivealso. Just as the stagnant water of an inactive pond

becomes impure and unhealthful , so wil l the cells ofan inactive body become diseased.

Laziness is nothing but the influence of aninactive mind on the cells of the body. If you doubtthis, the next t ime you feel lazy take a Turkish bathand have yourself well rubbed down, thereby

stimulating the cells of your body by art if icial means,and see how quickly your laziness disappears. Or, a

better way than this, turn your mind toward somegame of which you are fond and notice how quickly

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EVERY failure will teach

you a lesson that you need

to learn if you will keep

your eyes and ears open

and be willing to be taught.

Every adversity is usually a

blessing in disguise.

Without reverses andtemporary defeat, you

would never know the sort

of metal of which you are

made.

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the cells of your body will respond to your enthusiasmand your lazy feeling wil l disappear.

The cells of the body respond to the s tate of mindin exactly the same manner that the people of a ci ty

respond to the mass psychology that dominates thecity. If a group of leaders engage in suff icient action to give a ci ty the reputation of being a l ive-wirecity this action inf luences al l who l ive there. Thesame principle applies to the relat ionship between themind and the body. An active , dynamic mind keeps thecells of which the physical port ions of the bodyconsist , in a constant state of activi ty.

The art if icial condit ions under which mostinhabitants of our ci t ies l ive have led to a physicalcondit ion known as auto-intoxication, which meansself-poisoning through the inactive state of theintest ines. Most headaches may be cured in an hourst ime by simply cleansing the lower intest ines with anenema.

Eight glasses of water a day and a reasonableamount of physical action popularly known asexercise wil l take the place of the enema. Try i t fora week and then you will not have to be urged to keepit up, for you will feel l ike a new person, unless thenature of your work is such that you get plenty of

physical exercise and drink plenty of water in theregular course of your duties.

On two pages of this book enough sound advicecould be recorded to keep the average person healthy

and ready for action during sixteen of the twenty-fourhours of the day, but the advice would be so simplethat most people would not follow i t .

The amount of work that I perform every day andsti l l keep in good physical condit ion is a source of

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wonderment and mystery to those who know meintimately, yet there is no mystery to i t , and thesystem I follow does not cost anything.

Here i t is , for your use if you want i t :

First: I dr ink a cup of hot water when I f irst getup in the morning, before I have breakfast .

Second: My breakfast consists of rolls made ofwhole wheat and bran, breakfast cereal , f ruit , soft-

boiled eggs once in a while, and coffee. For luncheonI eat vegetables (most any kind), whole wheat breadand a glass of buttermilk. Supper, a well cooked steakonce or twice a week, vegetables, especial ly let tuce,

and coffee.Third: I walk an average of ten miles a day: f ive

miles into the country and f ive miles back, using thisperiod for meditat ion and thought. Perhaps thethinking is as valuable, as a health builder , as thewalk.

Fourth: I l ie across a straight bottom chair , f laton my back, with most of my weight rest ing on thesmall of my back, with my head and arms relaxedcompletely, unti l they almost touch the f loor. Thisgives the nervous energy of my body an opportunity to

balance properly and distr ibute i tself , and ten minutesin this posit ion wil l completely rel ieve al l signs offat igue, no matter how tired I may be.

Fif th: I take an enema at least once every tendays, and more often if I feel the need of i t , usingwater that is a l i t t le below blood temperature, with a

tablespoonful of sal t in i t , chest and knee posit ion.Sixth: I take a hot shower bath, fol lowed

immediately by a cold shower, every day, usually inthe morning when I f irst get up.

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These simple things I do for myself . MotherNature at tends to everything else necessary for myhealth.

I cannot lay too much stress upon the importance

of keeping the intest ines clean, for i t is a well knownfact that the ci ty dwellers of today are l i teral ly

poisoning themselves to death by neglecting tocleanse their intest ines with water . You should notwait unti l you are constipated to take an enema. Whenyou get to the stage of constipation you are practicallyi l l and immediate rel ief is absolutely essential , but ifyou will give yourself the proper at tention regularly,

just as you at tend to keeping the outside of your bodyclean, you will never be bothered with the manytroubles which constipation brings.

For more than f if teen years no single week everpassed without my having a headache. Usually Iadministered a dose of aspir in and got temporaryrelief . I was suffering with auto-intoxication and didnot know it , for the reason that I was not constipated.

When I found out what my trouble was I did twothings, both of which I recommend to you; namely, Iquit using aspirin and I cut down my dailyconsumption of food nearly one half .

Just a word about aspir in - a word which thosewho profi t by i ts sale wil l not l ike - i t affords no

permanent cure of headache. All i t does might becompared to a l ineman that cuts the telegraph wirewhile the operator is using that wire in a call for aid

from the f ire department to save the burning buildingin which he is located. Aspir in cuts or deadens theline of nerve communication that runs from thestomach or the intest inal region, where auto-intoxication is pouring poison into the blood, to the

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brain, where the effect of that poison is register ing i tscall in the form of intense pain.

Cutt ing the telegraph l ine over which a call forthe f ire department is being sent does not put out the

fire; nor does i t remove the cause to deaden, with theaid of a dose of aspir in, the nerve l ine over which aheadache is register ing a call for help.

You cannot be a person of action i f you permityourself to go without proper physical at tention unti lauto-intoxication takes your brain and kneads i t intoan inoperative mass that resembles a ball of putty.

Neither can you be a person of action i f you eat the

usual devital ized concoction called "white bread"(which has had al l the real food value removed fromit) and twice as much meat as your system can digestand properly dispose of .

You cannot be a person of action i f you run to thepil l bott le every t ime you have, or imagine you have,an ache or a pain, or swallow an aspir in tablet everytime your intest ines call on your brain for a douche

bag of water and a spoonful of sal t for cleansingpurposes.

You cannot be a person of action i f you overeat and under-exercise.

You cannot be a person of action i f you read thepatent medicine booklets and begin to imagineyourself ai l ing with the symptoms described by theclever advert isement writer who has reached your

pocket book through the power of suggestion.

I have not touched a drug for more than f iveyears, and I have not been ei ther sick or ai l ing duringthat t ime, in spite of the fact that I perform more workeach day than most men of my profession. I have

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enthusiasm, endurance and action because I eat thesort of simple food that contains the body-buildingelements that I require, and look after the el iminative

processes as carefully as I bathe my body.

If these simple and frank admissions appeal toyou as being based upon common sense, take them and

put them to the test , and if they serve you as well asthey are serving me, both of us wil l have profi ted bythe courage I had to summon to l ist them as a part ofthis lesson.

Usually, when anyone except a physician offerssuggestions on the care of the body, he is immediately

catalogued as a long-haired crank, and I wil l admitthat the analysis is often correct . In this instance, Imake no stronger recommendations than this:

That you try an enema the next t ime you have a

headache, and if any of the other suggestions appealto you give them a tr ial unti l you are sat isf ied thatthey are ei ther sound or unsound.

Before leaving the subject , perhaps I shouldexplain that water which is barely luke-warm should

be used for the enema for the reason that this causesthe muscles of the intest ines to contract , which, inturn, forces the poisonous matter out of the pores ofthe mucous l inings. This exercises those muscles andeventually, i t wil l so develop them that they will dotheir work in the natural way, without the aid of theenema. A warm water enema is very detr imental forthe reason that i t relaxes the muscles of the intest ines,

which, in t ime, causes them to cease functioningaltogether , producing what is ordinari ly referred to asthe enema habit .

With due apologies to my fr iends, the physicians

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AN occasional mis-

fortune is a good

thing. It reminds us

that no one has ab-

solute independence.

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and osteopaths and chiropractors and other healthbuilders, I wil l now invite you back to that part of thesubject of this lesson over which there can be noconflict of opinion as to the soundness of my counsel .

There is another enemy which you must conquer

before you can become a person of action , and that isthe worry habit .

Worry, and envy, and jealousy, and hatred, anddoubt, and fear are al l states of mind which are fatalto action.

Any of these states of mind will interfere with,

and in some instances destroy al together , the digestiveprocess through which the food is ass imilated andprepared for distribution through the body. Thisinterference is purely physical , but the damage doesnot stop here, because these negative states of minddestroy the most essential factor in the achievement of

success ; namely, desire to achieve.In the second lesson of this course you learned

that your defini te chief aim in l ife should be supportedby a burning desire for i ts realization. You can haveno burning desire for achievement when you are in anegative state of mind, no matter what the cause ofthat state of mind may be.

To keep myself in a posit ive frame of mind I havediscovered a very effective gloom-chaser . That maynot be a very dignif ied way of expressing my meaning,

but since the subject of this lesson is action and not

dignity I wil l make i t serve. The gloom-chaser towhich I refer is a hearty laugh. When I feel out ofsorts or inclined to argue with somebody over

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something that is not worthy of discussion, I knowthat I need my gloom-chaser , and I proceed to getaway where I wil l disturb no one and have a goodhearty laugh. If I can f ind nothing really funny about

which to laugh I simply have a forced laugh. Theeffect is the same in both cases.

Five minutes of this sort of mental and physicalexercise - for i t is both - wil l st imulate action that isfree from negative tendencies.

Do not take my word for this - t ry i t!Not long ago I heard a phonograph record

enti t led, as I recall i t , The Laughing Fool, which

should be available to al l whose dignity forbids themto indulge in a hearty laugh for their health 's sake.This record was al l that i ts name implies. I t was made

by a man and a woman; the man was trying to play acornet and the woman was laughing at him. Shelaughed so effectively that she f inally made the manlaugh, and the suggestion was so pronounced that al lwho heard i t usually joined in and had a good laugh,whether they fel t l ike i t or not .

"As a man thinketh in his heart , so is he."You cannot think fear and act courageously. You

cannot think hatred and act in a kindly manner towardthose with whom you associate. The dominatingthoughts of your mind - meaning by this, the strongestand deepest and most frequent of your thoughts -influence the physical act ion of your body.

Every thought put into action by your brain

reaches and influences every cell in your body. Whenyou think fearyour mind telegraphs this thought downto the cells that form the muscles of your legs andtells those muscles to get into action and carry you

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away as rapidly as they can. A man who is afraid runsaway because his legs carry him, and they carry him

because the fear thought in his mind instructed themto do so, even though the instructions were given

unconsciously.In the f irst lesson of this course you learned how

thought t ravels from one mind to another , through theprinciple of telepathy. In this lesson you should go astep further and learn that your thoughts not onlyregister themselves in the minds of other people,through the principle of telepathy, but , what is amill ion t imes more important to you to understand,

they register themselves on the cells of your own bod yand affect those cells in a manner that harmonizes

with the nature of the thoughts.

To understand this principle is to understand thesoundness of the statement: "As a man thinketh in hisheart , so is he."

Action , in the sense that the term is used in thislesson, is of two forms. One is physical and the otheris mental . You can be very active with your mindwhile your body is entirely inactive, except as to theinvoluntary action of the vital organs. Or you can bevery active with both body and mind.

In speaking of men of action , e i ther or both oftwo types may be referred to. One is the care-takertype and the other is the promoter or salesman type.Both of these types are essential in modem business,industry and f inance. One is known as a "dynamo"

while the other is often referred to as a "balancewheel."

Once in a great while you will f ind a man who isboth a dynamo and a balance wheel , but such well

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balanced personalit ies are rare. Most successfulbusiness organizations that assume great size are madeup of both of these types.

The balance wheel who does nothing but

compile facts and f igures and stat ist ics is just as mucha man of action as the man who goes upon the

platform and sells an idea to a thousand people by thesheer power of his active personali ty. To determinewhether a man is a man of action or not i t is necessaryto analyze both his mental and his physical habits .

In the f irst part of this lesson I said that theworld pays you for what you do and not for what you

know. That statement might easi ly be misconstrued.What the world really pays you for is what you do orwhat you can get others to do.

A man who can induce others to co-operate anddo effective team-work, or inspire others so that they

become more active , is no less a man of action thanthe man who renders effective service in a more directmanner.

In the f ield of industry and business there aremen who have the abil i ty so to inspire and direct theefforts of others that al l under their directionaccomplish more than they could without thisdirecting influence. I t is a well known fact thatCarnegie so ably directed the efforts of those whoconsti tuted his personal staff that he made manywealthy men of those who would never have becomewealthy without the directing genius of his brain. The

same may be said o f practically al l great leaders in thefield of industry and business - the gain is not al l onthe side of the leaders. Those under their directionoften profi t most by their leadership.

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I t is a common practice for a certain type of manto berate his employers because of their oppositestat ions in a f inancial sense. I t is usually true thatsuch men would be infinitely worse off without these

employers than they are with them.In the f irst lesson of this course the value of

all ied effort was part icularly emphasized for thereason that some men have the vision to plan whileothers have the abil i ty to carry plans into action a l though they do not possess the imagination or thevision to create the plans they execute.

I t was his understanding of this principle of al l ied

effort that enabled Andrew Carnegie to surroundhimself with a group of men that was made up of thosewho could plan and those who could execute. Carnegie

bad in his group of assistants some of the mosteff icient salesmen in the world, but if his entire staffhad been made up of men who could do nothing butsell he could never have accumulated the fortune thathe did. If his entire staff had been made up ofsalesmen only he would have had action in abundance,

but action , in the sense that i t is used in this lesson,must be intel l igently guided.

One of the best known law firms in America ismade up of two lawyers, one of whom never appearsin court . He prepares the f irm's cases for tr ial and theother member of the f irm goes to court and tr ies them.Both are men of intense action , but they express i t indifferent ways.

There can be as much action in preparation , inmost undertakings, as in execution.

In f inding your own place in the world, youshould analyze yourself and f ind out whether you are

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THOUSANDS of peoplewalked over the great

Calumet Copper Mine

without discovering it. Just

one lone man got busy with

a pick and found it. You

may be standing on your

"Calumet Mine" right now,

without knowing it, in

whatever position you are

filling. Dig down and see

what is under the surface of

your position.

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a "dynamo" or a "balance wheel ," and select a defini techief aim for yourself that harmonizes with yournative abil i ty. If you are in business with others, youshould analyze them as well as you rself , and endeavor

to see that each person takes the part for which histemperament and native abil i ty best f i t him.

Stating i t another way, people may be classif iedunder two headings: one is the promoter and the otheris the care-taker . The promoter type makes an ablesalesman and organizer . The care-taker type makes anexcellent conserver of assets af ter they have beenaccumulated.

Place the care-taker type in charge of a set ofbooks and he is happy, but place him on the outsidesell ing and he is unhappy and will be a fai lure at his

job. Place the promoter in charge of a set of books andhe will be miserable. His nature demands more intenseaction . Action of the passive type wil l not sat isfy hisambitions, and if he is kept at work which does notgive him the action his nature demands be wil l be afai lure. I t very frequently turns out that men whoembezzle funds in their charge are of the promotertype and they would not have yielded to temptationhad their efforts been confined to the work for whichthey are best f i t ted.

Give a man the sort of work that harmonizes withhis nature and the best there is in him will exert i tself .One of the outstanding tragedies of the world is thefact that most people never engage in the work for

which they are best f i t ted by nature.Too often the mistake is made, in the selection of

a l ife-work, of engaging in the work which seems tobe the most profi table from a monetary viewpoint,

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without consideration of native abil i ty. If money alonebrought success this procedure would be al l r ight , butsuccess in i ts highest and noblest form calls for peaceof mind and enjoyment and happiness which come

only to the man who has found the work that he l ikesbest .

The main purpose of this course is to help youanalyze yourself and determine what your nativeabil i ty best f i ts you to do. You should make thisanalysis by carefully studying the chart thataccompanies the Introductory Lesson before you selectyour defini te chief aim.

We come, now, to the discussion of the principlethrough which action may be developed. Tounderstand how to become active requiresunderstanding of how not to procrastinate.

These suggestions wil l give you the necessaryinstructions:

First: Form the habit of doing each day the mostdistasteful tasks f irst . This procedure wil l be diff icultat f irst , but af ter you have formed the habit you willtake pride in pitching into the hardest and mostundesirable part of your work f irst .

Second: Place this sign in front of you where youcan see i t in your daily work, and put a copy in your

bedroom, where i t will greet you as you retire andwhen you arise: Do not tel l them what you can do;

show them!

Third: Repeat the following words, aloud, twelve

times each night just before you go to sleep:"Tomorrow I wil l do everything that should be done,when i t should be done, and as i t should be done. Iwil l perform the most diff icult tasks f irst because this

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will destroy the habit of procrast ination and developthe habit of act ion in i ts place."

Fourth: Carry out these instructions with fai th intheir soundness and with belief that they will develop

action , in body and in mind, suff icient to enable youto realize your defini te chief aim.

The outstanding feature of this course is thesimplici ty of the style in which i t is writ ten. All greatfundamental truths are simple, in f inal analysis, andwhether one is delivering an address or writ ing acourse of instruction, the purpose should be to conveyimpressions and statements of fact in the clearest and

most concise manner possible.Before closing this lesson, permit me to go back

to what was said about the value of a hearty laugh as ahealthful st imulant to action , and add the statementthat singing produces the same effect , and in someinstances is far preferable to laughing.

Bil ly Sunday is one of the most dynamic andactive preachers in the world, yet i t has been said thathis sermons would lose much of their effectiveness ifi t were not for the psychological effect of his songservices.

I t is a well known fact that the German army wasa winning army at the beginning, and long after the

beginning of the world war; and i t has been said thatmuch of this was due to the fact that the German armywas a singing army. Then came the khaki-claddoughboys from America, and they, too, were singers.

Back of their singing was an enduring fai th in thecause for which they were f ighting. Soon the Germans

began to quit singing, and as they did so the t ide ofwar began to turn against them.

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If church at tendance had nothing else torecommend i t , except the psychological effect of thesong service, that would be suff icient , for no one can

join in the singing of a beautiful hymn without feeling

better for i t .For many years I have observed that I could write

more effectively af ter having part icipated in a songservice. Prove my statement to your own satisfaction

by going to church next Sunday morning andparticipating in the song service with al l theenthusiasm at your command.

During the war I helped devise ways and means of

speeding production in industr ial plants that wereengaged in manufacturing war supplies. By actual test ,in a plant employing 3,000 men and women, the

production was increased forty-five per cent in lessthan thir ty days af ter we had organized the workersinto singing groups and instal led orchestras and bandsthat played at ten-minute intervals such st irr ing songsas Over There, and Dixie; and There ' l l Be a HotTime in the Old Town Tonight. The workers caughtthe rhythm of the music and speeded up their workaccordingly.

Properly selected music would st imulate any classof workers to greater action , a fact which does notseem to be understood by al l who direct the efforts oflarge numbers of people.

In al l my travels I have found but one businessfirm whose managers made use of music as a st imulant

for their workers. This was the Filene DepartmentStore, in Boston, Mass. During the summer monthsthis store provides an orchestra that plays the latestdance music for half an hour before opening t ime, in

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the morning. The salespeople use the aisles of thestore for dancing and by the t ime the doors are thrownopen they are in an active s tate of mind and body thatcarr ies them through the entire day.

Incidentally, I have never seen more courteous oreff icient salespeople than those employed by theFilene store. One of the department managers told methat every person in his department performed moreservice and with less real effort , as a result of themorning music program.

A s inging army is a winning army , whether on thefield of batt le , in warfare, or behind the counters in a

department store. There is a book enti t led SingingThrough Life With God by George Wharton James,which I recommend to al l who are interested in the

psychology of song.If I were the manager of an industr ial plant in

which the work was heavy and monotonous, I wouldinstal l some sort of musical program that wouldsupply every worker with music. On lower Broadway,in New York City, an ingenious Greek has discovered

bow to entertain his customers and at the same t imespeed up the work of his helpers by the use of a

phonograph. Every boy in the place keeps t ime withthe music as he draws the cloth across the shoes, andseems to get considerable fun out of his work in doingso. To speed up the work the proprietor has but tospeed up the phonograph.

Any form of group effort , where two or morepeoplee form a co-operative al l iance for the purposeof accomplishing a definite purpose, becomes more

powerful than mere individual effort.

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I DO not know for sure,

but I strongly suspect that

the person who performs

service that is greater in

quantity and better in

quality than that for

which he is paid, is

eventually paid for more

than he performs.

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A football team may win consistently andcontinuously, by well co-ordinated team-work, eventhough the members of the team may be unfriendlyand out of harmony in many ways outside of their

actual work on the ball ground.A group of men composing a board of directors

may disagree with one another; they may beunfriendly, and in no way in sympathy with oneanother , and st i l l carry on a business which appears to

be very successful .A man and his wife may l ive together , accumulate

a fair sized or even a great fortune, rear and educate a

family, without the bond of harmony which isessential for the development of a Master Mind.

But al l of these al l iances might be made morepowerful and effective if based upon a foundation ofperfect harmony, thus permitting the development of asupplemental power known as the Master Mind.

Plain co-operative effort produces power; therecan be no doubt about this; but co-operative effortthat is based upon complete harmony of purposedevelops super-power.

Let every member of any cooperative group sethis heart upon the achievement of the same definiteend, in a spir i t of perfect harmony, and the way has

been paved for the development of a Master Mind,providing all members of the group willinglysubordinate their own personal interests for theattainment of the objective for which the group is

aiming.The United States of America has become one of

the most powerful nations on earth, largely because ofthe highly organized co-operative effort between thestates. I t wil l be helpful to remember that these

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United States were born as the result of one of themost powerful Master Minds ever created. Themembers of this Master Mind were the signers of theDeclarat ion of Independence.

The men who signed that document ei therconsciously or unconsciously put into operation the

power known as the Master Mind, and that powerwas suff icient to enable them to defeat al l the soldierswho were sent into the f ield against them. The menwho fought to make the Declarat ion of Independenceendure did not f ight for money, alone; they fought fora principle - the principle of freedom, which is the

highest known motivating force.A great leader , whether in business, f inance,

industry or statesmanship, is one who understandshow to create a motivating objective which will beaccepted with enthusiasm by every member of hisgroup of followers.

In poli t ics a l ive issue is everything!By live issue is meant some popular objective

toward the at tainment of which the majori ty of thevoters can be ral l ied. These issues generally are

broadcast in the form of snappy slogans, such asKeep Cool with Coolidge, which suggested to theminds of the voters that to keep Coolidge was theequivalent of keeping prosperi ty. I t worked!

During Lincoln's election campaign the cry was,Stand back of Lincoln and preserve the Union. I tworked.

Woodrow Wilson's campaign managers, during hissecond campaign, coined the slogan, He kept us outof war, and i t worked.

The degree of power created by the co-operative

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effort of any group of people is measured, always, bythe nature of the motive which the group is laboring toattain. This may be profi tably home in mind by al lwho organize group effort for any purpose whatsoever.

Find a motive around which men may be induced toral ly in a highly emotionalized, enthusiast ic spir i t of

perfect harmony and you have found the start ing pointfor the creation of a Master Mind.

I t is a well known fact that men will work harderfor the at tainment of an ideal than they will for meremoney. In searching for a motive as the basis fordeveloping co-operative group effort i t wil l be

profi table to bear this fact in mind.At the t ime of the writ ing of this lesson there is

much adverse agitat ion and general cr i t icism directedagainst the rai lroads of the country. Who is back ofthis agitat ion this author does not know, but he doesknow that the very fact that such agitat ion existscould and should be made the motivating force aroundwhich the rai lroad off icials might ral ly the hundredsof thousands of rai lroad employees who earn theirl iving by rai lroading, thereby creating a power thatwould effectively el iminate this adverse cr i t icism.

The rai lroads are the very back-bone of thecountry. Tie up al l rai lroad service and the people ofthe larger ci t ies would starve before food could reachthem. In this fact may be found a motive around whicha large majori ty of the public could be caused to ral lyin support of any plan for self-protection which the

railroad off icials might wish to carry out .The power represented by al l of the rai lroad

employees and a majori ty of the public who patronizethe rai lroads is suff icient to protect the rai lroads

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against al l manner of adverse legislat ion and otherattempts to depreciate their propert ies, but the poweris only potential unti l i t is organized and placeddefinitely back of a specif ic motive.

Man is a queer animal. Give him a suff iciently

vital ized motive and the man of but average abil i ty,under ordinary circumstances, wil l suddenly developsuperpower.

What man can and will accomplish to please thewoman of his choice (providing the woman knows howto st imulate him to action) bas ever been a source of

wonderment to students of the human mind.There are three major motivating forces to which

man responds in practically al l of his efforts. Theseare:

1. The motive of self-preservation2. The motive of sexual contact3. The motive of f inancial and social power.Stated more brief ly, the main motives which

impel men to action are money, sex and self-preservation. Leaders who are seeking a motivatingforce out of which to secure action from a followingmay f ind i t under one or more of these threeclassif ications.

As you have observed, this lesson is very closelyrelated to the Introductory Lesson and Lesson Twowhich cover the Law of the Master Mind. I t is

possible for groups to function co-operatively, without

thereby creating a Master Mind, as, for example,where people co-operate merely out of necessi ty,without the spir i t of harmony as the basis of theirefforts. This sort of co-operation may produce

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considerable power, but nothing to compare with thatwhich is possible when every person in an al l iancesubordinates his or her own individual interests andco-ordinates his or her efforts with those of al l other

members of the al l iance, in perfect harmony.The extent to which people may be induced to co-

operate, in harmony, depends upon the motivatingforce which impels them to action. Perfect harmonysuch as is essential for creating a Master Mind can beobtained only when the motivating force of a group issuff icient to cause each member of the groupcompletely to forget his or her own personal interests

and work for the good of the group, or for the sake ofattaining some idealist ic , chari table or philanthropicobjective.

The three major motivating forces of mankindhave been here stated for the guidance of the Leaderwho wishes to create plans for securing cooperationfrom followers who will throw themselves into thecarrying out of his plans in a spir i t of unself ishnessand perfect harmony.

Men will not ral ly to the support of a leader insuch a spir i t of harmony unless the motive that impelsthem to do so is one that wil l induce them to lay asideall thoughts of themselves.

We do well that which we love to do, andfortunate is the Leader who has the good judgment to

bear this fact in mind and so lay his plans that al l hisfollowers are assigned parts that harmonize with this

law.The leader who gets al l there is to be had from

his followers does so because he has set up in themind of each a suff iciently strong motive to get eachto subordinate his own interests and work in a perfect

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YOUR position is nothing

more than your opportunity

to show what sort of ability

you have. You will get out

of it exactly what you put

into it - no more and no

less. A "big" position is but

the sum total of numerous

"little" positions well filled.

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spir i t of harmony with al l other members of the group.Regardless of who you are, or what your defini te

chief aim may be, if you plan to at tain the object ofyour chief aim through the co-operative efforts of

others you must set up in the minds of those whosecooperation you seek a motive strong enough to insuretheir ful l , undivided, unself ish co-operation, for youwill then be placing back of your plans the power ofthe Law of the Master Mind.

You are now ready to take up Lesson Fourteen,which will teach you how to make working capital outof al l mistakes, errors and fai lures which you haveexperienced, and also how to profi t by the mistakesand fai lures of others.

The president of one of the great rai lway systemsof the United States said, af ter reading the nextlesson, that this lesson carr ies a suggestion which, ifheeded and understood, wil l enable any person to

become a master in his chosen l ife-work.For reasons which will be plain af ter you have

read the next lesson, i t is the author 's favori te lessonof this course.

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YOUR STANDING ARMY

An After- the-Lesson Visi t With the Author

(These f i f teen soldiers are labeled: Defini te ChiefAim, Self-Confidence, Habit of Saving, Imagination,

Ini t iat ive and Leadership, Enthusiasm, Self-Control,

Doing More Than Paid For, Pleasing Personali ty,

Accurate Thought, Concentration, Co-operation,

Failure, Tolerance, Golden Rule)

Power comes from organized ef fort . You see in the

above picture the forces which enter into a l lorganized ef fort . Master these f i f teen forces and

you may have whatever you want in l i fe . Others

wi l l be helpless to defeat your plans. Make these

f i f teen forces your own and you wi l l be an

accurate thinker.

IN the picture at the top of this page you see themost powerful army on earth! Observe the emphasis

on the word POWERFUL.This army is standing at at tention, ready to do thebidding of any person who will command i t . I t isYOUR army if you will take charge of i t .

This army will give you POWER sufficient to

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mow down all opposit ion with which you meet. Studythe picture carefully, then take inventory of yourselfand f ind out how many of these soldiers you need.

I f you are a normal person you long for materialsuccess.

Success and POWER are always found together .You cannot be sure of success unless you have power.You cannot have power unless you develop i t throughfif teen essential quali t ies.

Each of these f if teen quali t ies may be l ikened tothe commanding off icer of a regiment of soldiers.

Develop these quali t ies in your own mind and you willhave POWER.

The most important of the f if teen commandingofficers in this army is DEFINITE PURPOSE.

Without the aid of a definite purpose theremainder of the army would be useless to you. Findout, as early in l ife as possible, what your major

purpose in l ife shall be. Unti l you do this you arenothing but a drif ter , subject to control by every straywind of circumstance that blows in your direction.

Mill ions of people go through l ife withoutknowing what i t is they want.

All have a purpose, but only two out of everyhundred have a DEFINITE purpose. Before you decidewhether your purpose is DEFINITE or not , look up themeaning of the word in the dict ionary.

NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE TO THE PERSON

WHO KNOWS WHAT IT IS HE WANTS ANDMAKES UP HIS MIND TO ACQUIRE IT!

Columbus had a DEFINITE PURPOSE and i t be-

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came a reali ty. Lincoln's major DEFINITE PURPOSEwas to free the black slaves of the South and he turnedthat purpose into reali ty. Roosevelt 's major purpose,during his f irst term of off ice, was to build the

Panama Canal. He l ived to see that purpose realized.Henry Ford's DEFINITE PURPOSE was to build the

best popular priced automobile on earth. That purpose,backed persistently, has made him the most powerfulman on earth. Burbank's DEFINITE PURPOSE was toimprove plant l i fe . Already that purpose has made

possible the raising of enough food on ten squaremiles of land to feed the entire world.

Twenty years ago Edwin C. Barnes formed a

DEFINITE PURPOSE in his mind. That purpose wasto become the business partner of Thomas A. Edison.At the t ime his purpose was chosen Mr. Barnes had noqualif ication enti t l ing him to a partnership with theworld's greatest inventor . Despite this hand

law of success lesson 13 - co-operation

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