obtained under the proper conditions it broadens the life.



Everything has its value. Everything has a good use and a bad

use. The forces of mind like wealth can be directed either for

good or evil. A little rest will re-create forces. Too much rest

degenerates into laziness, and brainless, dreamy longings.

If you acquire wealth unjustly from others, you are misusing your

forces; but if your wealth comes through the right sources you

will be blessed. Through wealth we can do things to uplift

ourselves and humanity.

Wealth is many persons' goal. It therefore stimulates their

endeavor. They long for it in order to dress and live in such a

way as to attract friends. Without friends they would not be so

particular of their surroundings. The fact is the more attractive

we make ourselves and our surroundings the more inspiring are

their influences. It is not conducive to proper thought to be

surrounded by conditions that are uncongenial and unpleasant.

So the first step toward acquiring wealth is to surround yourself

with helpful influences; to claim for yourself an environment of

culture, place yourself in it and be molded by its influences.

Most great men of all ages have been comparatively rich. They

have made or inherited money. Without money they could not have

accomplished what they did. The man engaged in physical drudgery

is not likely to have the same high ideals as the man that can

command comparative leisure.

Wealth is usually the fruit of achievement. It is not, however,

altogether the result of being industrious. Thousands of persons

work hard who never grow wealthy. Others with much less effort

acquire wealth. Seeing possibilities is another step toward

acquiring wealth. A man may be as industrious as he can possibly

be, but if he does not use his mental forces he will be a

laborer, to be directed by the man that uses to good advantage

his mental forces.

No one can become wealthy in an ordinary lifetime, by mere

savings from earnings. Many scrimp and economize all their lives;

but by so doing waste all their vitality and energy. For example,

I know a man that used to walk to work. It took him an hour to go

and an hour to return. He could have taken a car and gone in

twenty minutes. He saved ten cents a day but wasted an hour and a

half. It was not a very profitable investment unless the time

spent in physical exercise yielded him large returns in the way

of health.

The same amount of time spent in concentrated effort to overcome

his unfavorable business environment might have firmly planted

his feet in the path of prosperity.

One of the big mistakes made by many persons of the present

generation is that they associate with those who fail to call out

or develop the best that is in them. When the social side of life

is developed too exclusively, as it often is, and recreation or

entertainment becomes the leading motive of a person's life, he

acquires habits of extravagance instead of economy; habits of

wasting his resources, physical, mental, moral and spiritual,

instead of conserving them. He is, in consequence, lacking in

proper motivation, his God-given powers and forces are

undeveloped and he inevitably brings poor judgment to bear upon

all the higher relationships of life, while, as to his financial

fortunes, he is ever the leaner; often a parasite, and always, if

opportunity affords, as heavy a consumer as he is a poor

producer.

It seems a part of the tragedy of life that these persons have to

be taught such painful lessons before they can understand the

forces and laws that regulate life. Few profit by the mistakes of

others. They must experience them for themselves and then apply

the knowledge so gained in reconstructing their lives.

Any man that has ever amounted to anything has never done a great

deal of detail work for long periods at any given time. He needs

his time to reflect. He does not do his duties today in the same

way as yesterday, but as the result of deliberate and

concentrated effort, constantly tries to improve his methods.

The other day I attended a lecture on Prosperity. I knew the

lecturer had been practically broke for ten years. I wanted to

hear what he had to say. He spoke very well. He no doubt

benefited some of his hearers, but he had not profited by his own

teachings. I introduced myself and asked him if he believed in

his maxims. He said he did. I asked him if they had made him

prosperous. He said not exactly. I asked him why. He answered

that he thought he was fated not to experience prosperity.

In half an hour I showed that man why poverty had always been his

companion. He had dressed poorly. He held his lectures in poor

surroundings. By his actions and beliefs he attracted poverty. He

did not realize that his thoughts and his surroundings exercised

an unfavorable influence. I said: "Thoughts are moving forces;

great powers. Thoughts of wealth attract wealth. Therefore, if

you desire wealth you must attract the forces that will help you

to secure it. Your thoughts attract a similar kind of thoughts.

If you hold thoughts of poverty you attract poverty. If you make

up your mind you are going to be wealthy, you will instil this

thought into all your mental forces, and you will at the same

time use every external condition to help you."

Many persons are of the opinion that if you have money it is easy

to make more money. But this is not necessarily true. Ninety per

cent of the men that start in business fail. Money will not

enable one to accumulate much more, unless he is trained to seek

and use good opportunities for its investment. If he inherits

money the chances are that he will lose it. While, if he has made

it, he not only knows its value, but has developed the power to

use it as well as to make more if he loses it.

Business success today depends on foresight, good judgment, grit,

firm resolution and settled purpose. But never forget that

thought is as real a force as electricity. Let your thoughts be

such, that you will send out as good as you receive; if you do

not, you are not enriching others, and therefore deserve not to

be enriched.

The man that tries to get all he can from others for nothing

becomes so selfish and mean that he does not even enjoy his

acquisitions. We see examples of this every day. What we take

from others, will in turn, be taken from us. All obligations have

to be met fairly and squarely. We cannot reach perfection until

we discharge every obligation of our lives. We all realize this,

so why not willingly give a fair exchange for all that we

receive?

Again I repeat that the first as well as the last step in

acquiring wealth is to surround yourself with good

influences--good thought, good health, good home and business

environment and successful business associates. Cultivate, by

every legitimate means, the acquaintance of men of big caliber.

Bring your thought vibrations in regard to business into harmony

with theirs. This will make your society not only agreeable, but

sought after, and, when you have formed intimate friendships with

clean, reputable men of wealth, entrust to them, for investment,

your surplus earnings, however small, until you have developed

the initiative and business acumen to successfully manage your

own investments. By this time you will, through such

associations, have found your place in life which, if you have

rightly concentrated upon and used your opportunities, will not

be among men of small parts. With a competence secured, you will

take pleasure in using a part of it in making the road you

traveled in reaching your position easier for those who follow

you.

There is somewhere in every brain the energy that will get you

out of that rut and put you far up on the mountain of success if

you can only use the energy.

You know that gasoline in the engine of an automobile doesn't

move the car until the spark comes to explode the gasoline.

So it is with the mind of man. We are not speaking now of men of

great genius, but of average, able citizens.

Each one of them has in his brain the capacity to climb over the

word impossible and get into the successful country beyond.

And hope, self-confidence and the determination to do something

supply the spark that makes the energy work.