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The Wisdom of Success
The Philosophy of Achievement
by Andrew Carnegie & Napoleon Hill

My Thoughts

Andrew Carnegie’s major motive was making men more useful to themselves and others. He said that making better men is a greater motive than making money.

This was one of my favorite books read in 2017, I strongly recommend reading it.

My Favorite Quotes

• The greatest asset you can possess is the desire for knowledge and the willingness to earn it.
• No failure is permanent until it is accepted as such.
• 98 of 100 people have no definite purpose other than working for a daily wage.
• What a man can accomplish with his hands will seldom give him more than a mere living.
• That what a man can accomplish through the use of his mind may give him whatever he asks of life.
• The better part of education comes from doing and not just the acquisition of knowledge.
• Do the thing and you shall have the power. -Emerson
• Able leaders must be eternally seeking new and better ways of doing things.
• All business is a composite of small details.
• One must intensify his desires until they become an obsession. A mere wish makes no impression on the subconscious.
• Making better men is a greater motive than making money.
• Self-discipline is a matter of the adoption of constructive habits. That which a man is, that which he accomplishes, both failures and successes, are the result of his habits.
• An organized mind can produce more than one that is not organized.
• No one can be either happy or successful without a planned program for the use of his time.
• There has always been a shortage of capable men at the head of industry.
• Every successful person plans his life as carefully as a successful businessman plans his business.
• A man should have a multiple track mind for the accumulation of knowledge but a single track mind for the expression of that knowledge.
• One should have a reserve of both general and specific knowledge.
• The more a man dislikes his work the more reason he has to take the necessary steps to get out of it into something he likes better.

17 Principles of Personal Achievement

The book consists of one chapter for each principle.

1. Definiteness of Purpose
2. Use the Mastermind Principle
3. Develop an Attractive Personality
4. Employ Applied Faith
5. Go the Extra Mile
6. Use Organized Individual Endeavor
7. Cultivate Creative Vision
8. Exercise Self-discipline
9. Organize Your Thinking
10. Learn from Defeat
11. Seek Inspiration
12. Control Your Attention
13. Apply the Golden Rule
14. Teamwork
15. Budget Your Time and Money
16. The Physical Body and Brain
17. Benefit from Cosmic Habit Force

Chapter 1: The Principle of Definiteness of Purpose

Most people never go beyond the wishing stage of life.
No great achievement is possible without the aid of other minds.
Keep your mind free of fear, doubt, self-imposed limitations, free of all negativity.
There is a definite connection between giving and getting.
Natural law does not favor an attempt to get something for nothing.
The law of cause and effect.
Two or more minds working together toward a definite objective have more power than one mind.
Jesus used the mastermind principle.
The greatest asset you can possess is the desire for knowledge and the willingness to earn it. Write this into your statement of definite purpose.
98 of 100 people are without a goal.

The Six Pillars of the United States

1. Our government.
2. Our industrial system.
3. Our banking System.
4. Our life insurance system.
5. Our National spirit of love for liberty.
6. National sense of justice.

Andrew Carnegie’s definition of success: The power with which to acquire whatever one demands of life without violating the rights of others.

Personal Power is acquired through a combination of individual traits and habits.

The 10 Qualities of Personal Power

1. Definiteness of purpose
2. Promptness of decision
3. Soundness of character
4. Intentional honesty
5. Strict discipline over ones emotions
6. Obsessional desire to render useful service
7. Thorough knowledge of ones occupation
8. Tolerance of all subjects
9. Loyalty to ones personal associates
10. Faith in a supreme being
11. Enduring thirst for knowledge
12. Alertness of imagination

Chapter 2: Use the Mastermind Principle

Alliance of two or more minds.
The leaders must select first men who have the ability to do what is required of them.

9 major motives of voluntary action. The “Alphabet of Success.”

1. The emotion of love, the gateway to one’s spiritual power.
2. The emotion of sex, may serve as a powerful stimulant to action when transmuted.
3. Desire for financial gain.
4. Desire for self preservation
5. Desire for freedom of body and mind.
6. Desire for self expression, leading to fame and recognition.
7. Desire for perpetuation of life after death.
8. The emotion of anger, often expressed as envy or jealousy.
9. The emotion of fear.

No man is smart enough to judge other men by sight.
One quality more important than all others, mental attitude toward himself and others.
A man’s greatest use of the mastermind principle is in his own marriage.
A man’s reading program should be as carefully chosen as his daily diet.

Chapter 3: Develop an Attractive Personality

Factors of an attractive personality.
Essential Elements of an Attractive Personality

1. Positive mental attitude
   1. Influences tone of voice
   2. Expression of face
   3. Posture of the body
   4. Modifies every word that is spoken
   5. Determines the nature of every emotion
   6. Modifies every thought one releases
2. Flexibility
3. Sincerity of Purpose
4. Promptness of Decisions
5. Courtesy (Courtesy is the cheapest yet most profitable thing in the world.)
6. Tone of Voice
7. Smiling
8. Expression of the face
9. Tactfulness
10. Tolerance (open-mindedness for new facts, knowledge and view-points on all subjects)
11. Frankness of manner in speech
12. Keen sense of humor
13. Faith in infinite intelligence (an open mind removes imaginary obstacles)
14. Keen sense of justice (intentional honesty)
15. Appropriateness of words
16. Emotional control
17. Alertness of interest in persons, places and things
18. Effective speech
19. Versatility (knowledge of a variety of subjects)
20. Genuine fondness of people
21. Humility of the heart
22. Good showmanship (not wisecracking, clowning or gossiping)
23. Clean sportsmanship (win without boasting and lose without squealing)
24. Personal magnetism (sex energy)

Disagreeable things a bad mental attitude causes:

1. Dampens enthusiasm
2. Curtails initiative
3. Overthrows self-control
4. Subdues imagination
5. Undermines desire to be cooperative
6. Makes one solemn and intolerant
7. Throws reasoning power out of gear

Common ways people show lack of tactfulness:

1. Carelessness in the tone of voice, often speaking in gruff antagonistic tones that offend.
2. Speaking out of turn, when silence would be more appropriate.
3. Interrupting others who are speaking.
4. Overworking the personal pronoun.
5. Asking impertinent questions, generally to impress others with the questioners’ own importance.
6. Injecting intimately personal subjects into the conversation where such action is embarrassing to others.
7. Going where one has not been invited.
8. Boastfulness.
9. Flaunting the rules of society in matters of personal adornment.
10. Making personal calls at inconvenient hours.
11. Holding people on the telephone with needless conversation.
12. Writing letters to people whom one has no reasonable excuse for addressing.
13. Volunteering opinions when not requested, especially on subjects with which they are not familiar.
14. Openly questioning the soundness of the opinions of others.
15. Declining requests from others in an arrogant manner.
16. Speaking disparagingly of people in front of their friends.
17. Rebuking people who disagree with one on any subject.
18. Speaking of people’s physical afflictions in their presence.
19. Correcting subordinates and associates in the presence of others.
20. Complaining when requests for favors are refused.
21. Presuming upon friendship in asking favors.
22. Using profane or offensive language.
23. Expressing dislikes too freely.
24. Speaking of ills and misfortunes.
25. Criticizing our form of government or another person’s religion.
26. Over familiarity on all occasions with people.

Specific handicaps people setup for themselves through their intolerance:

1. Makes enemies of those who would like to be friends.
2. Stops the growth of the mind by limiting the search for knowledge.
3. Discourages imagination.
4. Prohibits self-discipline.
5. Prevents accuracy in thinking and reasoning.
6. Damages the character through unseen and unknown ways that limit ones use of the spiritual forces which are available to open minds.

Significance of Faith:

1. The power of faith is inexhaustible
2. The method of using the power of faith is simple and within the reach of every person
3. The power of thought is the only thing over which any human being has complete control

Benefits of a sense of Justice:

1. Establishes confidence
2. Builds a sincere and sound character
3. Attracts people
4. Offers opportunity for personal gain in ones occupation
5. Gives one a feeling of self-reliance and self-respect
6. Places one in a better and more understanding relationship with ones own conscience
7. Attracts friends and discourages enemies
8. Clears the way for faith
9. Protects one from the destructiveness of controversies with other people
10. Helps one to move with more initiative in connection with ones major purpose in life
11. Never damages one or subjects one to any form of embarrassment
12. Discourages avarice, greed and selfishness

Steps to gain control of emotions.
Notice your emotions.

Negative Emotions:

1. Fear (there are 7 forms of fear we will discuss later)
2. Jealousy
3. Hatred and envy
4. Revenge and malice
5. Greed
6. Superstition and distrust
7. Anger

Positive emotions

1. Love
2. Sex
3. Hope
4. Faith
5. Desire
6. Optimism
7. Loyalty

Review each of these emotions with a checklist daily and examine if they are present in your life.
Most important factor of effective speech: thorough knowledge on the subject of which one speaks.

Chapter 4: Employ Applied Faith

Every failure carries with it the seed of an equivalent advantage.
Temporary defeat.
No failure is permanent until it is accepted as such.
The power of the mind is so great that it has no limitations other than those which individuals set up in their own minds.
The law of harmonious attraction: like attracts like.
Habit of repetition of thought.
Develop an obsession.
A man comes to believe anything he repeats often.
The subconscious mind acts on ones thoughts without trying to change them.
Limitation and poverty or abundance and no limitations.
I enjoy riches and I will earn and receive them.
Describe what service you will give in exchange for the richest you desire.
The mind brings the physical equivalent of that which it dwells on.

The Sixth Sense of the Mind
Prepares the mind for direct connection with other minds.
Makes the mastermind principal possible.
Add to one’s own mind stimulation of other minds.
The mind has been given power to project itself into other minds through telepathy.
It may do so freely under two circumstances:

1. Where other minds have been left open voluntarily or neglectfully.
2. Where a relationship of harmony and oneness of purpose has been arranged between two or more minds. (As in the case of a mastermind alliance)

Our mind has miraculous power.
The archenemy of mankind is fear

The Most Common Fears:

1. Poverty in the midst of an overabundance of riches
2. Ill health in spite of the ingenious system God has provided by which the physical body is automatically maintained in working order
3. Criticism when there are no critics save for those which we setup through our own imaginations
4. We fear the loss of love of friends and relatives although we know well enough that our own conduct is sufficient to maintain love through all circumstances of human relationships
5. We fear old age where we should accept it as a medium of greater wisdom and understanding
6. We fear the loss of liberty although we know liberty is a matter of harmonious relationships with others
7. We fear death when we know it is inevitable therefore beyond our control
8. We fear failure not recognizing that every failure carries with it the seed of an equivalent benefit

Faith may be developed by clearing the mind of its enemies such as negative thoughts, limitations and fears.
Edison, Plato, Aristotle, Columbus, Wright brothers, Gutenberg.
Procrastination and faith have nothing in common.
Carnegie devotes a time daily to silent meditation and thought. Getting in tune with the infinite.

Chapter 5: Go the Extra Mile

Render more service and better service than one is paid for.
Must be a habit and applied at all times in all possible ways.
One must render the greatest amount of service of which he is capable, and must render it in a friendly harmonious manner, moreover he must do this regardless of the immediate compensation he receives. Even if he receives no immediate compensation whatsoever.
98 of 100 people have no definite purpose other than working for a daily wage.
They neither expect or demand more than a bare living.
Every man is where he is and what he is because of the use of his own mind.
What a man can accomplish with his hands will seldom give him more than a mere living.
That what a man can accomplish through the use of his mind may give him whatever he asks of life.

Practical advantages of the principle of going the extra mile:

1. The habit of doing more than one is paid for brings one to the favorable attention of those who have opportunities to offer.
2. The habit aids one in developing and maintaining the right mental attitude toward others, thereby serving as an effective means of gaining friendly cooperation.
3. Helps one to profit by the law of contrast, since the majority of people follow the exact opposite of this principle.
4. Creates a continuous market for ones services.
5. Ensures a choice of jobs and working conditions at the top of the scale of wages or other forms of compensation.
6. Attracts opportunities which are not available to those who render as little service as possible.
7. Services as an effective medium of self-promotion from wage earning to business ownership.
8. Under some circumstances it enables one to become indispensable in his job, thereby paving the way for him to name his own compensation.
9. Aids one in the development of self-reliance.
10. Gives one the advantage of the law of increasing returns, from which he will eventually receive far beyond the actual market value of the service he renders.

Any successful man in any vocation does not work by the clock.
The better part of education comes from doing and not just the acquisition of knowledge.
Do the thing and you shall have the power. -Emerson
Full quote: Do the thing, and you shall have the power: but they who do not the thing have not the power. -Emerson
Nature sets an example of doing more than is expected: tree blooms, bees, farmers, etc.
Law of compensation.
Law of increasing returns.
It is impossible to do more than one is paid for because all forms of constructive labor are rewarded in one way or another.

Compensating advantages of going the extra mile:

1. Gives one the benefit of the law of increasing returns.
2. Places one in a position to benefit by the law of compensation.
3. Gives one the benefit of growth through resistance and use, thereby leading to mental development and increased skill in the use of the body.
4. Develops the important factor of initiative, without which no individual ever rises above mediocrity in any calling.
5. Develops self-reliance, which is likewise essential in all forms of personal achievement.
6. Enables an individual to profit by the law of contrast.
7. Helps one to master the habit of drifting aimlessly thereby checking the habit which stands at the head of major causes of failure.
8. Definitely aids in development of the habit of definiteness of purpose.
9. Tends strongly to aid in the development of attractiveness of personality.
10. Often gives an individual a preferred position of relationship with others, through which he may become indispensable, thereby fixing his own price on his services.
11. Ensures continuous employment.
12. The greatest of all the known methods by which a man that works for wages may promote himself to better and higher wages.
13. Develops alertness of imagination, the faculty through which one may create practical plans for the attainment of ones aims and purposes in any calling.
14. Develops a positive mental attitude.
15. Serves to build the confidence of others in ones integrity and general ability.
16. A habit which one may adopt and follow on his own initiative without being under the necessity of asking the permission of anyone to do so.

Chapter 6: Use Organized Individual Endeavor

Personal initiative is steam in the boiler.

Traits of successful leaders:

1. Adopt a definite purpose and a definite plan for attaining it.
2. Choice of a motive adequate to inspire continuous action in pursuit of the object of one’s major purpose.
3. A mastermind alliance through which to acquire the necessary power for noteworthy achievement.
4. Self-reliance in proportion to the nature and scope of one’s purpose.
5. Self-discipline sufficient to give one mastery over both the head and the heart.
6. Persistence based on a will to win.
7. A well developed faculty of imagination. Able leaders must be eternally seeking new and better ways of doing things.
8. The habit of making definite and prompt decisions at all times.
9. Basing opinions on known facts instead of relying upon guesswork or hearsay evidence.
10. Capacity to generate enthusiasm at will and direct it to a definite end.
11. A keen sense of fairness and justice under all circumstances.
12. Tolerance, an open mind on all subjects at all times.
13. The habit of going the extra mile.
14. Tactfulness and a keen sense of diplomacy both in spirit and deed.
15. The habit of listening much and talking little.
16. An observing nature, the habit of noting small details. All business is a composite of small details.
17. Determination.
18. Capacity to stand criticism without resentment. Real leaders can take it.
19. Temperance in eating, drinking and all social habits.
20. Loyalty to all to whom loyalty is due.
21. Frankness with those who have a right to it.
22. Familiarity with the 9 basic motives which actuate men.
23. Sufficient attractiveness of personality to induce voluntary cooperation of others.
24. Capacity to concentrate full attention on one subject at a time.
25. Habit of learning from mistakes, ones own and the mistakes of others.
26. Willingness to accept the full responsibility of the mistakes of ones subordinates without trying to pass the buck.
27. The habit of adequately recognizing the merits of others, especially when they have done exceptionally good work.
28. The habit of applying the golden rule in all human relationships.
29. A positive mental attitude at all times.
30. The habit of assuming full responsibility for each and every task one undertakes.
31. A keen sense of values.

Any person of average intelligence can apply all of these.
Few men aspire to become leaders.
Carnegie’s major motive was making men more useful to themselves and others.

Steps through which an individual may promote himself to whatever station he desires or any material possession he desires:

1. Choice of a definite purpose or objective.
2. Creation of a plan for attainment of the objective.
3. Continuous action in carrying out the plan.
4. Alliance with those who will cooperate in carrying out the plan.
5. Moving, at all times, on ones own initiative.

Organized individual endeavor is planned action.
Differences between a leader and follower:

1. A leader carefully plans his efforts.
2. He moves of his own initiative without being told to do so.

A form of riches that transcends money.

Chapter 7: Cultivate Creative Vision

Another name for imagination.
Two types of imagination:

1. Synthetic Imagination
2. Creative Imagination

Synthetic imagination:
Combining recognized ideas, concepts, plans, facts and principles into arrangements.
Things that seem to be new are nothing but a re-arrangement of that which is old.

Creative imagination:
The ability to perceive and interpret new ideas.

Methods of application (Thomas Edison)
Examples in the field of invention.

The subconscious mind not only has the power to create the solution to problems, but it has a means of forcing one to recognize the solution when it is presented to the conscious mind.

Factors of the success of Edison:

1. Definiteness of purpose
2. Obsessional desire for attainment of his purpose

Light-bulb was synthetic imagination.
Phonograph was creative imagination.

Edison’s subconscious mind gave him the instructions for creating the phonograph. The thought of a machine that would record and produce sound became the dominating thought of his mind and his subconscious mind, until this form of auto-suggestion penetrated his subconscious mind and registered a clear picture of his desire.

One must intensify his desires until they become an obsession. A mere wish makes no impression on the subconscious.

Repetition of thought creates thought habits in the mind, which causes ones mind to go right on working on an idea without ones conscious effort.

Anyone can make use of creative imagination by the process of charging his subconscious mind with definite desires.

Feeding thoughts and mere wishes make no impression on the subconscious mind.

Major factors of Mr. Henry Ford’s mind perfecting the automobile:

1. Motivated by a definite purpose.
2. Stimulated his purpose into an obsession by concentrating his thoughts on it.
3. He converted his purpose into definite plans through the principle of organized individual endeavor and put his plans into action with un-abating persistence.
4. Made use of the mastermind principle by his wife and secondly by gaining counsel from others who made the combustion engine. Also by gaining an ally in the Dodge brothers.
5. The power of applied faith.

He ran into one difficulty after another including lack of capital.

Alexander Graham Bell.
His definite purpose was to create a hearing aid device for his wife.

The practical mind makes use of all available media in carrying out its purpose.

Other examples:
The first great mail house created.
Refrigerated rail cars.
George Pullman putting beds in railroad coaches.

Principles often allied with imagination:

1. Definiteness of purposes based on one of the 9 primary motives.
2. Mastermind principle.
3. Going the extra mile.
4. Applied faith stimulates imagination.
5. Organized individual endeavor.

Chapter 8: Exercise Self-discipline

Self-discipline begins with the mastery of ones thoughts. Without control over thoughts, there can be no control over deeds.
Self-discipline begins with the complete mastery of the 7 positive and 7 negative emotions.
These emotions contain mental dynamite.

Controlled guidance of the 7 positive emotions.
Strict budgeting of the use of time.
Mastery of procrastination.
A man has no time for non-essential activities.
Recreation is essential.

The major enemies of self-discipline are the 7 negative emotions.
Self-discipline begins with the formation of constructive habits.
Especially the habits connected with food, drink, sex and the use of so called “spare time.”

A man’s motive must be obsessional.

One should copy the 9 basic motives and place them in a prominent place where they can be seen daily.
Include them in the written description of ones definite major purpose.
Making better men is a greater motive than making money.

Self-discipline is a matter of the adoption of constructive habits. That which a man is, that which he accomplishes, both failures and successes, are the result of his habits.
The most important is the habit of thoughts.
Balance both the emotions of the heart and the reasoning of the head.

Chapter 9: Organize Your Thinking

Thought is a form of energy that is distributed through the brain.
Thought has intelligence.
Thought can be controlled and directed toward the attainment of anything man may desire.
Thought is the only thing over which man has complete control.
Thoughts passed from one mind to the other through the principle of telepathy.
Negative thoughts from one worker can pass to other workers around him without anything being said, this can create a negative influence around that person.
Organization of thought begins with the organization of the individuals thinking habits.
Each member of a mastermind group must be so disciplined that he can control his own thoughts.
One gains control of his thoughts by forming definite thought habits.
The mind is constantly forming thought habits without the knowledge of the individual.
A man’s mind forms thought habits connected with the attainment of his desire.

The control of habit forming is an important part of organized thinking.
An individual may set up any form of habits he chooses.
An unknown law of nature fixes habits so that they perpetuate themselves.
Habits can be changed or eliminated altogether the simple process of voluntarily adopting opposing habits of a stronger nature.

For example the habit of procrastination can be mastered by setting up definite habits of prompt initiative based on a sufficiently strong motive to ensure the new habit is a dominating influence on the mind until they become automatic in their operation.

A procrastinator drifts through life a failure because he has no obsessional motive for doing anything in particular.

Major benefits of organized thinking:

1. Enables one to become the master of his own mind. He accomplishes this by training his faculty of will to control his emotions, turning them on and off as occasion may require.
2. Forces one to work with definiteness of purpose, thereby enabling him to setup a habit that prohibits procrastination.
3. Develops the habit of working with definite plans, instead of blundering ahead by the hit or miss method.
4. Enables one to stimulate the subconscious mind to greater action and more ready response in the attainment of desired ends. Instead of allowing the subconscious mind to respond to the tramp thoughts and destructive influences of ones environment.
5. Develops self-reliance.
6. Gives on the benefit of the knowledge, experience and educations of others through the medium of the mastermind alliance.
7. Enables one to convert his efforts into greater material resources and larger income since an organized mind can produce more than one that is not organized.
8. Develops the habit of accurate analysis through which one may find the solution to his problems instead of worrying over them.
9. Aids in maintaining sound health, because mind power that is organized and directed toward the attainment of desirable ends has no time to be wasted in connection with self-pity or imaginary ailments. Idle minds tend to develop ailing bodies.
10. Leads to peace of mind and that form of permanent happiness which is known only to the man who keeps his mind fully occupied. No one can be either happy or successful without a planned program for the use of his time.

Purpose < Plan < Action < Habits

Rules of organized thinking:

1. The power with which we think is mental dynamite that can be organized and used constructively for the attainment of definite ends. If it is not organized and used through controlled habits it will lead to inevitable failure.
2. Must learn how to avail himself of reliable sources of information, where to obtain dependable facts which he will need in connection with organized thinking. Guesswork and hopeful wishing, the most common sources of information to a majority of people, can never be relied upon to plant accurate sources of facts.

Chapter 10: Learn from Defeat

Failure and defeat are only temporary.
One must form the habit of searching for every good that is to be found in the form of defeat.

The subconscious mind can be trained to covert all negative experiences into an inspirational urge to greater effort.

Any state of mind can become a habit including accepting poverty.

Poverty is a state of mind.
Success consciousness.

Major causes of failure:

1. The habit of drifting through life without a definite major purpose. This leads to many other causes of failure.
2. Unfavorable physical heredity foundation at birth.
3. The habit of meddlesome curiosity concerning other people’s affairs through which time and energy are wasted.
4. Inadequate preparation for the work in which one engages, especially inadequate schooling.
5. Lack of self-discipline. Generally manifests itself through eating, drinking, intoxication and sex.
6. Indifference toward opportunities for self-advancement.
7. Lack of ambition to aim above mediocrity.
8. Ill health. Often due to wrong thinking, improper diet, and lack of exercise.
9. Unfavorable environmental influences during early childhood.
10. Lack of persistence in carrying through to a finish that which one starts, due in the main to a lack of purpose and self-discipline.
11. The habit of maintaining a negative mental attitude in connection with life generally.
12. Lack of control over the emotions through controlled habits.
13. The desire to get something for nothing. Usually expressed through gambling and more offensive habits of dishonesty.
14. Indecision and indefiniteness.
15. One or more of the seven basic fears. Poverty, Criticism, Ill Health, Loss of love, old age, loss of liberty, death.
16. Wrong selection of a mate in marriage.
17. Over-caution in business and occupational relationships.
18. Excess tendency toward chance.
19. Wrong choice of associates in business or occupational work.
20. Wrong choice of a vocation or total neglect to make a choice.
21. Lack of concentration of effort, leading to dissipation of ones time and energies.
22. The habit of indiscriminate spending without a budget control over income and expenditures.
23. Failure to budget and use time properly.
24. Lack of controlled enthusiasm.
25. Intolerance. A closed mind based on ignorance or prejudice in connection with religion, politics and economics.
26. Failure to cooperate with others in a spirit of harmony.
27. Craving for power or wealth not earned or based on merit.
28. Lack of a spirit of loyalty where loyalty is due.
29. Egotism and vanity not under control.
30. Exaggerated selfishness.
31. The habit of forming opinions and plans without basing them on known facts.
32. Lack of vision and imagination.
33. Failure to make mastermind alliance with those whose experience, education and native ability are needed.
34. Failure to recognize the existence of and the means of adapting oneself to the forces of infinite intelligence.
35. Profanity of speech, reflecting evidence of an unclean and undisciplined mind and an inadequate vocabulary.
36. Speaking before thinking, talking too much.
37. Covetousness, revenge and greed.
38. The habit of procrastination. Often based on plain laziness but generally the result of a lack of a definite major purpose.
39. Speaking slanderously of other people with or without cause.
40. Ignorance of the nature and purpose of the power of thought, and lack of knowledge of the principles of operation of the mind.
41. Lack of personal initiative, due in the main to the lack of a definite major purpose.
42. Lack of self-reliance, due also to the absence of obsessional motive founded on a definite major purpose.
43. Lack of the qualities of a pleasing personality.
44. Lack of faith in ones self, in the future, in ones fellow man, in God.
45. Failure to develop the power of will through voluntary controlled habits of thought.

Two types of people that never get ahead:

1. Those who only do what they are told to do.
2. Those who do not do what they are told to do.

Chapter 11: Seek Inspiration

Definition of inspiration: inspiration can be developed by stimulating the faculty of the emotions through any of the 14 major emotions mentioned previously.
Inspiration is emotion in action.

Two types of enthusiasm are (1) passive and (2) active.

Benefits of both active and passive enthusiasm.

1. Enthusiasm stimulates the vibration of thought and makes it more intense.
2. Gives tone quality to ones voice and makes it pleasing and impressive.
3. Inspires initiative, both in thought and physical action.
4. Dispels physical fatigue and overcomes laziness.
5. Stimulates the entire nervous system and causes it to perform it’s duties more efficiently, including the digestion of food.
6. Stimulates the subconscious section of the brain and puts it to work in connection with the motive that inspires enthusiasm.
7. Enthusiasm is contagious and effects everyone within it’s range.
8. Discourages all forms of negative thought and dispels fear and worry.
9. Major source of sustained action of the will.
10. Converts fatigue and static energy into active energy.
11. One of the greatest builders of confidence.
12. Denotes hope, courage and belief in ones self.
13. Gives a keener imagination.
14. Gives one a more pleasing personality.
15. Attracts the cooperation of others.

Uncontrolled enthusiasm can be as detrimental as no enthusiasm. Like being too enthusiastic about himself and his ideas.
Every location and every home have a mental atmosphere.
There is a natural unknown law that fixes the habits of thought and gives them permanency.
Enthusiasm in collective form in a mastermind group is multiplied in power.

Chapter 12: Control Your Attention

Definition of controlled attention: the act of combining all of the faculties of the mind and concentrating them on the attainment of a definite purpose.
All fields should specialize.
Banks, department stores, doctors, accountants, etc.
Marriage: psychology of managing a husband, household economy, dietetics.
A well ordered life requires preparation.
Specialization is key.
There has always been a shortage of capable men at the head of industry.
Concentration of effort through concentration of effort in all callings.
Gives one greater power.
Saves lost motion in both thought and physical action.
A wide range of knowledge, based on facts, related to ones major purpose, but expressed through organized plans for the attainment of that purpose.
A man should have a multiple track mind for the accumulation of knowledge but a single track mind for the expression of that knowledge.
One should have a reserve of both general and specific knowledge.
The application of one principle leads to the application of combinations of the other principles.

Chapter 13: Apply the Golden Rule

Passive belief in this rule will accomplish nothing.
Benefits of the rule:

1. Opens the mind for the guidance of infinite intelligence through faith.
2. Develops self-reliance through a better relationship with ones conscience.
3. Builds a sound character sufficient to sustain one in times of emergency.
4. Attracts the friendly cooperation of others in all human relationships.
5. Discourages unfriendly opposition from others.
6. Gives one peace of mind and freedom from self-established limitations.
7. Give one immunity against the more damaging forms of fear.
8. Enables one to go to prayer with clean hands and a clean heart.
9. Attracts favorable opportunities for self-promotion in ones occupation, business or profession.
10. Eliminates the desire for something for nothing.
11. Makes the rendering of useful service a joy that can be had in no other way.
12. Provides one with an influential reputation for honesty and fair dealing which is the basis of all confidence.
13. Serves as a discouragement to the slanderer and a reprimand to the thief.
14. Makes one a power for good by example, wherever he comes into contact with others.
15. Discourages all the baser instincts of greed, envy and revenge. Gives wings to the higher instincts of love and fellowship.
16. Brings one within easy communicating distance of the Creator through the medium of an undisturbed mind.
17. Enables one to recognize the joys of accepting the truth that every man is, and by right should be, his brother’s keeper.
18. Establishes a deeper personal spirituality.

There is no asset comparable in value with sound character.

Chapter 14: Teamwork

Able managerial ability is scarce.
Good managers coordinate teamwork.
The power of the United States comes from friendly cooperation among the people.

Chapter 15: Budget Your Time and Money

Every successful person plans his life as carefully as a successful businessman plans his business.
Devote a definite proportion of your time to pursuing the object of your definite purpose.
Everyone person that reaches the age of personal responsibility should divide his time into three periods:

1. Sleep (8 hours)
2. Work (8 hours)
3. Recreation (8 hours)

Recreation is the most important period of the day as far as personal achievement is concerned because it provides one with:

1. An opportunity to acquire additional education.
2. Plan new means of rendering service.
3. Create goodwill.

Recreation is “opportunity time.”
Don’t cut into your sleep time by recreation time.
Use recreational time to improve yourself in work areas.
Most successful people work 2/3 of the day and sleep the rest by using recreation for planning and attainment of ones major purpose.

There no better form of play than that which is associated with the planning and attainment of ones major purpose. I look upon my work as the finest sort of play, so is every other man who is succeeding in the true sense of the term. A man’s work can be recreation if he does it in a spirit of intense enthusiasm and likes what he is doing.

The more a man dislikes his work the more reason he has to take the necessary steps to get out of it into something he likes better.
Reading, going to school, formation of friendships along the class of people that will help you.
Use free time to organize and direct your thoughts.
Make deliberate and constructive use of it instead of wasting it.
Unselfishness manifests itself by the respect for and the constructive use of time.

Chapter 16: The Physical Body and Brain

The physical body is house which the Creator prepared to house the mind.
The brain coordinates all bodily activity and receives all sense perceptions. The brain is the organ which coordinates all perception, knowledge and memory into new patterns which we know as thought.
Aids which the individual can give the brain that will help it to maintain sound physical health:

1. Mental attitude. The brain is the unchallenged boss of the entire physical body. Sound physical health demands a positive mental attitude. Physical health begins with a sound health consciousness just as financial health begins with a prosperity consciousness. One must think in terms of sound health, not in terms of illness and disease. Repeat this every day “Day by day, in every way, I am getting better and better.” Recommended by a psychologist.
   1. All thought energy, whether it be positive or negative, is carried to every cell of the body, and there deposited as energy on which the cells operate.
   2. The energy of thought is carried to the cells of the body through the nervous system and the blood stream, for it is a known fact that the body chemist mixes the energy of thought with every particle of food that is assimilated and made ready for projection into the blood stream. No hatred, fear, talk of illness or disease, etc.
2. Eating Habits.
   1. There must be no over eating. It overworks the heart, liver, kidneys and the sewer system.
   2. One must east a balanced ration consisting of a fair portion of fruits and vegetables.
   3. No gulping of food or fast eating.
   4. No eating between meals, especially candy and sweets.
   5. No liquor and alcohol.
   6. Take vitamins to supplement any lacking from your diet.
   7. The mind must be conditioned and prepared for eating. Do not eat while scared, frightened or worried.
3. Relaxation.
4. Elimination of waste.
   1. Lungs
   2. Skin
   3. Kidneys
   4. Alimentary canal
5. Hope.
6. Avoid the habit of drugs.

Chapter 17: Benefit from Cosmic Habit Force

Understanding and applying this principle will release you from fears and self-imposed limitations.
We are ruled by habits, our habits are fastened upon us by repetition of thought and experience; therefore we can control our earthly destinies just to the extent that we can control our thoughts.
A person may have complete control over ones thoughts, everything else is outside of ones control.

Our thoughts clothe themselves in physical likeness.

1. Cosmic force of habit.
2. Drifting (bad).
3. Time.
4. Definiteness of Purpose.

Chapter 18: Keep the Source of all Wealth

The motive of profit.
The system of the US government and economy.
The human brain develops only through personal initiative.

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This is the 57th book read in my 2017 reading list.
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