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Table of Contents
Can There Really Be a System for Success?
The Search Begins
Get Ready for Tomorrow
Be a Self-Builder
Don’t Leave Your Future Behind You
I Find the Treasure Map
How to Find What You Are Looking For
Get on the Right Course
Go Power
An Eventful Journey
We Weathered the Storm
It’s Easy If You Know How
Mysterious Sources of Power
The Way of All Flesh
How to Get Where You Want
If You Want a Job, Go After It
Wealth and the True Riches of Life
How to Spark the Ambition
Gifted Men Are Made...Not Born
The Power That Changes the Destiny
The True Riches of Life
The Search Ends
The Author Reviews His Own Work
About the Author
The Success System That Never Fails
by William Clement Stone
Copyright © 2014 Rediscovered Books
Cover image © Can Stock Photo Inc. / maxkabakov
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.
ISBN 13: 978-1-63384-450-6
First Edition
Can There Really Be a System for Success?
An Introduction
“A small drop of ink makes thousands, perhaps millions think,” wrote Byron in Don Juan. And foremost in the thoughts of these millions has been the search for success in their personal, family and business lives.
Today, right at this moment, in every part of the world, there are those who wonder what they can do to get further along toward some shining goal, and to their own self-improvement.
Many will snatch a secret from the depths of their hearts and souls that will drive them on to high achievement. But most of them will continue to wonder...dream...and wish. And then one day they will awaken with a shock to find themselves standing in the same spot at which they dreamed as young men. But now they have lost their dreams and they wonder why.
Everyone Wants Something
No matter what it is: money, position, prestige...some special achievement...the opportunity to be of service to his fellow men...love, a happy marriage and happy home.
Everyone yearns for some kind of fulfillment–success in some form. To be happy...to be healthy...to be wealthy...and to experience the true riches of life–these are universal desires. And it’s these inner urges which inspire us to action.
You and I are no exception. And you have the same opportunities as other men and women, in high or low places, to succeed or to fail...in this land of unlimited opportunity where many have brought their good desires into reality–and where others have fallen into the wayside of life.
Why does one man succeed and another fail? There is an answer. And it will be found in this book.
For there are formulas, prescriptions, recipes–rules, principles, systems–even treasure maps, if you please–which, when followed in proper sequence, bring the good things in life to those who seek them. Often the rules for success are so simple and so obvious they aren’t even seen. But when you search for them, you, too, can find them.
And during the search something wonderful happens: you acquire knowledge...you gain experience...you become inspired. And then you begin to realize the necessary ingredients for success.
In This House
Not long ago I accepted an invitation to visit Kentuckiana Children’s Center at Louisville, Kentucky. I had heard that Dr. Lorraine Golden, its directress, had given up a large income from her private practice to use her talents, experience and the help of a Higher Power to help crippled children walk.
As I toured the clinic I noticed everything was spotlessly clean. I stopped when I saw a little girl seated in a chair.
“What’s your name?” I asked gently.
“Jenny,” she replied.
The girl’s mother was seated nearby so I asked her to tell me about Jenny.
The mother’s eyes looked into mine as she said: “Jenny is six years of age. For the first four years of her life she was a cripple, unable to walk. We didn’t have money, so I brought her to the clinic. Dr. Golden told me that Jenny had a nerve blockage. Now Jenny can walk.”
The mother hesitated. From her expression I felt she had something more to say something personal. So I waited.
“Mr. Stone...I want you to know that...” She hesitated again. And then she said it: “...outside my church this is the only house in which I feel the presence of God.”
When she finished, her head was bowed as if to hide her emotions, and, perhaps, a tear. Jenny, the little child who couldn’t walk for the first four years of her life, walked over to her mother, put her arms around her and kissed her.
As I continued my tour through the clinic I realized that it was the driving desire of Dr. Golden which had made Kentuckiana a reality, a generous, dedicated, self-sacrificing desire that could not be held down. But to move one to action, desire must be joined to ambition and initiative.
Desire Is the Beginning to All Human Achievement
How does one develop ambition when he isn’t ambitious? How does he develop initiative when he doesn’t have it? How do you motivate yourself or another person to action? These are questions I have often been asked by persons in all walks of life: parents, teachers, ministers–salesmen, sales managers, executives–and high school and college students.
“First develop the desire,” I respond.
But how do you germinate a desire? How do you begin? These answers
