be in position to experiment more safely. For the present content yourself by being the student. You will, let us hope, become the teacher as well as the student after you have followed the Course until you have mastered it.
If you follow the instructions laid down in this Course for the guidance of its students, you can no more fail than water can run uphill above the level of its source.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR APPLYING THE PRINCIPLES OF THIS LESSON
Through the Introductory Lesson of this course you became familiar with the principle of psychology known as the “Master Mind.”
You are now ready to begin use of this principle as a means of transforming your definite chief aim into reality. It must have occurred to you that one might as well have no definite chief aim unless one has, also, a very definite and practical plan for making that aim become a reality.
Your first step is to decide what your major aim in life shall be. Your next step is to write out a clear, concise statement of this aim. This should be followed by a statement, in writing, of the plan or plans through which you intend to attain the object of your aim.
Your next and final step will be the forming of an alliance with some person or persons who will cooperate with you in carrying out these plans and transforming your definite chief aim into reality.
The purpose of this friendly alliance is to employ the law of the “Master Mind” in support of your plans. The alliance should be made between yourself and those who have your highest and best interests at heart. If you are a married man your wife should be one of the members of this alliance, providing there exists between you a normal state of confidence and sympathy. Other members of this alliance may be your mother, father, brothers or sisters, or some close friend or friends.
If you are a single person your sweetheart, if you have one, should become a member of your alliance. This is no joke—you are now studying one of the most powerful laws of the human mind, and you will serve your own best interests by seriously and earnestly following the rules laid down in this lesson, even though you may not be sure where they will lead you.
Those who join with you in the formation of a friendly alliance for the purpose of aiding you in the creation of a “Master Mind” should sign, with you, your statement of the object of your definite chief aim. Every member of your alliance must be fully acquainted with the nature of your object in forming the alliance. Moreover, every member must be in hearty accord with this object, and in full sympathy with you. Each member of your alliance must be supplied with a written copy of your statement of your definite chief aim. With this exception, however, you are explicitly instructed to keep the object of your chief aim to yourself. The world is full of “Doubting Thomases” and it will do your cause no good to have these rattle-brained people scoffing at you and your ambitions. Remember, what you need is friendly encouragement and help, not derision and doubt.
If you believe in prayer you are instructed to make your definite chief aim the object of your prayer at least once every twenty-four hours, and more often if convenient. If you believe there is a God who can and will aid those who are earnestly striving to be of constructive service in the world, surely you feel that you have a right to petition Him for aid in the attainment of what should be the most important thing in life to you.
If those who have been invited to join your friendly alliance believe in prayer, ask them, also, to include the object of this alliance as a part of their daily prayer.
Comes, now, one of the most essential rules which you must follow. Arrange with one or all of the members of your friendly alliance to state to you, in the most positive and definite terms at their command, that THEY KNOW YOU CAN AND WILL REALIZE THE OBJECT OF YOUR DEFINITE CHIEF AIM. This affirmation or statement should be made to you at least once a day; more often if possible.
These steps must be followed persistently, with full faith that they will lead you where you wish to go! It will not suffice to carry out these plans for a few days or a few weeks and then discontinue them. YOU MUST FOLLOW THE DESCRIBED PROCEDURE UNTIL YOU ATTAIN THE OBJECT OF YOUR DEFINITE CHIEF AIM, REGARDLESS OF THE TIME REQUIRED.
From time to time it may become necessary to change the plans you have adopted for the achievement of the object of your definite chief aim. Make these changes without hesitation. No human being has sufficient foresight to build plans which need no alteration or change.
Side note: “Yes, he succeeded—but—he almost failed!” So did Robert Fulton and Abraham Lincoln and nearly all the others whom we call successful. No man ever achieved worth-while success who did not, at one time or other, find himself with at least one foot hanging well over the brink of failure.
If any member of your friendly alliance loses faith in the law known as the “Master Mind,” immediately remove that member and replace him or her with some other person.
Andrew Carnegie stated to the author of this course that he had found it necessary to replace some of the members of his “Master Mind.” In fact he stated that practically every member of whom his alliance was originally composed had, in time, been removed and replaced with some other person who could adapt himself more loyally and enthusiastically to the spirit and object of the alliance.
You cannot succeed when surrounded by disloyal and unfriendly associates, no matter what may be the object of your definite chief aim. Success is built upon loyalty, faith, sincerity, co-operation and the other positive forces with which one must surcharge his environment.
Many of the students of this course will want to form friendly alliances with those with whom they are associated professionally or in business, with the object of achieving success in their business or profession. In such cases the same rules of procedure which have been here described should be followed. The object of your definite chief aim may be one that will benefit you individually, or it may be one that will benefit the business or profession with which you are connected. The law of the “Master Mind” will work the same in either case. If you fail, either temporarily or permanently, in the application of this law it will be for the reason that some member of your alliance did not enter into the spirit of the alliance with faith, loyalty and sincerity of purpose.
The last sentence is worthy of a second reading!
The object of your definite chief aim should become your “hobby.” You should ride this “hobby” continuously; you should sleep with it, eat with it, play with it, work with it, live with it and THINK with it.
Whatever you want you may get if you want it with sufficient intensity, and keep on wanting it, providing the object wanted is one within reason, and you ACTUALLY BELIEVE YOU WILL GET IT! There is a difference, however, between merely “wishing” for something and ACTUALLY BELIEVING you will get it. Lack of understanding of this difference has meant failure to millions of people. The “doers” are the “believers” in all walks of life. Those who BELIEVE they can achieve the object of their definite chief aim do not recognize the word impossible. Neither do they acknowledge temporary defeat. They KNOW they are going to succeed, and if one plan fails they quickly replace it with another plan.
Every noteworthy achievement met with some sort of temporary setback before success came. Edison made more than ten thousand experiments before he succeeded in making the first talking machine record the words, “Mary had a little lamb.”
If there is one word which should stand out in your mind in connection with this lesson, it is the word PERSISTENCE!
You now have within your possession the pass-key to achievement. You have but to unlock the door to the Temple of Knowledge and walk in. But you must go to the Temple; it will not come to you. If these
