THE SECRET OF SUCCESS, William Walter Atkinson [best management books of all time txt] 📗

THE SECRET OF SUCCESS
By
William Walter Atkinson
2
Contents
The Secret of Success …3
The Individual …6
Spiritedness …8
Latent Powers …12
Soul-Force …16
The Power of Desire …20
The Law of Attraction …24
Personal Magnetism …30
Attractive Personality …33
An Afterword …39
3
The Secret of Success
It is with some hesitation that we bring ourselves to write this little book, entitled
"The Secret of Success." Not that we are not in sympathy with the subject - not
that we do not believe that there is a "Secret of Success" - but because there has
been so much written on the subject of "Success" that is the veriest twaddle -
masses of platitudinous wordiness - that we hesitate to take the position of a
teacher of Success. It is so easy to fill pages of paper with good advice - it is so
much easier to say things than to do them - so much easier to formulate a code of
precepts than to get out into the field of active endeavor and put into practice the
same percepts. And, you may imagine why we hesitate to assume a role which
would lay us open to the suspicion of being one of the "do as I tell you, and not as
I do" teachers of the Art of Success.
But there is another side of the question. There is, besides the mere recital of a
List of Good Qualities Leading to Success - a list with which every schoolboy and
reader of the magazines is acquainted - a Something Else; and that Something
Else, is a suggestion that the Seeker for Success has a Something Within himself
which if expressed into activity and action will prove of great value to him - a
veritable Secret of Success, instead of a code of rules. And, so we propose to
devote this little book to unfolding our idea of what this Something Within is, and
what it will do for one who will unfold it and thus express it into action. So,
therefore, do not expect to find this book a "Complete Compendium of Rules
Conducive to Success, Approved of and Formulated by the Successful Men of the
World who became acquainted with these Rules only after they had Attained
Success, and consequently had Time and Inclination to Preach to Others." This is
not a book of that sort. It is Quite Different. We hope you will like it - it will do
you good in any event.
All people are striving and seeking Success. Their idea of Success may differ, but
they have all agreed upon the desirability of Attainment. "Attainment"-that is the
word, which embodies the essence of that which we call Success. It is the
"Getting-There" idea - the idea of Attainment - of Reaching the Goal for which we
set out. That is the story - Attainment.
Many men and women have endeavored to point out the way to Success, and
while some have rendered valuable service to those who were following them on
the Path of Attainment, yet none have been able to tell the whole story of Success.
And this is not to be wondered about, for the reason that on the road to Success
each and every individual must be, in a measure a law unto himself, or herself.
No two temperaments are exactly alike - Nature delights in variety; no two sets of
circumstances are precisely the same - infinite variety manifests here also. And so
it would be folly to attempt to lay down rules of universal application, which
would surely lead all to the great goal of Success. One has but to look around him
on all sides and see the different needs of the different individuals composing the
crowd, in order to recognize the futility of any attempt to lay down lines of
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universal instruction on this subject. Each and every man who has succeeded has
done so in a different way - generally along some original lines of action - in fact,
the faculty or characteristic known as Individuality, seems to have played an
important part in the success of the majority of persons who have attained it. And
Individuality renders those possessing it to a marked degree to be likely to depart
from any set of rules or laid-out courses of action. And so, it may be stated as a
general principle that each must work out his own Success along the lines of his
own Individuality, rather than by following any set rule or line of conduct.
In view of what we have just said, it may seem strange that feeling as we do we
have ventured to write a little book entitled "The Secret of Success," -particularly
as we have started the said book by declaring the impossibility of laying down any
set rules on the subject. This may seem like a paradox, but a little examination
will show you that it is not so. It is true that we believe that each and every person
must work out his own Success, along the lines of his own Individuality, instead
of along some cut-and-dried plan. And right here is where the "Secret of Success"
comes in. "Along the lines of his own individuality," we have just said - then it
must follow that one must possess Individuality before he may work along its
"lines. "And in the measure that he possesses Individuality, so will he possess the
first prerequisite to Success. And that is what we mean by "The Secret of Success"
- INDIVIDUALITY.
Every person possesses dormant and latent Individuality - but only a few allow it
to express itself. The majority of us are like human sheep trotting along
complacently after some self-assertive bellwether, whose tinkling bell serves to
guide our footsteps. We have absorbed the notion somehow that these
bellwethers possess the sum and substance of human knowledge and power, and
ability to think - and instead of unfolding our own dormant powers, and latent
possibilities, we allow them to remain in obscurity, and we trot along, jogittyjoggity-
jog after our pet bellwether. People are very much like sheep in this way -
they are obedient and imitative animals, and rather than assume the
responsibility of directing their own footsteps, they wait until someone takes the
lead, and then away they stampede after him. Is it any wonder that the leaders
claim the choicest pickings for themselves, and allow the flock to get only the
scrubby grass? Not a bit of it - they have earned the choice bits by reason of lock
of Individuality and Initiative on the part of those following them - in fact, they
were chosen as leaders because of this self-assertive, and self-directive quality. If
they had stood back in a modest, mild manner, they would have been pushed
aside by the flock that would disclaim them as leaders, in favor of others who
knew how to push to the front.
Now, in this little book we shall not endeavor to awaken a spirit of
"bellwetherism" in you, nor to urge you to strive to lead the flock – there is
nothing in the mere leading of people other than vainglory and petty selfsatisfaction.
The desirable thing is to possess sufficient Individuality and
Initiative to be your own bellwether – to be a law unto yourself, so far as other
men are concerned. The great men – the strong men – care nothing for the flock,
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which so obediently trots along after them. They derive no satisfaction from this
thing, which pleases only inferior minds, and gratifies only petty natures and
ambitions. The big men – the great spirits of all ages – have derived more
satisfaction from that inward conviction of strength and ability which they felt
unfolding into activity within themselves, than in the plaudits of the mob, or in
the servility of those imitative creatures who sought to follow in their footsteps.
And, this thing called Individuality is a real thing. Inherent in each of us, and
which may be developed and brought into activity in each one of us if we go about
it right. Individuality is the expression of our Self – that Self which is what we
mean when we say "I". Each of us is an Individual – an "I" – differing from every
other "I" in the universe, so far as personal expression is concerned. And in the
measure that we express and unfold the powers of that "I", so are we great, strong
and successful. We all "have it in us" – it depends upon us to get it out into
Expression. And, this Individual Expression lies at the heart of the "Secret of
Success". And that is why we use the term – and that is what we shall tell you
about in this little book. It will pay for you to learn this "Secret".
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The Individual
In our last lesson we stated that we considered the "Secret of Success" to consist
principally of the Free Expression of the Individual - the "I." But before you will
be able to apply this idea successfully, you must first awaken to a realization of
what the Individual - the "I" within you - really is. This statement may appear
ridiculous at first to many of you, but it will pay you to acquaint yourself fully
with the idea behind it, for upon the true realization of "I" comes Power.
If you will stop and take stock of yourself, you will find that you are a more
complex being than you had at first considered yourself to be. In the first place
there is the "I," which is the Real Self or the Individual, and there is the "Me,"
which is something attached to and belonging to the "I" - the Personality. For
proof of this, let the "I" take stock of the "Me," and it will find that the latter
consists of three phases or principles, (ie. 1. The Physical Body; 2. The Vital
Energy; 3. The Mind). Many people are in the habitat of regarding their bodies as
the "I" part of them, but a little consideration will show them that the body is but
a material covering, or machine through which and by means of which the "I" is
able to manifest itself. A little thought will show that one may be vividly
conscious of the "I Am" part of himself while totally oblivious of the presence of
the physical body. This being so, it follows that the "I" is independent of the body,
and that the latter falls into the "Me" classification. The physical body may exist
after the "I" has left it - the dead body is not the "I." The physical body is
composed of countless particles which are changing places every moment of our
lives - our body of today is entirely different from our body of a year ago.
Then comes the second principle of the "Me" - the Vital Energy, or what many
call Life. This is seen to be independent of the body, which it energizes, but it, too,
is transitory and changeable, and readily may be seen to be but a something used
to animate and energize the body - an instrument of the "I," and therefore a
principle of the "Me". What, then, is left to the "I" to examine and determine its
nature? The answer that comes naturally to the lips is, "The Mind, by which I
know the truth of what you have just said. "But, stop a moment, you have said,
speaking of the mind, "by which I know" – have you not, in saying this,
acknowledged the mind to be a something through which the "I" acts? Think a