Lesson Two - Definite Chief Aim / Your Desire

Page - 1.., 2.., 3.., 4.., 5.., 6.., 7.., 8.., 9.., 10.., 11..,12.., 13.., Continue > 14.., 15...

​

​

The key-note of this entire lesson may be found in the word "definite."

 

It is most appalling to know that ninety-five per cent of the people of the world are drifting aimlessly through life without the slightest conception of the work for which they are best fitted and with no conception whatsoever of even the need of such a thing as a definite objective toward which to strive.

 

There is a psychological as well as an economic reason for the selection of a definite chief aim in life.

 

Let us devote our attention to the psychological side of the question first. It is a well established principle of psychology that a person's acts are always in harmony with the dominating thoughts of his or her mind.

 

Any definite chief aim that is deliberately fixed in the mind and held there with the determination to realize it, finally saturates the entire subconscious mind until it automatically influences the physical action of the body toward the attainment of that purpose.

 

Your definite chief aim in life should be selected with deliberate care and after it has been selected it should be written out and placed where you will see it at least once a day. The psychological effect of which is to impress this purpose upon your subconscious mind so strongly that it accepts that purpose as a pattern or blueprint that will eventually dominate your activities in life and lead you step by step, toward the attainment of the object of your purpose.

 

The principle of psychology through which you can impress your definite chief aim upon your subconscious mind is called Auto-suggestion or suggestion which you repeatedly make to yourself.

 

It is a degree of self-hypnotism but do not be afraid of it on that account for it was this same principle through the aid of which Napoleon lifted himself from the lowly station of poverty-stricken Corsican to the dictatorship of France.

 

It was through the aid of this same principle that Thomas A. Edison had risen from the lowly beginning of a news butcher to where he is accepted as the leading inventor of the world.

 

It was through the aid of this same principle that Lincoln bridged the mighty chasm between his lowly birth in a log cabin in the mountains of Kentucky and the presidency of the greatest nation on earth.

​

You need have no fear of the principle of Autosuggestion as long as you are sure that the objective for which you are striving is one that will bring you happiness of an enduring nature.

 

Be sure that your definite purpose is constructive. That its attainment will not bring hardship and misery to anyone and that it will bring you peace and prosperity> Then apply to the limit of your understanding the principle of self-suggestion for the speedy attainment of this purpose.

 

On the street corner I see a man who stands there all day long and sells peanuts. He is busy every minute. When not actually engaged in making a sale he is roasting and packing the peanuts in little bags.

 

He is one of that great army constituting the ninety-five per cent who have no definite purpose in life.

 

He is selling peanuts not because he likes that work better than anything else he might do but because he never sat down and thought out a definite purpose that would bring him greater returns for his labor.

 

He is selling peanuts because he is a drifter on the sea of life and one of the tragedies of his work is the fact that the same amount of effort that he puts into it - if directed along other lines - would bring him much greater returns.

 

Another one of the tragedies of this man's work is the fact that he is unconsciously making use of the principle of self-suggestion but he is doing it to his own disadvantage.

 

No doubt, if a picture could be made of his thoughts there would be nothing in that picture except a peanut roaster, some little paper bags and a crowd of people buying peanuts.

 

This man could get out of the peanut business if he had the vision and the ambition first to imagine himself in a more profitable calling and the perseverance to hold that picture before his mind until it influenced him to take the necessary steps to enter a more profitable calling.

 

He puts sufficient labor into his work to bring him a substantial return if that labor were directed toward the attainment of a definite purpose that offered bigger returns.

​

The subconscious mind may be likened to a magnet and when it has been vitalized and thoroughly saturated with any definite purpose it has a decided tendency to attract all that is necessary for the fulfillment of that purpose.

 

Like attracts like and you may see evidence of this law in every blade of grass and every growing tree. The acorn attracts from the soil and the air the necessary materials out of which to grow an oak tree. It never grows a tree that is part oak and part poplar. Every grain of wheat that is planted in the soil attracts the materials out of which to grow a stalk of wheat. It never makes a mistake and grows both oats and wheat on the same stalk.

 

And men are also subject to this same Law of Attraction. Go into any cheap boarding house district in any city and there you will find people of the same general trend of mind associated together.

 

On the other hand - go into any prosperous community and there you will find people of the same general tendencies associated together. Men who are successful always seek the company of others who are successful while men who are on the ragged side of life always seek the company of those who are in similar circumstances. "Misery loves company."

 

Water seeks its level with no finer certainty than man seeks the company of those who occupy his own general status financially and mentally.

 

A professor of Yale University and an illiterate hobo have nothing in common. They would be miserable if thrown together for any great length of time. Oil and water will mix as readily as will men who have nothing in common. All of which leads up to this statement:

That you will attract to you people who harmonize

with your own philosophy of life whether you wish it or not. 

 

This being true, can you not see the importance of vitalizing your mind with a definite chief aim that will attract to you people who will be of help to you and not a hindrance?

 

Suppose your definite chief aim is far above your present station in life. What of it? It is your privilege - nay, your DUTY to aim high in life. You owe it to yourself and to the community in which you live to set a high standard for yourself.

 

There is much evidence to justify the belief that nothing within reason is beyond the possibility of attainment by the man whose definite chief aim has been well developed.

 

Some years ago Louis Victor Eytinge was given a life sentence in the Arizona penitentiary. At the time of his imprisonment he was an all-around "bad man," according to his own admissions.

 

In addition to this it was believed that he would die of tuberculosis within a year. If anyone ever had reason to feel discouraged, it was Eytinge. Public feeling against him was intense and he did not have a single friend in the world who came forth and offered him encouragement or help.

 

Then something happened in his own mind that gave him back his health. He put the dreaded "white plague" to rout and finally unlocked the prison gates and gave him his freedom.

 

What was that "something"? Just this:

He made up his mind to whip the white plague and regain his health.

That was a very definite chief aim.

 

In less than a year from the time the decision was made he had won.

 

Then he extended that definite chief aim by making up his mind to gain his freedom. Soon the prison walls melted from around him.

 

No undesirable environment is strong enough to hold the man or woman who understands how to apply the principle of Auto-suggestion in the creation of a definite chief aim.

 

Such a person can throw off the shackles of poverty; destroy the most deadly disease germs; rise from a lowly station in life to power and plenty.

 

All great leaders base their leadership upon a definite chief aim. Followers are willing followers when they know that their leader is a person with a definite chief aim who has the courage to back up that purpose with action.

 

Even a balky horse knows when a driver with a definite chief aim takes hold of the reins; and yields to that driver.

 

When a man with a definite chief aim starts through a crowd everybody stands aside and makes a way for him, but let a man hesitate and show by his actions that he is not sure which way he wants to go and the crowd will step all over his toes and refuse to budge an inch out of his way.

​

​

​

Lesson Two - Definite Chief Aim / Your Desire

Page - 1.., 2.., 3.., 4.., 5.., 6.., 7.., 8.., 9.., 10.., 11..,12.., 13.., Continue > 14.., 15...