When William James,

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another great leader in studies of the human mind,
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died in 1910,
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a young newspaper reporter had already begun exploring
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the minds of America's greatest men.
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Here he is, 53 years later,
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Dr. Napoleon Hill.
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[applause]
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Thank you.
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Thank you very much.
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[applause]
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[applause stops]
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My greatest book, "Think and Grow Rich,"
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was written in the White House in 1933
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in the most intense surrounding of negative attitude
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I have ever witnessed in my entire life,
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which is the evidence, I think, of the fact
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that there are ways and means
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of maintaining a positive mental attitude
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even though you're surrounded with negative influences.
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The subject of a positive mental attitude
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is so very important
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that I want you to know I'm working from a script
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because I want this lecture to be letter-perfect.
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A positive mental attitude is a state of mind
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which the individual must create and maintain
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by methods of his own choice
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through the operations of his own willpower
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based on motives of his own adoption.
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In the printed lesson on this subject,
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many suggestions are offered as to practical methods
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by which the individual may take possession of his own mind
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and develop the habit of directing the mind
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in a positive mental attitude.
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There are so many people in this world
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who can see the hole in the doughnut
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but they cannot see the doughnut around the hole.
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One with a positive mental attitude
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sees the hole in the doughnut all right,
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but he also sees the doughnut around the hole.
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Nothing constructive and worthy of man's efforts
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ever has been or ever will be achieved
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except that which comes from a positive mental attitude
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based upon a definite purpose
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and activated by a burning desire
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and intensified until the burning desire
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is elevated to the plane of applied faith.
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When it comes to wishes,
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everyone has a flock of them.
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When it comes to idle curiosity,
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everyone has a stock of it.
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When it comes to hopes,
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perhaps half of the people have hopes
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for unattained things or circumstances.
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Burning desire--only that small percentage of people
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who can be called successful
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ever feel the urge of this burning desire.
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Applied faith--only the leaders
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attain this degree of mind control,
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which can exist only in a positive mental attitude.
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Prayer brings positive results
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only when it is expressed in a positive mental attitude.
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The most effective prayers are those expressed by individuals
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who have conditioned their minds to habitually think
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in terms of a positive mental attitude.
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For a great number of years, it was a mystery to me
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as to why my prayers failed more often than they succeeded.
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When I found out the real cause,
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I discovered that I was in the habit of going to prayer
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only when I was in difficulty,
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when I wanted someone to bail me out.
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Later on, I learned that the best way to go to prayer
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is to condition the mind long before an emergency arises
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by expressing thanks and gratitude
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for the blessings you already have.
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The vibrations of thought sent out from the individual's mind
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carry with them, though, to other minds
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the precise state of mind in which they are released,
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a fact well known to all master salesmen
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who have learned how to condition the minds
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of their prospective buyers before they meet them.
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Mr. W. Clement Stone has approximately 2,000 salesmen.
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They have learned the art of conditioning the minds
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of their prospective buyer
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to buy long before they interview him.
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That's an astounding thing,
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but I am sure that Mr. Stone's increase
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from $3 million of personal wealth
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to over $100 million is due, in the main,
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to the fact that those salesmen
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have been trained to condition first their own minds
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to be positive,
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and then that vibration of their minds goes ahead
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and affects the minds of the prospective buyer.
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No one can successfully teach
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the science of personal achievement
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while in a negative mental attitude.
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Underscore that one, please.
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No lawyer can convince a jury,
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no clergyman can inspire his parishioners,
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no speaker can hold and influence his audience
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without the aid of a positive mental attitude.
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And it has been said that the most successful doctors
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in all branches of therapy
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are those who treat their patients
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with a positive mental attitude.
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If a doctor went into the sickroom
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in a negative mental attitude,
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there wouldn't be a chance on earth
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for him to do his patient any good.
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The subconscious mind of an individual
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can be educated to produce constructive results
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only when it is given instructions
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in a positive mental attitude.
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The subconscious mind responds most favorably and immediately
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to a burning desire backed by applied faith,
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faith followed by action.
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Constructive mottos are often used by people who recognize
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what a powerful influence one's daily environment has
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on the makings of a positive mental attitude.
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When I was associated with R.G. LeTourneau
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in 1942 and '43,
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I wrote over 3,000 positive mottos,
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and here are some of them.
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You can do it if you believe you can.
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And how true that is.
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Whatever it is that you're tackling,
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whatever your problem is,
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you can solve it if you believe you can.
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Do more than you are paid for,
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and soon you will be paid for more than you do.
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The person... is worth most
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who requires the least amount of supervision.
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And how true that is.
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Remember, your only limitation
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is that which you set up in your own mind.
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You fix your own limitation.
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Nobody can fix it for you.
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The tone of your voice speaks louder than your words.
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Keep it pleasing, please.
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A negative mind spawns only negative ideas.
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And there's more wrapped up in that short sentence
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than appears on the lines.
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A negative mind spawns only negative ideas.
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A real master salesman will not, under any circumstances,
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approach a prospective buyer
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until he has first conditioned his mind
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to be absolutely positive,
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because he knows that the prospective buyer
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will pick up his own vibrations and his own feelings
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and act upon them.
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The use made of one's time
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determines the space he occupies in the world.
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Time spent in silent thought may yield fabulous riches
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through the creation of sound ideas.
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A man is no bigger than the circumstances
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which he allows to worry him.
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Isn't that a marvelous thought?
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A man is no bigger than the circumstances
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which he allows to bother him
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or worry him.
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A closed mind stumbles over the blessings of life
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without discovering them.
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When the devil wants a job well done,
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he picks a disgruntled person to do the job.
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There isn't the slightest doubt in the world
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about the soundness of that.
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The man who can get the job done without alibis
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is on the sure road to success.
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Opportunity has the habit of getting in the way
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of the person with a positive mental attitude.
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A person with a positive mental attitude
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attracts opportunity, favorable opportunities,
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just like a magnet attracts steel filings
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and as definitely.
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And in reverse, a negative mental attitude
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repels opportunity.
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Opportunity has the habit of getting in the way
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of the person with a positive mental attitude.
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Isn't that a marvelous thought?
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Cooperation and friendship are two assets
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that can be had only by first giving them.
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No one can get to the top and remain there
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without taking others with him.
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Politeness begins at home, or it doesn't begin at all.
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It may not be your duty to return good for evil,
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but it is your privilege.
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Never guess when there is a way of knowing.
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When you do more than you're paid for,
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you put the boss on a limb;
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when you do less, you put yourself on a limb.
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Faith will bridge all rivers of doubt
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so one may pass over safely.
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A spider spinning its web
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has more definiteness of purpose than has most men.
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And how true that is.
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There is a method by which one may transmute
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failure into success, poverty into riches,
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sorrow into joy, fear into faith.
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The transmutation must start with a positive mental attitude
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because success, riches, and faith
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do not make bedfellows with a negative mental attitude.
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The transmutation procedure is simple.
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First, when failure overtakes you,
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start thinking of it as if it had been a success.
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Start imaging the circumstances of the failure
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in your own imagination as being a success.
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Start, also, looking for the seed
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of an equivalent benefit
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which seems comes with every failure.
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While the wounds of disappointment and failure
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are wide open,
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it's very difficult for one to start looking
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for that seed of an equivalent or a greater benefit,
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but if you allow a little time to elapse
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after any type of adversity and then begin to search,
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you will find that seed of an equivalent benefit.
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It never fails. It's always there.
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Because the Creator has so constructed man
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that he never allows anything to be taken away from anybody
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without something of equal or greater benefit
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being available to that person.
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Although the person may never discover it,
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the potential is there just the same.
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When poverty threatens to catch up with you
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or has actually caught up,
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start thinking of it as riches,
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and visualize the riches
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in all the things that you wish to do with actual riches.
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Also start looking for the seed of an equivalent benefit.
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When fear overtakes you,
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just remember that fear is only faith in reverse gear.
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Isn't that an enormous thought?
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Fear--faith is only--
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fear is only faith in reverse gear.
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And start thinking in terms of faith
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by seeing yourself translating faith
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into whatever circumstance or things you desire.
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When sorrow overtakes you,
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start expressing yourself in terms of joy,
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perhaps by singing or giving thanks
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for your power to convert sorrow into joy.
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Act out these positive parts, and they will become real.
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Isn't that an astounding thought?
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Of course, when you start acting joyously
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when the people around you know that your heart
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is burdened with sorrow,
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you may seem ridiculous,
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but never mind what the other fellow thinks;
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it's what you think that counts.
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[applause]
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Thank you.
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[applause]
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I have been criticized by some
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who didn't understand the nature of my ten invisible guides,
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but the reply is that they serve me perfectly.
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They allow me to say to the world
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that I have everything upon the face of this earth
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that I need or desire or want,
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and if I need more, all I have to do
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is to reach out my hand and get it
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and close my hand on it.
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So if those who do not understand the law
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back of my ten invisible guides wish to criticize,
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that's their misfortune, not mine.
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Have a session with yourself in the bathroom every evening
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just before retiring.
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Look at yourself in the mirror,
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and compliment yourself orally and enthusiastically
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for having already accomplished
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the things you desire to accomplish tomorrow,
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and do not stop until you have convinced yourself
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that what you wish to happen tomorrow will happen.
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You know, nature has a way of, uh,
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seeing to it that that which you expect comes along.
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She doesn't want to disappoint.
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If you expect failure, if you expect defeat,
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if you expect ill health,
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the chances are that you will not be disappointed.
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But if you expect success, which is far better,
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the chances are also that you will not be disappointed.
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Who is the greatest person living at the present time?
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The answer, of course, is that you
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are the greatest person now living.
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If you don't believe this,
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then begin at once to tell yourself it is true,
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for it is true as far as you are concerned.
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Do you know of any person living,
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past or present, or--
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who is more important than you are?
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Of course you don't.
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You are great because you can always become
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that which you sincerely desire to be.
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That might not be true if you lived in Russia or China,
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but you don't live in Russia or China.
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You live in the United States of America,
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the freest, the greatest, the most wonderful nation
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upon the face of this earth,
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and you have all of the benefits
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of this great country to back you
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in assuming that you're going to be successful.
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Create in your imagination an army of invisible guides
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who will take care of all of your needs,
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all of your desires,
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very much the same as I have done.
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For instance, the guide to physical sound health,
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whose duty it will be to keep your physical body
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healed and in good health;
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and the guide to financial prosperity,
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whose duty it will be to keep you supplied
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with all of the money you need;
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and the guide to peace of mind,
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whose duty it will be to keep your mind cleared of all fears,
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all doubts, all causes of fear and worry;
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and the guide to hope and the guide to faith,
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whose duties it will be to give you inspired guidance
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as to all of your plans, aims, and purposes;
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and the guide to romance and the guide to love,
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whose duties it will be to keep you
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young in body and in mind;
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and the guide to overall wisdom,
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whose duty it will be to convert to your benefit
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all circumstances and influences
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which affect your life,
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whether they are good or bad, negative or positive;
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and the guide to persistence;
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and the guide to Norm Hill.
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Norm Hill is my roving ambassador
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who carries out various orders from me,
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which are not specifically assigned
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to the other nine guides.
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You needn't call your roving ambassador
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by the name of Norm Hill.
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You can call him anything you choose.
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But if you'll have this invisible talisman
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working for you,
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you'll find that he'll do a marvelous job
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if you believe he will.
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Your only compensation needed
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to keep these invisible guides
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eternally active in your service
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will be an expression of gratitude
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offered each night before you retire,
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in which you will thank them individually
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for the service they have rendered you
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during the day
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and the service they will render you
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tomorrow and always.
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That's all they require, an expression of gratitude.
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Interesting that that word "gratitude"
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is one of the most marvelous words
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in the English language.
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I often wonder how many people there are in the world
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who ever experience this marvelous feeling
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of gratitude for the blessings they already have.
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If you're struck by some of the ideas
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expressed in this lesson to be new,
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don't be alarmed,
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for it may well be that new ideas
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alert one's mind and motivate it to create still other new ideas.
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Motivation, action, enthusiasm, faith,
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these are the states of mind
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which are associated with a positive mental attitude.
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Habits--you're the sum total of your habits,
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whether they be habits you have developed
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with purpose of forethought
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or habits you have allowed to creep upon you
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by neglect to form your own.
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A successful, well-balanced, and well-rounded-out life
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is the result of ordered habits
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and never the result of chance or neglect.
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Positive habits can live and thrive only in the mind
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which has been conditioned with a positive mental attitude.
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And your other self--
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each human being is a plural, not a singular, being.
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One of these beings is negative; the other is positive.
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And there is a battle from birth until death
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between these two as to which will dominate.
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Usually the power is about evenly divided
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between the positives and the negatives,
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but often, the negative takes over completely
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and makes of the individual a subject of irritation
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to himself and to all others around him.
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The development of a positive mental attitude
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is the first step and which one must take
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in order to give the positive self
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full and complete control over the negative self.
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Then one has truly taken possession of his own mind
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and is able to direct it to whatever ends he may desire,
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thus fulfilling the purpose of the Creator
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in having given man complete control
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over but one thing, and that is his own mind.
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I think, of all the facts that I have examined in life,
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that is the most fabulous, the most far-reaching,
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and the most significant,
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that the Creator has given man control
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over but one thing and one thing only,
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and that is the right to use his thinking,
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positively or negatively.
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Eternal vigilance is the price that one must pay
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to maintain a positive mental attitude
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because of these and other natural opposites
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of positive thinking,
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such as your negative self
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constantly maneuvers for power over you.
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You can feel that.
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You don't need to take my word for it.
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You've felt it in the past.
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You may not have defined the feeling properly,
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but you know very well that there is something going on
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within you constantly
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in the nature of a negative thought.
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Then your accumulated fears, doubts,
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and self-imposed limitations,
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which came over with you
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when you came from the other side,
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they're constantly standing in the way
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of a positive mental attitude.
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Then the negative influences near you,
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including people who are negative,
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and especially, sometimes, the people with whom you work
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or the relatives with whom you're associated,
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and perhaps some inborn negative traits
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which you brought over with you at the time of birth,
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these also can be transmuted into positive traits.
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Worries over the lack of money and the lack of progress
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in your business, profession, or calling in life--
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I don't know of anything that can pull the rug out
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from under one quicker than worries over the lack of money.
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Unrequited love
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and unbalanced emotional frustrations
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in your relationships with the opposite sex--
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I suspect that sends as many people to the insane asylum
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as any other cause, unrequited love.
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It seems to me that a man or a woman
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who has been disappointed in a love affair
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would look upon the affair as--
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very much as a sort of a streetcar ride.
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You know, if you don't like the car you're riding on,
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you can always get a transfer onto another one.
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And if you haven't-- the car hasn't arrived yet,
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just remember, if you stand by the side
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of the streetcar line long enough,
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one will come along.
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So don't let it worry you in the meanwhile.
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And unsound health, either real or imaginary,
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that also is something that you have to battle against
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in order to maintain a positive mental attitude.
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And intolerance, the lack of an open mind
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on all subjects toward all people,
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you certainly have to keep a close check on that one
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if you're going to maintain a positive mental attitude.
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It makes no difference how much another person
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may deserve your hatred or your dislike
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or your intolerance.
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He may deserve it, but you can't afford to give it
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on account of what it will do to you.
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And greed for more material possessions than you need...
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I have probably seen and known and dealt
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with more wealthy men in this country
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than any other one individual,
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and I want to tell you, my friends,
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that I can count on the fingers of my one hand
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the extremely wealthy men
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with whom I would have cared to change places.
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Most of them paid too much for the money they got.
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Their greed outran their reasoning.
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They were getting no peace of mind out of life.
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You can get too much money in life;
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you can also get too little.
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Somewhere in between the two extremes
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is the proper place to stop.
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I have a motto which says, "Not too much, not too little."
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That goes not only for money; it goes for everything.
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Not too much, not too little,
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just enough to maintain
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a well-ordered and a well-balanced life.
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Ignorance of the real extent of the power of your mind
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and its unlimited potentials
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for the attainment of anything you desire
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also is a handicap
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to the maintenance of a positive mental attitude.
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And lack of a definite major purpose
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and a plan for its attainment...
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2 out of 100, perhaps, have a definite major purpose,
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and that would be putting the percentage rather high,
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if you took the people as a whole.
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And the habit of allowing others to do your thinking for you...
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Now, check yourself rigidly
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on each of the above enemies of positive thinking,
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and go to work wherever you grade less than 100%
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on immunity against any of these causes.
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If you have a master mind alliance,
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have each of its members to carefully check and grade you
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on each of the above causes,
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since it is a common trait of human--of human beings
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to be biased in evaluating themselves,
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sometimes in their own favor,
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but more often against themselves.
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As a student of the science of personal achievement,
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you are indebted to the complete overhauling job
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through which you will evolve into new--
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a new and a better set of habits
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by which you conduct your life.
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Remember, therefore, that no price you have to pay
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for this better way of living is too high.
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Actually, the only price you have to pay
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is that of following the instructions laid down
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in the philosophy under these instructions
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until these instructions become your daily habits.
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Socrates said, "Wisdom softens poverty and adorns riches."
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And Napoleon Hill says that a positive mental attitude
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will do the same, or even more,
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by eliminating poverty altogether.
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Every adversity that carries with it
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the seed of an equivalent benefit--
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the proper way to attain this benefit
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is by starting to look for the seed
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as soon as the adversity appears
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instead of brooding over the circumstance.
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A positive mental attitude is the only attitude
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in which that seed may be revealed and germinate
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into a full-blown flower of benefit.
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Everyone, my friends, I suppose,
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desires to be rich,
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but not everyone knows what constitutes enduring riches,
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and most people believe riches
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to consist only in the material things
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that money can buy.
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Let me disillusion you on that subject
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by giving you an outline of the 12 great riches of life.
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Number 1:
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a positive mental attitude.
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That stands at the head of the list
27:17
of all of the riches of life.
27:20
Number 2:
27:21
sound physical health.
27:25
And number 3:
27:27
harmony in all of your human relations.
27:31
Number 4:
27:33
freedom from fear.
27:36
Number 5:
27:37
the hope of future achievement.
27:40
Number 6:
27:42
the capacity for applied faith.
27:45
Number 7:
27:47
a willingness to share your blessings with others.
27:52
And number 8:
27:54
to be engaged in the labor of love.
27:57
Number 9:
27:58
an open mind on all subjects toward all people.
28:02
Number 10: complete self-discipline.
28:05
And there's a whole foundation of philosophy
28:09
in that one alone, complete self-discipline.
28:13
And number 11:
28:15
the wisdom with which to understand people.
28:18
And number 12:
28:21
financial security.
28:22
Note that it comes last.
28:23
There are 11 other things
28:26
which may be used as a foundation
28:28
upon which to make proper use of money,
28:31
and without these other nine things,
28:33
money can be just as dangerous as it can be helpful.
28:38
Observe that money is the last thing on the list.
28:42
11 other riches precede it,
28:44
without which money can become a curse
28:46
and nothing more.
28:48
Study these 12 great riches carefully,
28:50
and observe that not one of them can be attained
28:53
without the application of a positive mental attitude.
28:57
That is why it leads the list.
29:00
In the lesson on a pleasing personality,
29:02
you will observe also that a positive mental attitude
29:05
heads the list of the 31 traits
29:07
which give one a pleasing personality.
29:10
And I thank you.
29:11
[applause]

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