Lessons nine and ten of the power of concentration. Lesson nine. Concentration can
overcome bad habits. Habits make or break us to a far greater extent than
we like to admit. Habit is both a powerful enemy and wonderful ally of
concentration. You must learn to overcome habits which are injurious to concentration, and
to cultivate those which increase it. The large majority of people are controlled by
their habits and are buffeted around by them, like waves of the ocean tossing
a piece of wood. They do things in a certain way because of the
power of habit. They seldom ever think of concentrating on why they do them
this way or that, or study to see if they could do them in
a better way. Now, my object in this chapter is to get you
to concentrate on your habits so you can find out which are good and which
are bad for you. You will find that by making a few needed changes,
you can make even those that are not good for you of service.
The good habits you can make much better. The first thing I want you
to realize is that all habits are governed consciously or unconsciously by the will.
Most of us are forming new habits all the time. Very often, if
you repeat something several times in the same way, you will have formed the
habit of doing it that way. But the oftener you repeat it, the
stronger that habit grows, and the more deeply it becomes embedded in your nature.
After a habit has been in force for a long time, it becomes
almost a part of you, and is therefore hard to overcome. But you
can still break any habit by strong concentration on its opposite. All our life,
so far as it has definite form, is but a mass of habits,
practical, emotional, and intellectual, systematically organized for our weal or woe,
and bearing us irresistibly toward our des destiny, whatever the latter may be.
We are creatures of habits, imitators and copiers of our past selves.
We are liable to be bent or curved, as we can bend a piece
of paper, and each fold leaves a crease, which makes it easier to
make the fold there the next time. The intellect and will are spiritual functions.
Still they are immersed in matter, and to every moment of theirs corresponds
a movement in the brain that is in their material correlative. This is why
habits of thought and habits of willing can be formed. All physical impressions are
the carrying out of the actions of the will and intellect. Our nervous systems
are what they are today because of the way they have been exercised. As
we grow older, most of us become more and more like automatic machines.
The habits we have formed increase in strength. We work in our old,
characteristic way. Your associates learned to expect you to do things in a certain
way. So you see that your habits make a great difference in your life.
And as it is just about as easy to form good habits as it
is bad, you should form only the former. No one but yourself is
responsible for your habits. You are free to form the habits that you should.
And if every one could realize the importance of forming the right kind of
habits, what a different world this would be. How much happier every one
would be, then all, instead of the few, might win success.
Habits are formed more quickly when we are young, but if we have already
passed the youthful plastic period, the time to start to control our habits is
right now. As we will never be any younger, you will find the
following maxims worth remembering. First maxim, we must make our nervous system our
ally instead of our enemy. Second maxim. In the acquisition of a new
habit, as in the leaving off of an old one, we must take
care to launch ourselves with as strong and decided an initiative as possible. The
man that is in the habit of doing the right thing from boyhood has only
good motives, So it is very important for you that you concentrate assiduously on
the habits that reinforce good motives. Surround yourself with every age you can.
Don't play with fire by forming bad habits. Make a new beginning to day.
Study why you have been doing certain things. If they are not for
your good, shun them. Henceforth, don't give in to a single temptation,
for every time you do, you strengthen the chain of bad habits.
Every time you keep a resolution, you break the chain that enslaves you.
Third maxim, never allow an exception to occur till the new habit is securely
rooted in your life. Here is the idea you never want to give in
and tell the new habit is fixed, else you undo all that has been
accomplished by previous efforts. There are two opposing inclinations. One wants to be
firm and the other wants to give in. By your will, you can
become firm through repetition. Fortify your will to be able to cope with any
and all opposition. Fourth, maxim seize the very first possible opportunity to act
on every resolution you make and on every emotional prompting you may experience in the
direction of the habits you aspire to gain. To make a resolve and not
to keep it is of little value. So by all means, keep every
resolution you make. For you not only profit by the resolution, but it
furnishes you with an exercise that causes the brain, cells and physiological correlatives to
form the habit of adjusting themselves to carry out resolutions. A tendency to act
becomes efficiently ingrained in us in proportion to the uninterrupted frequency with which the actions
actually occur, and the brain grows to their use. When a resolve or
a fine glow of feeling is allowed to evaporate without bearing fruit, it is
worse than a chance lost. If you keep your resolutions, you form a
most valuable habit. If you break them, you form a most dangerous one.
So concentrate on keeping them, whether important or unimportant. And remember it
is just as important for this purpose to keep the unimportant, for by so
doing you are forming a habit. Fifth maxim keep the faculty of effort alive
in you by a little gratuitous exercise every day. The more we exercise,
the will the better we can control our habits. Every few days, do
something for no other reason than its difficulty, so that when the hour of
dire need draws nigh, it may find you not unnerved or untrained to stand
the test. Asceticism of this sort is like the insurance which a man pays
on his house and goods. The tax does him no good at the time,
and possibly may never bring him a return, but if the fire does
come, his having paid, it will be his salvation from ruin. So
with the man who has daily insured himself to habits of concentrated attention, energetic
vlation, and self denial in unnecessary things, he will stand like a tower
when everything rocks around him, and his softer fellow mortals are winnowed like chaff
in the blast. The young should be made to concentrate on their habits,
and be made to realize that if they don't, they become walking bundles of
injurious habits. Youth is the plastic state and should be utilized in laying the
foundation for a glorious future. The great value of habit for good and evil
cannot be overestimated. Habit is the deepest law of human nature. No man
is stronger than his habits. Because his habits either build up his strength or
decrease it. We are creatures of habits. Habits have often been called a
labour saying invention, because when they are formed, they require less of both
mental and material strength. The more deeply the habit becomes ingrained, the more
automatic it becomes. Therefore, habit is an economizing tendency of our nature.
For if it were not for habit, we should have to be more watchful
we walk across a crowded street. The habit of stopping and looking prevents us
from being hurt. The right kind of habits keep us from making mistakes and
mishaps. It is a well known fact that the chauffeur is not able to
master his machine safely until he has trained his body in an habitual way.
When an emergency comes, he instantly knows what to do. Where safety depends
on quickness, the operator must work automatically. Habits mean less risk, less
fatigue, and greater accuracy. You do not want to become a slave to
habits of a trivial nature. For instance, Wagner required a certain costume before
he could compose corresponding parts of his operas. Schiller could never write with ease
unless there were rotten apples in the drawer of his desk, from which he
could now and then obtain an odor, which seemed to him sweet Gladstone had
different desks for his different activities, so that when he worked on Homer,
he never sat among habitual accompaniments of his legislative labors. In order to overcome
undesirable habits, two things are necessary. You must have trained your will to
do what you wanted to do, and the stronger the will, the easier
it will be to break a habit. Then you must make a resolution to
do just the opposite of what the habit is. Therefore, one habit must
replace another. If you have a strong will, you can tenaciously and persistently
concentrate on removing the bad habit, and in a very short time a good
habit will gain the upper hand. I will bring this chapter to a close
by giving doctor Oppenheim's instructions for overcoming a habit. If you want to abolish
a habit and its accumulated circumstances as well, you must grapple with the matter
as earnestly as you would with a physical enemy. You must go into the
encounter with all tenacity of determination, with all fierceness of resolve. Yea,
even with a passion for success that may be called vindictive. No human enemy
can be insiduous, so persevering, as unrelenting as an unfavorable habit. It
never sleeps, it needs no rest. It is like a parasite that grows
with the growth of the supporting body. And like a parasite, it can
best be killed by violent separation and crushing. When life is stormy and all
seems against us, that is when we often acquire wrong habits. And it
is then that we have to make a gigantic effort to think and speak as
we should. And even though we may feel the very reverse at that moment,
the tiniest effort will be backed up by a tremendous power and will lift
us to a realization never felt before. It is not in the easy,
contented moments of our life that we make our greatest progress, For then it
requires no special effort to keep in tune. But it is when we are
in the midst of trials and misfortunes, when we think we are sinking being
overwhelmed, then it is important for us to realize that we are linked to
a great power, and if we live as we should, there is nothing
that can occur in life which could permanently injure us. Nothing can happen that
should disturb us. So always remember you have within you unlimited power, ready
to manifest itself in the form which fills our need at the moment. If
when we have something difficult to solve, we would be silent like the child,
we can get the inspiration when it comes, we will know how to
act. We will find there is no need to hurry or disturb ourselves.
That it is always wiser to wait for guidance from within than to act on
impulse from without. Less in ten business results through concentration. A successful business
is not usually the result of chance. Neither is a failure the result of
luck. Most failures could be determined in advance if the founders had been studied.
It is not always possible to start a money making business at the start.
Usually a number of changes have to be made. Plans do not work
out as their creators thought they would, they may have to be changed a
little broadened. It may be here and there, And as you broaden your
business, you broaden your power to achieve. You gain an intense and sustained
desire to make your business a success. When you start a business, you
may have but a vague notion of the way you will conduct it. You
must fill in the details as you go along. You must concentrate on these
details as you straighten out one after another. Others will require attention. In
this way, you cover the field of the first endeavor, and new opportunities
open up for you. When you realize one desire, another comes. But
if you do not fulfill the first desire, you will not the second.
The person that does not carry his desires into action is only a dreamer.
Desire is a great creative force if it is pure, intense, and sustained.
It is our desires that keep stirring us up to action, and they
will strengthen and broaden you if you make them materialize. Every man who achieved
success deserves it. When he first started out, he did not understand how
to solve the problems that afterwards presented themselves. But he did each thing as
it came up, in the very best way that he could, and it
has developed his power of doing bigger things. We become masters of business by
learning to do well whatever we attempt. The man that has thorough knowledge of
his business can of course direct it much more easily and skillfully than the man
who lacks that knowledge. The skilled business director can sit in his private office
and still know accurately what is actually being done. He knows what should be
done in any given time, and if it is not accomplished, he knows
that his employees are not turning out the work that they should. It is
then easy to apply the remedy. Business success depends on well concentrated efforts.
You must use every mental force you can muster. The more these are used,
the more they increase. Therefore, the more you accomplish today, the
more force you will have at your disposal with which to solve your problems tomorrow.
If you are working for someone else today and wish to start in a
business for yourself. Think over carefully what you would like to do. Then,
when you have resolved what you want to do, you will be drawn
towards it. There is a law that opens the way to the fulfillment of
your desires. Of course, back of your desires, you must put forward
the necessary effort to carry out your purpose. You must use your power to
put your desires into force. Once they are created and you keep up your
determination to have them fulfilled, you both consciously and unconsciously work toward their materialization.
Set your heart on your purpose, concentrate your thought upon it, direct
your efforts with all your intelligence, and in due time you will realize your
ambition. Feel yourself a success, Believe you are a success, and thus
put yourself in the attitude that demands recognition and the thought current draws to you
what you need to make you a success. Don't be afraid of big undertakings,
go at them with grit, and pursue methods that you think will accomplish
your purpose. You may not at first meet with entire success, but aim
so high that if you fall a little short, you will still have accomplished
much what others have done, you can do. You may even do what
others have been unable to do. Always keep a strong desire to succeed in
your mind. Be in love with your aim and work, and make them
as far as possible, square with the rule of the greatest good to the
greatest number, and your life cannot be a failure. The successful business attitude
must be cultivated to make the most out of your life. The attitude of
expecting great things from both yourself and others. It alone will often cause men
to make good, to measure up to the best that is in them.
It is not the spasmodic spurts that count on a long journey, but the
steady efforts. Spurts fatigue and make it hard for you to continue. Rely
on your own opinion. It should be as good as anyone else's. When
once you reach a conclusion, abide by it. Let there be no doubt
or wavering in your judgment. If you are uncertain about every decision you make,
you will be subject to harassing doubts and fears, which will render your
judgment of little value. The man that decides according to what he thinks right,
and who learns from every mistake, acquires a well balanced mind that gets
the best results. He gains the confidence of others. He is known as
the man that knows what he wants, and not as the one that is
as changeable as the weather. The man of to day wants to do business
with the man that he can depend upon. Uncertainties in the business world are
meeting with more disfavor. Reliable firms want to do business with men of known
qualities, with men of firmness, judgment, and reliability. So if you
wish to start in business for yourself, your greatest asset, with the single
exception of a sound physique, is that of a good reputation. A successful
business is not hard to build if we can concentrate all our mental forces upon
it. It is the man that is unsettled because he does not know what
he wants that goes to the wall. We hear persons say that business is
trying on the nerves, But it is the unsettling elements of fret and worry
and suspense that are nerve exhausting, and not the business. Executing one's plans
may cause fatigue. Enjoyment comes with rest if there has not been any unnatural
strain. The recuperative powers replace what energy has been lost. By attending to
each day's work properly, you develop the capacity to do a greater work tomorrow.
It is this gradual development that makes possible the carrying out of big plans.
The man that figures out doing something each hour of the day gets somewhere.
At the end of each day, you should be a step nearer your
aim. Keep the idea in mind that you mean to go forward, that
each day must mark in advance, and forward you will go. You do
not even have to know the exact direction, so long as you are determined
to find the way. But you must not turn back once you have started.
Even the brilliant men's conceptions of the possibilities of their mental forces are so
limited and below their real worth, that they are far more likely to belittle
their possibilities than they are to exaggerate them. You don't want to think that
an aim is impossible because it has never been realized in the past. Every
day someone is doing something that was never done before. We are pushing ahead
faster. Formerly, it took decades to build up a big business, but
to day it is only but a matter of years, sometimes of months.
Plan each day's activities carefully, and you can reach any height you aim at.
If each thing you do is done with concise and concentrate thought, you
will be able to turn out in excellent quality and a large quantity of work.
Plan to do so much work during the day, and you will be
astonished to see how much more you will do than on other days when you
had not decided on any certain amount. I have demonstrated that the average business
working force could do the same amount of work in six hours that they now
do in eight without using up any more energy. Never start to accomplish anything
in an indecisive, indefinite, uncertain way. Tackle everything with a positiveness and
an earnestness that will concentrate your mind and attract the very best associated thoughts.
You will in a short time find that you will have extra time for planning
bigger things. The natural leader always draws to himself, by the law of
mental attraction, ideas in his chosen subject that have never been conceived by others.
This is of the greatest importance in health. If you are properly trained,
you benefit much by others thoughts and providing you generate from within yourself something
of value. They will benefit from yours. We are heirs of all the
ages, but we must know how to use our inheritance. The confident,
pushing, hopeful, determined man influences all with whom he associates and inspires the
same qualities in them. You feel that his is a safe example to follow,
and he rouses the same force within you that is pushing him onward and
upward. One seldom makes a success of anything that he goes at in a
listless, spiritless way. To build up a business, you must see it
expanding in your mind before it actually takes tangible shape. Every great task that
has ever been accomplished has first been merely a vision in the mind of its
creator. Detail after detail has had to be worked out in his mind from
his first faint idea of the enterprise. Finally a clear idea was formed,
and then the accomplishment, which was only the material result of the mental concept,
followed. The up to date business man is not content to build only
for the present, but is planning ahead. If he does not, he
will fall behind his competitor, who is What we are actually doing today was
carefully thought out and planned by others in the past. All progressive businesses are
conducted this way. That is why the young business man of today is likely
to accomplish more in a few years than his father did in all his life.
There is no reason why your work or business should fag you out.
When it does, there is something wrong. You are attracting forces and influence
that you should not because you are not in harmony with what you are doing.
There is nothing so tiring as to try to do the work for which
we are unfitted. Both by temperament and training. Each one should be engaged
in a business that he loved. He should be furthering movements with which he
is in sympathy. He will then only do his best work and take intense
pleasure in his business. In this way, while constantly growing and developing his
powers, he is at the same time rendering through his work, genuine and
devoted service to humanity. Business success is not the result of chance, but
of scientific ideas and plans carried out by an aggressive and progressive management. Use
your mental forces so that they will grow and develop. Remember that everything you
do is the result of mental action. Therefore you can completely control your every
action. Nothing is impossible for you don't be afraid to tackle a difficult proposition.
Your success will depend upon the use you make of your mind. This
is capable of wonderful development. See that you make full use of it,
and not only develop yourself but your associates. Try to broaden the visions of
those with whom you come in contact, and you will broaden your own outlook
of life. Are you afraid of responsibilities? In order for the individual soul
to develop, you must have responsibilities. You must manifest the omnipotence of the
law of supply. The whole world is your legitimate sphere of activity. How
much of a conqueror are you? What have you done? Are you afraid
of responsibility? Or are you ever dodging, flinching, or side stepping it?
If you are, you are not a real man. Your higher self
never winces. So be a man and allow the powers of the higher self
to manifest, and you will find you have plenty of strength, and you
will feel better when you are tackling difficult propositions.