LESSON X. 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 bedetermined in advance if the founders had been studied. It is notalways possible to start a money-making business at the start.Usually a number of changes have to be made. Plans do not workout as their creators thought they would. They may have to bechanged a little, broadened it may be, here and there, and as youbroaden your business you broaden your power to achieve. You gainan intense and sustained desire to make your business a success.

When you start a business you may have but a vague notion of theway you will conduct it. You must fill in the details as you goalong. You must concentrate on these details. As you straightenout one after another, others will require attention. In this wayyou cover the field of "the first endeavor" and new opportunitiesopen up for you.

When you realize one desire, another comes. But if you do notfulfill the first desire, you will not the second. The personthat does not carry his desires into action is only a dreamer.Desire is a great creative force, if it is pure, intense andsustained. It is our desires that keep stirring us up to actionand they will strengthen and broaden you if you make themmaterialize.

Every man who achieves success deserves it. When he first startedout he did not understand how to solve the problems thatafterwards presented themselves, but he did each thing as it cameup in the very best way that he could, and this developed hispower of doing bigger things. We become masters of business bylearning to do well whatever we attempt. The man that has athorough knowledge of his business can of course direct it muchmore easily and skillfully than the man who lacks that knowledge.The skilled business director can sit in his private office andstill know accurately what is actually being done. He knows whatshould be done in any given time and if it is not accomplished heknows that his employees are not turning out the work that theyshould. It is then easy to apply the remedy.

Business success depends on well-concentrated efforts. You mustuse every mental force you can master. The more these are usedthe more they increase. Therefore the more you accomplish todaythe more force you will have at your disposal with which to solveyour problems tomorrow.

If you are working for someone else today and wish to start in abusiness for yourself, think over carefully what you would liketo do. Then when you have resolved what you want to do, you willbe drawn towards it. There is a law that opens the way to thefulfillment of your desires. Of course back of your desire youmust put forward the necessary effort to carry out your purpose;you must use your power to put your desires into force. Once theyare created and you keep up your determination to have themfulfilled you both consciously and unconsciously work towardtheir materialization. Set your heart on your purpose,concentrate your thought upon it, direct your efforts with allyour intelligence and in due time you will realize your ambition.

Feel yourself a success, believe you are a success and thus putyourself in the attitude that demands recognition and the thoughtcurrent draws to you what you need to make you a success. Don'tbe afraid of big undertakings. Go at them with grit, and pursuemethods that you think will accomplish your purpose. You may notat first meet with entire success, but aim so high that if youfall a little short you will still have accomplished much.

What others have done you can do. You may even do what othershave been unable to do. Always keep a strong desire to succeed inyour mind. Be in love with your aim and work, and make them, asfar as possible, square with the rule of the greatest good to thegreatest number and your life cannot be a failure.

The successful business attitude must be cultivated to make themost out of your life, the attitude of expecting great thingsfrom both yourself and others. It alone will often cause men tomake good; to measure up to the best that is in them.

It is not the spasmodic spurts that count on a long journey, butthe steady efforts. Spurts fatigue and make it hard for you tocontinue.

Rely on your own opinion. It should be as good as anyone's else.When once you reach a conclusion abide by it. Let there be nodoubt, or wavering in your judgment. If you are uncertain aboutevery decision you make, you will be subject to harassing doubtsand fears which will render your judgment of little value. Theman that decides according to what he thinks right and who learnsfrom every mistake acquires a well balanced mind that gets thebest results. He gains the confidence of others. He is known asthe man that knows what he wants, and not as one that is aschangeable as the weather. The man of today wants to do businesswith the man that he can depend upon. Uncertainties in thebusiness world are meeting with more disfavor. Reliable firmswant to do business with men of known qualities, with men offirmness, judgment and reliability.

So if you wish to start in business for yourself your greatestasset, with the single exception of a sound physique, is that ofa good reputation.

A successful business is not hard to build if we can concentrateall our mental forces upon it. It is the man that is unsettledbecause he does not know what he wants that goes to the wall. Wehear persons say that business is trying on the nerves, but it isthe unsettling elements of fret and worry and suspense that arenerve-exhausting and not the business. Executing one's plans maycause fatigue, enjoyment comes with rest. If there has not beenany unnatural strain, the recuperative powers replace what energyhas been lost.

By attending to each day's work properly you develop the capacityto do a greater work tomorrow. It is this gradual developmentthat makes possible the carrying out of big plans. The man thatfigures out doing something each hour of the day gets somewhere.At the end of each day you should be a step nearer your aim. Keepthe idea in mind, that you mean to go forward, that each day mustmark an advance and forward you will go. You do not even have toknow the exact direction so long as you are determined to findthe way. But you must not turn back once you have started.

Even brilliant men's conceptions of the possibilities of theirmental forces are so limited and below their real worth that theyare far more likely to belittle their possibilities than they areto exaggerate them. You don't want to think that an aim isimpossible because it has never been realized in the past. Everyday someone is doing something that was never done before. We arepushing ahead faster. Formerly it took decades to build up a bigbusiness, but today it is only but a matter of years, sometimesof months.

Plan each day's activities carefully and you can reach any heightyou aim at. If each thing you do is done with concise andconcentrated thought you will be able to turn out an excellentquality and a large quantity of work. Plan to do so much workduring the day and you will be astonished to see how much moreyou will do, than on other days, when you had not decided on anycertain amount. I have demonstrated that the average businessworking force could do the same amount of work in six hours thatthey now do in eight, without using up any more energy. Neverstart to accomplish anything in an indecisive, indefinite,uncertain way. Tackle everything with a positiveness and anearnestness that will concentrate your mind and attract the verybest associated thoughts. You will in a short time find that youwill have extra time for planning bigger things.

The natural leader always draws to himself, by the law of mentalattraction, ideas in his chosen subject that have ever beenconceived by others. This is of the greatest importance and help.If you are properly trained you benefit much by others' thoughts,and, providing you generate from within yourself something ofvalue, they will benefit from yours. "We are heirs of all theages," but we must know how to use our inheritance.

The confident, pushing, hopeful, determined man influences allwith whom he associates, and inspires the same qualities in them.You feel that his is a safe example to follow and he rouses thesame force within you that is pushing him onward and upward.

One seldom makes a success of anything that he goes at in alistless, spiritless way. To build up a business you must see itexpanding in your mind before it actually takes tangible shape.Every great task that has ever been accomplished has first beenmerely a vision in the mind of its creator. Detail after detailhas had to be worked out in his mind from his first faint idea ofthe enterprise. Finally a clear idea was formed and then theaccomplishment, which was only the material result of the mentalconcept, followed.

The up-to-date business man is not content to build only for thepresent, but is planning ahead. If he does not he will fallbehind his competitor, who is. What we are actually doing todaywas carefully thought out and planned by others in the past. Allprogressive businesses are conducted this way. That is why theyoung business man of today is likely to accomplish more in a fewyears than his father did in all his life. There is no reason whyyour work or business should fag you out. When it does there issomething wrong. You are attracting forces and influence that youshould not, because you are not in harmony with what you aredoing. There is nothing so tiring as to try to do the work forwhich we are unfitted, both by temperament and training.

Each one should be engaged in a business that he loves; be shouldbe furthering movements with which he is in sympathy. He willthen only do his best work and take intense pleasure in hisbusiness. In this way, while constantly growing and developinghis 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 scientificideas and plans carried out by an aggressive and progressivemanagement. Use your mental forces so that they will grow anddevelop. Remember that everything you do is the result of mentalaction, therefore you can completely control your every action.Nothing is impossible for you. Don't be afraid to tackle adifficult proposition. Your success will depend upon the use youmake of your mind. This is capable of wonderful development. Seethat you make full use of it, and not only develop yourself butyour associates. Try to broaden the visions of those with whomyou come in contact and you will broaden your own outlook oflife.

Are You Afraid of Responsibilities? In order for the individualsoul to develop, you must have responsibilities. You mustmanifest the omnipotence of the law of supply. The whole world isyour legitimate sphere of activity. How much of a conqueror areyou? What have you done? Are you afraid of responsibility, or areyou ever dodging, flinching, or side stepping it. If you are, youare not a Real Man. Your higher self never winces, so be a manand allow the powers of the higher self to manifest and you willfind you have plenty of strength and you will feel better whenyou are tackling difficult propositions.