The Secret, you ask?  It is this: In order to attain that which you Desire, you MUST assume the proper STATE OF MIND in order to receive it.  The emphasis here is the three words “STATE OF MIND.”  State of Mind is EVERYTHING.  Period.  It is the fundamental foundation to living the Life that you Desire.  That is what Napoleon Hill meant: Learn to control your State of Mind, and you learn to control your Destiny.  That is the Secret.

  _______________________________________   

Success Key: State of Mind – The MOST Powerful Success Strategy

[Ed. Note: Today’s Post is on the lengthy side.  However, it is our firm belief that this may be our most important Post – ever.  Read it.  Read all of it.]

In our last issue of The Success Beacon Newsletter, I discussed Napoleon Hill’s “Money-Making Secret” of Think and Grow Rich.  Specifically, in the Preface, Napoleon Hill makes continued mention of the “Money-Making Secret” that appears throughout the book at least once in every chapter, and he further states that the secret is mentioned no fewer than 100 times throughout the book.  However, Hill intentionally does not specifically disclose the Secret, stating the following:

“The secret to which I refer has been mentioned no fewer than a hundred times, throughout this book.  It has not been directly named, for it seems to work more successfully when it is merely uncovered and left in sight, where those who are ready, and searching for it, may pick it up.  That is why Mr. Carnegie tossed it to me so quietly, without giving me its specific name.

“If you are ready to put it to use, you will recognize this secret at least once in every chapter.  I wish I might feel privileged to tell you how you will know if you are ready, but that would deprive you of much of the benefit you will receive when you make the discovery in your own way.

“A peculiar thing about this secret is that those who once acquire it and use it, find themselves literally swept on to success, with but little effort, and they never again submit to failure!

“The secret to which I refer cannot be had without a price, although the price is far less than its value.  It cannot be had at any price by those who are not intentionally searching for it.  It cannot be given away, it cannot be purchased for money, for the reason that it comes in two parts.  One part is already in possession of those who are ready for it.”

I stated in the Newsletter that I had discovered the Secret and asked our readers if they knew it as well and invited email on the subject.  I received numerous responses, but interestingly, everyone had a different answer!  And, they were all different from what I had concluded as Mr. Hill’s “secret” Secret.

As a result, I went back to Think and Grow Rich and undertook a hard re-examination of Hill’s work.  I am convinced, more than ever, I have the SECRET.

And, I agree with Napoleon Hill as to the significance of the Secret: If you cannot master the Success Power Strategy embodied in this Secret, you will NOT Succeed.  It is that Powerful.

The Secret – at first glance – appears quite simple.  That is because it is simple.  It may also appear obvious.  Well, it is obvious.  The challenge – and Key (as all challenges are nothing more than Keys in disguise) – is that while the Secret may be simple and obvious, it is by no means easy to implement and perfect in our lives, which is why, I believe, that we tend to overlook this Secret and its significance.  It requires hard mental work – the type that most people shirk away.

I firmly believe that if we do not, or cannot, successfully incorporate the Secret into our lives, our chances of obtaining our Desires – whether they be financial, emotional, spiritual, physical – are greatly diminished.  In fact, almost non-existent.

The spectacular Nebula IRAS 05437+2502 defies Imagination. Yet, we can create our world by assuming a State of Mind that allows our Creator to work to and through us.

The SECRET, you ask?  It is this:

In order to attain that which you Desire, you MUST assume the proper STATE OF MIND in order to receive it.

The emphasis here is the three words “STATE OF MIND.”  State of Mind is EVERYTHING.  Period.  It is the fundamental foundation to living the Life that you Desire.

If you go back and read Think and Grow Rich (click here for the FREE Success Manual Strategist 2010 Edition) with this Secret in Mind, the Secret will literally begin to materialize in the pages throughout the book.  It permeates Hills’ work, even though he never expressly states that “State of Mind” is the Secret.  Let’s look at some of the evidence.

First, the concept of “The Man Who Can is the Man Who Thinks He Can” is brought out in more than one instance in Think and Grow Rich.  In other words, if you BELIEVE that you can do something, than you CAN do it.  But, what is “Belief,” other than a State of Mind?

Further, Hill makes the following important statement: “Without doubt, the most common weakness of all human beings is the habit of leaving their minds open to the negative influence of other people.”  In other words, according to Hill, if you don’t affirmatively guard what enters your Mind, you are leaving the gate open for the negative thinking and influence of others to enter your Mind, thereby creating a Negative STATE OF MIND.  What is the likelihood of attaining a Goal or achieving Success if you are consistently and habitually in a Negative State of Mind?  Zero?  Probably.

And, Hill is right – this is the most common weakness of all human beings.  Most “negative influence” by others is very subtle; we may not even notice it.  The fact remains, however, that we MUST always stand guard as the Gatekeeper of our Mind and maintain TOTAL CONTROL of our Mind, our Thoughts and our Feelings.

Don’t ever – ever, ever, ever – allow ANYONE to control YOUR Thoughts, Emotions and Behavior.  You – and ONLY you – assume, establish and control YOUR State of Mind.  If you are under the impression that external events, circumstances or people are “making” you feel and/or think a certain way, i.e., the events, circumstances or people are causing or establishing YOUR State of Mind, it is ONLY because YOU are allowing that to happen.  Stop it – IMMEDIATELY!  Regardless of what is transpiring in the external world, i.e., the events, circumstances and behavior of people, you are the ONLY one responsible for YOUR State of Mind.  The events, circumstances and people of the external world have absolutely NO CONTROL over your State of Mind.

I believe that this is what Hill meant: Learn to control your State of Mind, and you learn to control your Destiny.  That is the Secret.

Let’s see what more Think and Grow Rich has to say.

In the epilogue, the final chapter on the Six Ghosts of Fear, Hill addresses the “Fear of Poverty,” which is nothing more than a State of Mind and how one must control one’s State of Mind if one is ever to attain Riches.  The following are excerpts from this section of the chapter, which I STRONGLY URGE you to read in their entirety.  Yes, it is a bit lengthy, but IT IS THAT IMPORTANT!  As you read the excerpts, you will note certain language that ties directly in with what Hill states in the Preface about the Secret; you will also come to the conclusion, I believe, of the Power of State of Mind:

"Before you can put any portion of this philosophy [of Think and Grow Rich] into successful use, your mind must be prepared to receive it.  The preparation is not difficult.  It begins with study, analysis, and understanding of three enemies which you shall have to clear out.  These are Indecision, Doubt and Fear!

 . . . .

"The remainder of this chapter describes an end which must be attained before the philosophy [of Think and Grow Rich], as a whole, can be put into practical use.  It also analyzes a condition which has, but lately, reduced huge numbers of people to poverty, and it states a truth which must be understood by all who accumulate riches, whether measured in terms of money or a state of mind of far greater value than money.  The purpose of this chapter is to turn the spotlight of attention upon the cause and the cure of the six basic fears.  Before we can master an enemy, we must know its name, its habits, and its place of abode.

"Fears are nothing more than states of mind.  One’s state of mind is subject to control and direction.

"Man can create nothing which he does not first conceive in the form of an impulse of thought.  Following this statement, comes another of still greater importance, namely, man’s Thought Impulses begin immediately to translate themselves into their physical equivalent, whether those Thoughts are voluntary or involuntary.

 . . . .

"We are here laying the foundation for the presentation of a fact of great importance to the person who does not understand why some people appear to be “lucky” while others of equal or greater ability, training, experience, and brain capacity, seem destined to ride with misfortune.  This fact may be explained by the statement that every human being has the ability to completely control his own mind, and with this control, obviously, every person may open his mind to the tramp thought impulses which are being released by other brains, or close the doors tightly and admit only thought impulses of his own choice.

"Nature has endowed man with absolute control over but one thing, and that is Thought.  This fact, coupled with the additional fact that everything which man creates, begins in the form of a thought, leads one very near to the principle by which Fear may be mastered.

 . . . .

"There can be no compromise between Poverty and Riches!  The two roads that lead to Poverty and Riches travel in opposite directions.  If you want Riches, you must refuse to accept any circumstance that leads toward Poverty.  (The word “Riches” is here used in its broadest sense, meaning financial, spiritual, mental and material estates).

. . . . .

"Here, then, is the place to give yourself a challenge which will definitely determine how much of this philosophy you have absorbed.  Here is the point at which you can turn prophet and foretell, accurately, what the future holds in store for you.  If, after reading this chapter, you are willing to accept Poverty, you may as well make up your mind to receive Poverty.  This is one decision you cannot avoid.

"If you demand Riches, determine what form, and how much will be required to satisfy you.  You know the road that leads to riches.  You have been given a road map which, if followed, will keep you on that road.  If you neglect to make the start, or stop before you arrive, no one will be to blame, but YOU.  This responsibility is yours.  No alibi will save you from accepting the responsibility if you now fail or refuse to demand riches of Life, because the acceptance calls for but one thing – incidentally, the only thing you can control – and that is a State of Mind.  A State of Mind is something that one assumes.  It cannot be purchased, it must be created.

"Fear of Poverty is a State of Mind, nothing else! "

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Decide today – right here, right now – to assume a State of Mind that demands Success and Riches and is not willing to accept Poverty or Failure in any amount or at any level.

Decide today – right here, right now – to assume a State of Mind of which YOU have total and absolute control and that YOU will not allow or permit YOUR State of Mind to be influenced or controlled by any person, event or circumstance.

Continue to reaffirm these Declarations periodically throughout the day, every day, until these principles have been engrained into your thinking.  Don’t stop, don’t give up – keep working it until it is thought habit.

It’s YOUR Mind – take responsibility for it!

We have more to come on this subject in the near future.  Do not let the fact that you have been told the Secret, as opposed to discovering it yourself, diminish the Power of the Secret.  I honestly and sincerely believe that this Secret is by far THE MOST POWERFUL SUCCESS KEY AND STRATEGY IN THE WORLD.  Use it!  Keep studying it!  Work it!

Don’t squander this information – as Napoleon Hill states, it is PRICELESS!  The State of Mind to Health, Wealth, Prosperity and Success cannot be purchased – it MUST be created!

To be continued . . . .

Peace Out, and - Namasté!

To your Health, Wealth, Prosperity and Success,

The Success Manual Team

  _______________________________________   

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Whether or not your Goal is attainable is a direct function of variables that depend on YOU.  Whether or not your Goal is realistic, on the other hand, does not necessarily depend on you, but rather, whether or not your Goal can be achieved in accordance with Universal Laws.  Whether a Goal is realistic is simply another way of stating whether the Goal is possible as a matter of Universal or God's Laws.  If it is NOT possible as a matter of Universal Law, then it is NOT realistic.  All things must comply with God’s Laws.  The Universe must comply with God’s Laws.

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Success Key: S.M.A.R.T Goal Achievement Method – Part 5: REALISTIC

In our last post on the S.M.A.R.T Goal Achievement Method, we discussed the “A” element – “Attainable” – and distinguished between “Attainable” and “Realistic,” which, at first glance, seemingly mean the same thing.

As we pointed out, in this sense, Attainable means that you have (or will develop) the attitudes, abilities and definite plans for attaining your Goal.  The emphasis here is on the “definite plan” portion.  You cannot attain a Goal or achieve Success without Definiteness of Purpose and Definiteness of Plan.

Today, we will take up discussion of the “R” element of S.M.A.R.T: “Realistic.”

In case you don’t remember, with regard to the S.M.A.R.T Goal Achievement Method, SMART stands for:

1. Specific (See POST)
2. Measurable (See POSTS: Part 1 and Part 2)
3. Attainable (See POST)
4. Realistic
5. Timely

The Realistic element of SMART may be the easiest to explain and comprehend.  However, it is also critically important in the SMART Goal Achievement process – as much so as the other elements – since, as they say, a chain is only as strong as its weakest link.

The key here, obviously, is that your Goal must be “realistic” – realistic in the sense that it can be achieved.  This, as we pointed out last time, is different than the inquiry as to whether it is attainable.  For whether or not your Goal is attainable is a direct function of variables that depend on YOU.  Whether or not your Goal is realistic, on the other hand, does not necessarily depend on you, but rather, whether or not your Goal can be achieved in accordance with Universal Laws.

Let’s exaggerate a hypothetical fact pattern to demonstrate our point.

In this example, suppose that you have three young children and live in a home with a large backyard, but there is nothing in the backyard for the kids to play with.  Your Goal is to build a tire swing on a long rope hanging from a large tree for your children to play with – just like you had when you were young.  In fact, vivid images of a tire swing hanging from the sturdy limb of a 40 foot oak tree in the middle of your childhood backyard are impressed in your memory.  It seems like only yesterday . . .  How nice it would be for your children to experience something similar!

The Success Manual Tire Swing: How Realistic?

The problem is that there is no 40 foot oak tree in your present back yard.  So, you decide to grow one.  You find an acorn and plant it in the middle of the backyard in good organic garden soil and water it.  In the morning – you decide – you will have your 40 foot oak tree and then you can attach a swing to it for your children.  You have even drawn plans for building the swing, purchased rope and other supplies, and secured an old, but sturdy, truck tire.  The weather forecast is exceptional and you have set aside the entire day for the project.  You will go to bed early, get a good night’s sleep and eat a healthy breakfast in the early morning.  Everything is all set.

Realistic?  Of course not.  As much as you Desire the result, it probably isn’t going to happen.  And, it isn’t going to happen because you are not working with God’s Laws.  Indeed, you are working against Universal Laws (or at least attempting to), the most obvious of which is the Law of Gestation: every seed – whether that of a biological species or an idea (in this case, both) – has a period of gestation in accordance with the Universal Law of Gestation.  That acorn simply will not grow into a 40 foot oak tree overnight – no matter how strong your Desire.  It is not realistic.

Whether a Goal is realistic is simply another way of stating whether the Goal is possible as a matter of Universal Law.  If it is NOT possible as a matter of Universal Law, then it is NOT realistic.  All things must comply with God’s Laws.  The Universe must comply with God’s Laws.  (As to the element of “Faith” and its impact on attempting to grow a 40 foot oak tree overnight, we’ll leave that topic for another day :-D)

Additionally, whether or not a Goal is realistic, i.e., whether it can be achieved as a matter of Universal Law, is usually not as obvious as our oak tree example.  By and large, the issue is significantly more subtle, thereby requiring focused discernment.

Moreover, caution is required so as to not confuse “realistic” with “possible.”  Often times, the lines blur.  For example, suppose you are registered to run the New York City Marathon (26+ miles).  The problem is that you have never run a marathon in your life.  In fact, you have never run a race in your life and you have only been training 3 weeks and the race is tomorrow.  Is it realistic for you to expect to finish the race?  Is it possible for you to finish the race?  What’s the difference?

The answers to each question are likely different for each person.  The bottom line is that whether or not you are able to finish the race will depend on whether or not it is realistic in your specific circumstance.  For some – a very, very select few I would imagine – it may be realistic.  For most, I would suspect, it probably is not realistic that they will finish the race under these circumstances – unless they walk most of the course.  I think we would all agree that finishing the race without any assistance for a one-year old child just learning to take her first steps is not realistic.

A goal may be realistic, but it is up to YOU to make it possible.  Going back to our 40 foot oak tree, if your Goal is to have a tire swing for your grandchildren, planting an acorn today to grow a suitable tree that will be ready 25 years from now may well be realistic.  Whether or not it is possible depends on a number of factors, the most basic of which is whether or not you actually take action and plant the acorn.  If you do, then “possibility” is greatly enhanced.

All Goals MUST be realistic if you expect to achieve them.  Ask yourself, “Can this Goal be achieved in accordance with God’s Laws?”  If the answer is “yes,” then the Goal is Realistic.

Now, it’s up to you to make it possible.  Possibility is a State of Mind.

Happy planting.

Peace Out, and, of course - Namasté!

To your Health, Wealth, Prosperity and Success,

The Success Manual Team

  _______________________________________    

  _______________________________________    

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3. Success Key: S.M.A.R.T Goal Achievement Method – Part 4 It is almost impossible to plan the precise route from start to finish. Often, vital information is needed, and that information will not be obtained until you are well on the way. What is important is that you do your best to draft your definite Plan and then just START!...

It is almost impossible to plan the precise route from start to finish.  Often, vital information is needed, and that information will not be obtained until you are well on the way.  What is important is that you do your best to draft your definite Plan and then just START!  And, your plan must be flexible.  As you gather information along the path to the Goal, your plan must be able to accommodate the changes, revisions and detours that are inevitable.  Don’t make your plan rigid, for if it is off the mark, you will miss your Goal.

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Success Key: S.M.A.R.T Goal Achievement Method – Part 4: ATTAINABLE

In our last post on the S.M.A.R.T Goal Achievement Method, we concluded our examination of the “M” element – MEASURABILITY.  As a quick refresher, Measurability means:

1. Being capable of measuring your progress as you work towards your Goal (i.e., your Goal must be Specific enough – the “S” – so that at any point in time anyone may objectively determine whether or not the Goal has been achieved),
2. Implementing a system capable of periodically measuring your progress towards your Goal,
3. Effectively using your system of measuring your progress towards your Goal, thereby collecting valuable information as to your progress and, if you are not progressing towards the Goal, WHY NOT, and
4. In response to the information collected through your progress measuring system, taking appropriate remedial or corrective ACTION (or, as Anthony Robbins would say, “MASSIVE ACTION”) that will bring you closer to achieving your Goal, with the ACTION comprising both speed/efficiency and/or direction towards the Goal.

In other words, by implementing and using an effective progress measurement system, you obtain the necessary and crucial FEEDBACK that advises you as to whether you or on course to reaching your goal, and if not, why not.  In order to reach your Goal – whatever it may be – you absolutely must be able to measure your progress and determine what remedial measures must be taken to keep you on track to attaining your objective.

Today, we will take up discussion of the “A” element of S.M.A.R.T: ATTAINABILITY.

Actually, in my opinion, the “A” element of the SMART acronym is a bit of a misnomer.  As we explained in our first SMART post, SMART stands for:

1. Specific
2. Measurable
3. Attainable
4. Realistic
5. Timely

At first blush, it would seem that “Attainable” and “Realistic” would mean the same thing (or at least I thought so).  That is, according to the acronym, the Goal must be Attainable and it must be Realistic.  What’s the difference?

The difference is this: Attainable, in this sense, means that you have (or will develop) the attitudes, abilities and definite plans for attaining your Goal.  The emphasis here, however, is on the “definite plan” portion.  You cannot attain a Goal or achieve Success without Definiteness of Purpose and Definiteness of Plan.

Attainability: Plan, Execute, Evaluate, Adjust, Achieve.

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In Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, the element of Definiteness of Plan is emphasized consistently throughout the book.  In fact, a whole chapter is devoted to it: Organized Planning.  In that chapter, Hill states the following as to the planning process (yes, it is a continuous PROCESS throughout the entire Goal pursuit period.  Plans are not rigid; they must be flexible, malleable and adjustable based on the feedback received from your Goal progress measurement system):

If the first plan which you adopt does not work successfully, replace it with a new plan, if this new plan fails to work, replace it, in turn with still another, and so on, until you find a plan which does work.  Right here is the point at which the majority of men meet with failure, because of their lack of Persistence in creating new plans to take the place of those which fail.

The most intelligent man living cannot succeed in accumulating money – nor in any other under-taking without plans that are practical and workable.  Just keep this fact in mind, and remember when your plans fail, that temporary defeat is not permanent failure.  It may only mean that your plans have not been sound.  Build other plans.  Start all over again.

Thomas A. Edison “failed” ten thousand times before he perfected the incandescent electric light bulb.  That is – he met with temporary defeat ten thousand times, before his efforts were crowned with Success.

Temporary defeat should mean only one thing, the certain knowledge that there is something wrong with your plan.  Millions of men go through life in misery and poverty, because they lack a sound plan through which to accumulate a fortune.

 And, then, Hill offers this advice:

Your achievement can be no greater than your Plans are sound.  That may seem to be an axiomatic statement, but it is true.  And, no man is ever whipped, until he Quits – in his own mind.

 But, how do we form our Plan?  Answer: In the Creative Imagination.

Returning once again to Think and Grow Rich, Hill states the following in the chapter titled Imagination:

Read the entire book through, then come back to this chapter, and begin at once to put your imagination to work on the building of a plan, or plans, for the transformation of your Desire into money.  Detailed instructions for the building of plans have been given in almost every chapter.  Carry out the instructions best suited to your needs, reduce your plan to writing, if you have not already done so.  The moment you complete this, you will have Definitely given concrete form to the intangible Desire.  Read the preceding sentence once more.  Read it aloud, very slowly, and as you do so, remember that the moment you reduce the statement of your desire, and a plan for its realization, to writing, you have actually taken the first of a series of steps, which will enable you to convert the thought into its physical counterpart.

What is highly critical to the planning process is to keep in mind the following:

1. It is almost impossible to plan the precise route from start to finish.  Often, vital information is needed, and that information will not be obtained until you are well on the way.  What is important is that you do your best to draft your definite Plan and then just START!
2. Your plan must be flexible.  As you gather information along the path to the Goal, your plan must be able to accommodate the changes, revisions and detours that are inevitable.  Don’t make your plan rigid, for if it is off the mark, you will miss your Goal.

Many times, we just need to start without the precise plan.  What?  Did I just contradict myself?  No.  Sometimes it takes IMMEDIATE MASSIVE ACTION to get matters in motion so that we can acquire the knowledge, awareness and understanding to seed our Creative Intelligence with starting points to develop.

Whatever the case may be, NEVER let the “HOW” stop you.  In the parlance of mentoring under Bob Proctor, this was known as surrendering your “Y” for the “HOW.”  In other words, we live in an “X” world, but we come up with a new, out-of-the-box “Y” idea – an ambitious Goal beyond what we have ever achieved before.  Yet, we have no idea “how” to achieve the “Y.”  We lack the requisite knowledge, awareness and understanding to achieve “Y.”

This is where the vast majority of people stop.  They want “Y” (for example, to earn a million dollars in one year), but they don’t know HOW to do it, so they stop before they even try.  Well, guess what?  If they KNEW how to do “Y,” they would have already achieved it!

In these cases, the most important thing is to just start.  You don’t have to know HOW you are going to earn that million dollars this year.  The main point is to make the “Y” your passionate Desire and get going.  Use your God-give abilities to start thinking.  Take in all that you learn, develop that specialized knowledge, open the Creative juices, connect with God – the all powerful, Infinite Creative Intelligence.  Ideas will begin t formulate.  Study them.  Present them to your Master Mind Group.  Revise.  Adjust.  Keep going.

And, don’t dictate to God; let God bring forth to and through you.

And, don’t Quit.

Until next time, Peace my Friend, and - Namaste!

To your Health, Wealth, Prosperity and Success,

The Success Manual Team

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Sometimes no matter how bleak it may look, the best alternative is to stay the course.   One must evaluate the alternatives and make the best decision based on the facts.  Yet, one must also keep in mind that the greatest successes, the biggest wins, do NOT come easy.  There must be sacrifice, and the more ambitious the goal, the greater the sacrifice.  That is why most people quit along the way.  That is why not everyone is incredibly wealthy – it simply takes too much commitment and sacrifice to achieve that level of Success.

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Success Key 28: Bob Proctor's First Speaking Engagement - Don't QUIT! (Even when you have EVERY right and reason to give up)

quit: verb: 1) give up or retire from a position; (2) turn away from; give up; (3) go away or leave; (4) put an end to a state or an activity (“Quit teasing your little brother”); (5) give up in the face of defeat or lacking hope; admit defeat.

Any way you slice it, the definition of the word “quit” conveys misery.  Especially the fifth part in the above definition: “give up in the face of defeat or lacking hope; admit defeat.”  Ouch.  That one actually inflicts physical pain.

But, does it not sometimes make sense to quit?  Isn’t quitting sometimes the reasonable, right thing to do?

Er . . . . no.

Sometimes we need to stop, reflect and change game plans.  And, perhaps in certain instances, the game plan may so dramatically change – based on a thorough, logical evaluation of the facts and circumstances – that it may appear to the uninformed as though the one has “quit.”  For example, if your business was burning a million a day in cash, with no decent revenue in site in the foreseeable future, perhaps it might make sense to close operations to stop the hemorrhaging and refocus efforts.  I don’t see that as “quitting;” it would be absurd to continue under those circumstances IF there was no turnaround in site.

God gave us a brain.  Let’s use it to the best of our abilities.

The old adage is true: A Winner never quits, and a quitter never Wins.

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But, sometimes no matter how bleak it may look, the best alternative is to stay the course.  In those situations, closing operations doesn’t make sense, and to follow that course would be to abandon the cause, to quit.  One must evaluate the alternatives and make the best business decision.  Yet, one must also keep in mind that the greatest successes, the biggest wins, do NOT come easy.  There must be sacrifice, and the more ambitious the goal, the greater the sacrifice.  That is why most people quit along the way.  That is why not everyone is incredibly wealthy – it simply takes too much commitment and sacrifice to achieve that level of success.

When I am in doubt, I refer back to a great story that Paul Martinelli tells about Bob Proctor’s first speaking engagement.  Sometimes it takes a story – a parable, if you will – to help us comprehend the distinction.  Parables are so effective, that is why the Great Master told them so often to his followers.

Just in case you have never heard of Bob Proctor, he is perhaps one of the greatest success speakers of our time.  These days, he commands audiences in the tens of thousands around the world (albeit, he has been recovering from heart surgery earlier this year).  And, he commands just as much for his speaking fees.

It wasn’t always that way.  Like everyone, Bob, too, had to start at the bottom.  And, his first speaking engagement could not have been more of a disaster.

When Bob was ready to make the giant leap from studying Success materials to speaking on the subject, he rented an auditorium in Toronto, Canada for his first gig.  He used his own personal funds and did his own marketing.

On the night of the event, a grand total of FIVE people showed up to hear him speak.  FIVE.  The auditorium held about 2,000 seats and only FIVE of those seats had a warm body sitting in it.

To make matters worse, those five people did not come together – they didn’t even know each other.  Obviously, then, they did not sit all together.  One sat up in this section, another back there in that section, one over on the side in that section . . . . I am sure you can picture it.

What did Bob do?  He gave his speech as though the theater was filled.  That was his goal and he was not about to quit before he started.

But here is where it gets really interesting.  As Paul relates the story, in light of the outcome of that first speaking engagement, Bob had every right and every reason to quit.  Friends and family urged it: “You gave it your best, Bob.  You tried, you really did.  It’s okay, it just wasn’t meant to be.  It’s all right, it’s okay to walk away.”

Bob would have none of that.  He continued working towards his goal, despite circumstances that probably would have stopped about 99% of the population.  He had nothing to lose – nothing, that is, unless he quit.  Bob refused to let the circumstances of that first speaking engagement dictate his passion and goal to be a Successful Success Speaker.

I think we can all agree that Bob DID have every right and reason to quit after that first speaking engagement.  He really did.  But, successful people don’t quit – they simply find another way.  And, that is exactly what Bob Proctor did.

Bob went back to the drawing board, worked on his material, changed his approach, did a million other things.  But the one thing that Bob didn’t do was QUIT: “give up in the face of defeat or lacking hope; admit defeat.”

Next time you feel like quitting, especially when you think that you have every right and every reason to do so, stop and think about Bob’s first speech.

You’ll know what to do.

Until next time, my Friends, many Blessings, Peace - and Namaste!

To your Health, Wealth, Prosperity and Success,

The Success Manual Team

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IMPORTANT NEWS: FINALLY - this week (REALLY!! - or I am going to jump into a lake!) - Princeton Cambridge Publishing Group releases its Exciting New Products: THE WATTLES PROPSERITY BIBLE, THE LAW OF ATTRACTION PROSPERITY BIBLE, and THE WATTLES QUOTABLE BIBLE - See Our Prior Post for IMPORTANT INFORMATION!

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Our lives are a compilation of our experiences of events, circumstances, conditions and the people around us.  We have been endowed by our Creator with the ability to choose HOW we experience each of those experiences.  Therefore, at every moment, we have the ability and freedom - known as “free will” - to CHOOSE how we experience this grand thing called LIFE.  Nobody decides our experience for us, unless, of course, we choose to voluntarily give them control (victim consciousness).  That, my friends, is the Real Power of TRANSFORMATION. 

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Success Key: "Transformation" - A Look Back at The est Seminar Training of 1980

[Note: The following post initially started as the introduction to the download post for “The Human Machine” by Arnold Bennett.  However, in due course, it took on a life of its own and I decided that it had real worth as a separate piece.  The download post for “The Human Machine” will appear tomorrow in The Success Manual.] 

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Once upon a time – long, long ago – in a not so far away place, I, along with a group of close buddies from high school decided to enroll in a seminar program called “est.”  It was in the spring of 1980, and by then, we had all moved on to college.

The est Seminar Training (est being an acronym for “Erhard Seminar Training,” named after founder Werner Erhard) was one of, if not the very, first of its kind: an ambitious, high-cost, personal growth seminar program – something quite ubiquitous in 2010, but a freakish anomaly in 1980.

I don’t recall much as to how I was introduced to est, other than the fact that two of my fellow buds had already taken the seminar and urged that it would be a great thing for us all to do.  (Later, I would learn that the est organization aggressively pushed its training program graduates to recruit more participants).

I remember reading, over and over again, a well-appointed, peaceful-conveying est promotional brochure, in pastel colors featuring pretty flowers and other decorative elements, and extolling the benefits of the training, including, its coveted centerpiece feature: “transformation” – or in the parlance of the time, “getting it.”

I also remember the incessant phone calls from est sales staff doing their best to enroll me in the training program.  Being 20 years of age and living at home with my parents while attending college, the “rents” did not appreciate the aggressive marketing calls (if either parent answered an est call, they would advise that I was not home, request not to call again, and hang up.  Of course, the calls kept coming).

The Lake of the Clouds and the Appalachain Trail atop the ridgeline of the Presidential Range as viewed from the summit of Mount Washington. Photo by Richard A. Catalina, Jr., August 1984.

The cost of the est seminar training, which included two consecutive weekends and the three consecutive Wednesday evenings immediately before, during and after the main weekend trainings, was somewhere in the neighborhood of $1,000 or so, if my memory serves me right.  Given that it was near the end of the college spring semester, I was flat broke and didn’t have the required “tuition” funds to enroll in the training program.  Asking Mom and Pop was out of the question, as they were totally convinced that est was a “cult” and that “those people” merely wanted my money (and possibly my mind).  However, one of my friends who had already taken the training was so sure of the value of my would-be “transformation,” that he voluntarily dished out the entire tuition without me even asking for it – what a guy! (Thanks, Bebs!)  The fact that he was willing to put a grand of his own hard-earned money on the line told me that there must be something to this training.  Why, in the world, would someone do that?  (I paid him back when working over the summer, but looking back, what a gesture on his part).

And take the seminar training we all did – the twelve of us all enrolled in the very same training program.  We also all went in on a single double-bed room at the nearby hotel for the two Saturday night sleep over portions – that is, if the est trainers would let us out of the training to actually get sleep on those Saturday nights.  That’s right – one room for 12 college guys.

As the first Saturday morning of day one of the training approached, our anticipation and excitement grew to a feverish pitch.  You see, we were going to be “TRANSFORMED!”  We had no idea what that really meant, other than some vague notion that after the est training we would somehow be different than before the training program – enlightened, changed – transformed.

My parents, on the other hand, were concerned, and now being a parent myself, I can hardly blame them.  At worst, I would be brainwashed into joining a “cult.”  At the least, I was throwing away a thousand dollars which could be used to pay for my continued college education.  After all, this was 1980, and a thousand dollars was a ton of money at that time to a kid paying his way through college.  But, let me go they did, putting their trust in my instincts that I would not run away with some “cult.”  I have to hand it to them – given my propensity for getting into trouble in my youth, that was a bold move for them.  I don’t think I realized that until now.

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Well, let me say this (and I said it back then): the est training program was an absolute blast.  I had the time of my life and believe that my friends all did as well.  And, yes . . . I was TRANSFORMED!  We were all TRANSFORMED!  Everyone who attended the training was TRANSFORMED!

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Transformed into what?  What did “transform” and “transformation” mean?  What happened to us?  How were we changed?  Were the bolts of lightning and did we hear God’s voice call down from heaven?

Well, . . . not exactly.  But, there was a transformation nonetheless.

We were all “transformed” in the sense of having now “experienced” the “experience of the training.”  That was “it.”  That was the “getting it.”  So, if you participate in the training and make it to the end, it is impossible not to “get it.”  Everyone who attends the training therefore “gets it.”  “It” is the experience of having participated in the training, and the “transformation” may be summarized thusly: before the training, an individual has not experienced the training – and all that it brings – while after taking the training, that same individual has now experienced the training.  The training, or more appropriately, an individual’s experience of the training (not just the training, but what one experiences inside), is the transforming event.

I can hear the skeptics already.  I am not done.

Now, since it is highly unlikely that I will spoil anyone’s intended enrollment to take the 1980s version of the est Seminar Training program, I can tell you that learning this fact was the climax of the program near the end of the final day.  Three hundred of us sat through this grueling, and at times quite difficult, program, with its strict rules such as limited bathroom breaks, no medication allowed, not being able to sit next to anyone you know, no watches allowed, etc. etc. etc. (cell phones didn’t exist) waiting and waiting and waiting for that “moment” when we would all “get it” and be “transformed.”  That moment came late Sunday night of the second weekend – around 10:00 pm – with a trainer screaming “Don’t you get it!  This is ‘IT!’  It’s the end of the training and the training was ‘IT!’”

Now, prior to that, as the appointed moment draws near, various individuals began to grasp what was happening.  These people “got it.”  One by one, they started to laugh, some with tears of joy.  The trainer would stop and turn to each such person and ask “Did you get it?” and they would respond something like, “Yes, I got it!  I got it!”  And others nearby would ask in whispered tones, “What’s it like?  How does it feel?”

I was one of the fortunate few who “got it” earlier than most.  In fact, other than my two friends who had already taken the training and knew what to expect, I was the first of my other friends to “get it.”  I was an early Transformee!

To this day, I can recall with clarity the trainer spouting about how we are all “machines” – “human machines” – when it dawned on me that she was absolutely right.  We really are “human machines,” programmable, with buttons for people and/or events to push, etc.  We think we exercise free will most of the time, but in reality, we are mainly creatures of habit – including emotionally and intellectually.  We are conditioned machines.

And, then I realized that the experience of the training program itself was what the training program was all about.  There was no “right” or “wrong” way to experience the program, other than your experience is your experience.  Your life is your life.  And, your experience of your life IS your life.  That, in all its glory, is it – and how you choose to experience your life, your est seminar training, your transformation, is your life, training and transformation.

But, oh – the power and ability to CHANGE your experience at any moment!  Therein lies the real transformation.  That each one of us has the power and ability to transform our lives, the experiences of our lives, each and every moment.  We don’t have to be human machines after all!

Our lives are a compilation of our experiences.  We have been endowed by our Creator with the God-given ability (and free will) to choose how we experience each of those experiences.  Therefore, we can choose how we experience our life.

I started laughing uncontrollably.  “Oh, boy, is this great!” I thought (taking a line from the movie Animal House, released only a few years prior).  The trainer looked directly at me and said, “It looks like somebody else just got!” and I shook my ahead affirmatively.  She smiled back.

Eventually, the training program came to end.  It was over.  Fin. Time to go home.  There was nothing more to say, the trainers had done their job and now it was time for us to all hug each other, say good-bye, wish each other well and go out into life a TRANSFORMED est graduate!

There was one minor problem, however.  Perhaps 1 out of 5 students in the training program apparently didn’t “get it.”  According to them, they had not been transformed.

Jaws hung in disbelief.  Some cried.  A few grew angry and started yelling, demanding that they too receive their “transformation.”  After all, they had paid for it.  Others bellowed about wasting “all that money.”  One or two threatened a lawsuit.  I even recall one grown woman standing, sobbing uncontrollably, and demanding like a young girl “I didn’t get my ‘it!’  Give it to me!  I want my ‘it!’  I want my ‘it!’”  These people could not accept that the seminar training was the seminar training and their experience of “it” was “it” – just like in life.

After some time, however, they all came to accept – begrudgingly – that the seminar training program had come to an end and that there was nothing more to it.  However, most eventually came to positively realize “it” – perhaps a day or two later – as they excitedly claimed at the final post-training Wednesday evening re-cap meeting.  The remainder who still didn’t “get it,” which perhaps numbered less than five individuals, were at least no longer seething in anger, but they still felt that they had been “ripped off.”  In life, there will always be that percentage who feels that they have been “ripped off.”

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Doing the est Seminar Training was one of the best things I have done in my life and my experience of attending that program – with 12 great friends – remains a life highlight.  There was immense value in that program, more than I can actually remember, but it left its mark: the way we choose to think about and experience the people, circumstances and events of our life is what defines our life.  Think about it.  It’s true.  And, this really is “it.”  This is Life, the real show . . . “it ain’t no dress rehearsal.”

And, what’s more important is this: at every moment, we have the ability and freedom (known as “free will”) to CHOOSE how we experience life.  Nobody decides our experience, unless, of course, we choose to voluntarily give them that control (victim consciousness).  That, my friends, is the Real Power of TRANSFORMATION.

Little did I know at that time, or even in the years immediately following, that the est Seminar Training is what opened the door to my current passion with personal development, self improvement, personal growth and Success.  I became a student of Life and continue to attend class.  Am I a Master?  Not even close!  But, at least I know enough to know that I don’t know enough and that I need to attend class the rest of my life and work at it if I want to continue to progress forward.  I have much to learn.  Much.

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  A bit about Werner Erhard

Werner Erhard introduced the breakthrough notion of “transformation” to the American public.  His thinking gave rise to the idea that people could transform their lives in a short time, yielding powerful and long-lasting results.  In 1971, he created The est Training and formed the company Erhard Seminars Training, Inc.  Attended by approximately a million people, est was an extremely popular personal^, growth seminar.

Erhard co-founded independent, non-profit charitable enterprises, including the Breakthrough Foundation, the Hunger Project, the Holiday Project, the Werner Erhard Foundation, and the Education Network.  He lectured for a wide variety of prestigious institutions and professional associations around the world, including Stanford University and the American Psychiatric Association.

 Erhard Quotes

• Create your future from your future, not your past.
• You and I want our lives to matter.  We want our lives to make a real difference—to be of genuine consequence in the world.  We know that there is no satisfaction in merely going through the motions, even if those motions make us successful, or even if we have arranged to make those motions pleasant.  We want to know we have made some impact on the world.  In fact, you and I want to contribute to the quality of life.  We want to make the world work.
• Life is a game.  In order to have a game, something has to be more important than something else.  If what already is, is more important than what isn’t, the game is over. So, life is a game in which what isn’t, is more important than what is.  Let the good times roll.
• Happiness is a function of accepting what is.  Love is a function of communication.  Health is a function of participation.  Self Expression is a function of responsibility.
• You don’t have to go looking for love when it’s where you come from.

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Well, this is certainly not our usual type of Success Key post; this one is a true personal story.  Thank you for allowing me to share it with you (no pun intended; for those of you who did take the est seminar training, you may well remember the oft-repeated statement used throughout the training: "thank you for sharing that with us.").

Until next time, my Friends, many Blessings, Peace - and Namaste!

To your Health, Wealth, Prosperity and Success,

The Success Manual Team

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Thomas Edison tested more than 6,000 materials in his quest to find a workable filament for an incandescent light bulb before “succeeding” with one that worked! After Edison had “failed” more than 1,000 times, when he was asked about it, he purportedly said, “I have not failed 1,000 times.  I have successfully discovered 1,000 ways to NOT make a light bulb.” Whether or not Edison actually made this statement is irrelevant.  What is relevant is the point that failure occurs not with unsuccessful attempts no matter how many; failure occurs when one abandons the cause and quits.

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Success Key: S.M.A.R.T Goal Achievement Method – Part 3: MEASURABILITY (continued)

In our last post, we examined the “M” element – MEASURABILITY – of the SMART Goal Achievement Method.  Today, we are going to continue the discussion of Measurability, as this step in the process is highly critical in being able to take responsive and decisive Action towards achieving the desired Goal.

As a quick refresher, Measurability means:

1. Being capable of measuring your progress as you work towards your Goal (i.e., your Goal must be Specific enough – the “S” – so that at any point in time anyone may objectively determine whether or not the Goal has been achieved),
2. Implementing a system capable of periodically measuring your progress towards your Goal,
3. Effectively using your system of measuring your progress towards your Goal, thereby collecting valuable information as to your progress and, if you are not progressing towards the Goal, WHY NOT, and
4. In response to the information collected through your progress measuring system, taking appropriate remedial or corrective ACTION (or, as Anthony Robbins would say, “MASSIVE ACTION”) that will bring you closer to achieving your Goal, with the ACTION comprising both speed/efficiency and/or direction towards the Goal.

In other words, by implementing and using an effective progress measurement system, you obtain the necessary and crucial FEEDBACK that advises you as to whether you or on course to reaching your goal, and if not, why not.

Monitoring and evaluating progress feedback is absolutely necessary if you are to reach your Goal, no matter how simple or how sophisticated (or grand) your Goal may be.  Whether your realize it or not, you likely engage in such a process – called “cybernetics” by Maxwell Maltz all of the time in common daily life.  It is one of the processes that separates human life from lower animal life, as it involves the use of our higher intellectual faculties; yet, it often works on a subconscious level.  (This is a subject for a whole separate post, perhaps several posts!)

Let’s look at a few examples of a Progress Monitoring System in action.

Consider a commercial airline flying non-stop from New York to San Francisco (an example used extensively by Anthony Robbins, so I cannot take credit).  I don’t know the precise figures, but for about 99% of the flight, the aircraft is technically, but actually, “off course.”  Flying around thunderstorms, avoiding turbulence, being buffeted by a strong head jet stream, heavy air traffic, etc. all influence the flight path.  Even with no obstacles, such as storms, traffic, etc., the craft constantly veers off course.  As a result, the craft’s onboard computers are continuously monitoring its path and redirecting it back in the proper direction.  This process continues throughout the entire flight; in fact, the only time that we know for sure that the craft is precisely on target is when its landing gear make contact with the landing strip.

Also consider a water craft, such as a 21-foot boat, in a 3 foot chop heading towards a landmark tower 3 miles distance.  If you have piloted a boat in such conditions, you know exactly to what I am referring.  The medium in which the craft travels is water: fluid and highly dynamic.  Moreover, there are the strong influences of wind, wave, current and tidal forces.  It is nearly impossible to keep the boat pointed directly at the landmark; the landmark is an ever moving target.  In response to your internal progress measurement system, one must take the appropriate remedial action by turning the wheel – in almost constant fashion – back and forth to keep the boat moving in an overall proper general direction.

These are simple examples, but they do make the point.

Thomas Edison's First Incandescent Light Bulb - More than 6,000 attempts until he made a filament that worked.

Let’s look at an example that is perhaps a little more meaningful: Thomas Edison’s quest to find a workable filament for his incandescent light bulb idea.  Edison tested more than 6,000 materials for his filament before “succeeding” with one that worked!  Which raises THREE significant points:

First, how many people would have “quit” after 100 attempts?  Or, perhaps 500 attempts?  Or, 1,000?  2,000?  How many would have continued testing materials until they reached their Goal of a working filament capable of lasting over time and providing maximum luminosity?  I would guess that out of the entire world at that time, there was only one and his name was Thomas Alva Edison.

Second, do you think Edison would have stopped at 6,500 if he had not found the right filament?  Or, that he would have stopped at 7,000 test materials?  10,000?  We know the answer: he would have NEVER stopped until he reached his Goal!  He was 100% committed and abandoned all avenues of escape!  He HAD to Succeed – and, he KNEW he would!

Third, consider the nature and extent of Edison’s Goal Progress Measurement System.  Now, I haven’t read his lab notebooks, but I have a pretty good feeling that this genius was highly methodical in his approach to attaining Success and inventing the world’s first workable incandescent light bulb.  I think everyone would agree that he didn’t engage in this process in a willy-nilly fashion by haphazardly testing materials without regard to results from past tests.  Edison MUST have utilized a sound progress system to zero in what would eventually prove to be the right material for his filament.  Had he not measured his progress and analyzed his results is to suggest that Edison employed some random lottery system.  Had that been his system, it is doubtful as to whether Edison ever would have attained Success in his quest to invent the light bulb.

As an aside, the following quote is attributable to Edison with regard to his quest to invent the world’s first working incandescent light bulb.  The story goes that after Edison had “failed” more than 1,000 times in attempting to find a working filament for his light bulb idea, when he was asked about it, he purportedly said, “I have not failed 1,000 times.  I have successfully discovered 1,000 ways to NOT make a light bulb.”  [For more on Edison and his  amazing quest to invent the light bulb, Click Here for the Franklin Institute].

Whether or not Edison actually made this statement is irrelevant.  What is relevant is the point that failure occurs not with unsuccessful attempts no matter how many; failure occurs when one abandons the cause and quits.  That is true definition of “failure.”

What can be gained from this discussion on Measurability is this: The ability to measure your progress towards a Goal is what leads to Success.  If you cannot – or do not – monitor, measure and evaluate your progress AND take corrective, remedial ACTION as required, you will not Succeed and achieve your Goal.  Measurability is that important.

One final, important note worth mentioning.  There is a difference between proper Goal progress measurement and obsessive pulse-taking that provides so much information as to render it meaningless.  This can be a TRAP, as the means become the ends – the monitoring becomes your Action.

Consider that you have just been diagnosed with high blood pressure and it is your doctor’s professional opinion that medication is not warranted, and thus, she places you on a strict regimen of diet and exercise.  You vow to start that very day on your quest to lower your blood pressure (good).  But, you also implement a Goal Progress Measurement System of monitoring your blood pressure by taking it every ½ hour (not good).

While monitoring your BP is absolutely necessary for many reasons – including as your Goal Progress Measurement System – the sheer volume of data accumulated by taking your BP every ½ hour will render that information meaningless.  You need to implement your doctor’s orders and see what happens over time in order to properly evaluate the effectiveness of the plan.  Perhaps it will work, perhaps more is required.  But, time is required to properly evaluate the plan’s effectiveness.  Indeed, such obsessive monitoring may actually work against you!

The importance of the Measurability factor in Goal Achievement cannot be overstated.  While all of the SMART elements are important and interdependent on each other, Measurability is that element that provides the critical information to make the right decisions as you work towards your Goal.  Without it, you would simply proceed on an inflexible, rigid path – and if that path leads in the wrong direction, you will never reach the Goal.  If you’re like the aircraft or the boat discussed in the examples, you will be off-course 99% of the time, so the ability to make decisions to correct your path is 100% mission critical to Success.

In our next part of this series, we will examine the “A” – ACHEIVABLE.

Until next time, Peace my Friend, and - Namaste!

To your Health, Wealth, Prosperity and Success,

The Success Manual Team

 PS - Exciting News: THE WATTLES PROPSERITY BIBLE, THE LAW OF ATTRACTION PROSPERITY BIBLE, and THE WATTLES QUOTABLE BIBLE - See OUR IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT!

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2. Success Key: S.M.A.R.T Goal Achievement Method – Part 2 Measurability is really a four-fold element. Measurability means that: 1) you must be capable of measuring your progress as you work towards your Goal (i.e., your Goal must be Specific enough (the “S”) so that at any point in time anyone may objectively determine whether or not the Goal has...
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With respect to any particular Goal, at any point in time (and regardless of the number, nature and extent of all Goals, for we all have many) you are either moving towards your Goal or away from it.  There is no in between.  Standing still doesn’t count, for if you are not progressing forward, then you are moving backwards.  As such, if you truly Desire to attain the Goal, it is highly critical to know whether you are progressing forward in the right direction or whether you are merely moving backwards.  If you are NOT moving towards your Goal, then you MUST know that fact AND you MUST find out why.

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Success Key: S.M.A.R.T Goal Achievement Method – Part 2: MEASURABILITY

Last week, we opened a discussion on the SMART Goal Achievement Method – a precise and highly effective system that significantly assists you in the process of working towards a Goal, thereby greatly increasing your likelihood of ultimate Success.

As you may recall, SMART is an acronym for: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time.  In last week’s post we addressed in detail the first element of the SMART Method: “S” or Specificity.  Today, we will take a close look at the “M” or Measurability.

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On its surface, there probably doesn’t seem much to say about Measurability.  Your initial response may have been, “okay, the Goal must be measurable,” or “progress towards the Goal must be measurable.”  But it is more than that.  And, when we examine why progress must be measurable, we come to a greater understanding of the Goal and Success attainment process, thereby increasing our levels of awareness and increasing the likelihood that we will Succeed.

Measurability is really a four-fold element.  Measurability means that: 1) you must be capable of measuring your progress as you work towards your Goal (i.e., your Goal must be Specific enough (the “S”) so that at any point in time anyone may objectively determine whether or not the Goal has been achieved), 2) you implement a system capable of periodically measuring your progress towards your Goal, 3) you actually use your system of measuring your progress towards your Goal, thereby collecting valuable information of your progress and, if you are not progressing towards the Goal, why not, and 4) in response to the information collected through your progress measuring system, you take appropriate remedial or corrective action that will bring you closer to achieving your Goal, with the action comprising both speed/efficiency and/or direction towards the Goal.

Now this may all seem like quite a bit of work, but in practical reality, it truly isn’t.  In fact, using your Goal progress system – whatever it may be – will save you untold amounts of time in the long run, and may even be the saving grace that keeps ultimate failure at bay.

With respect to any particular Goal, at any point in time (and regardless of the number, nature and extent of all Goals, for we all have many) you are either moving towards your Goal or away from it.  There is no in between.  Standing still doesn’t count, for if you are not progressing forward, then you are moving backwards.  As such, if you truly Desire to attain the Goal, it is highly critical to know whether you are progressing forward in the right direction or whether you are merely moving backwards.  If you are NOT moving towards your Goal, then you MUST know that fact AND you MUST find out why.

A well established Goal progress system will answer both questions.  It will allow you to evaluate – in an objective fashion – your progress, and if you not making progress, why not.

Why is this so critical?  Because if you determine that you are not moving towards your Goal and you have objectively identified why not, then you are in position to take remedial, corrective ACTION to get you back on track.  That is how ALL Success is attained and ALL Goals achieved.  Through this evaluation process, the individual is able to determine whether or not they are moving towards the Goal, and if not, then why not, and in response, the appropriate corrective ACTION may be taken.  It is the only way.

The best laid plans (Definiteness of Plan) at the beginning of any venture rarely will bring you directly to your destination.  You must modify your trip along the way.  It is HOW Success is Realized!

Measuring Progress. A well established Goal progress system MUST anwer two questions: 1) Whether you are moving towards your Goal, and 2) If not, why?

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There’s more to Measurability and we will continue this discussion in our next Success Key post on the subject of SMART.  But, there are some great take-aways from this discussion which you may adopt and implement immediately.

First, take an inventory of ALL of your Goals.  Okay, I know you have many.  But, in each case, to what extent have you implemented “Measurability?”  Again, Measurability means:

1. You must be capable of measuring your progress as you work towards your Goal (i.e., your Goal must be Specific enough (the “S”) so that at any point in time anyone may objectively determine whether or not the Goal has been achieved),
2. You implement a system capable of periodically measuring your progress towards your Goal,
3. You actually use your system of measuring your progress towards your Goal, thereby collecting valuable information as to your progress and, if you are not progressing towards the Goal, WHY NOT, and
4. In response to the information collected through your progress measuring system, you take appropriate remedial or corrective ACTION (or, as Anthony Robbins would say, "MASSIVE ACTION") that will bring you closer to achieving your Goal, with the ACTION comprising both speed/efficiency and/or direction towards the Goal.

If you do not have a progress measurement system in place, no matter how “primitive” it may be, you will not be able to determine if you are moving towards your Goal or away from it.  And, as pointed out last week, if your Goal lacks Specificity (the “S” in SMART), then you will not even be able to implement the “M.”  So, if you haven’t done last week’s homework and refined any non-specific, vague or ambiguous Goals (they must be objectified so that any third party can determine when the Goal is achieved), get going on that so that you can move onto the “M.”

This is very important stuff.

Until next time, Peace my Friend, and - Namaste!

To your Health, Wealth, Prosperity and Success,

The Success Manual Team

 PS - Exciting News: THE WATTLES PROPSERITY BIBLE, THE LAW OF ATTRACTION PROSPERITY BIBLE, and THE WATTLES QUOTABLE BIBLE - See Yesterday's IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT!

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1. Success Key: S.M.A.R.T Goal Achievement Method – Part 1 SMART is a method to use whenever you establish a Goal that significantly assists you in the process of attaining your Goal, thereby increasing your likelihood of Success. SMART is an acronym: S – Specific, M – Measurable, A – Achievable, R – Realistic, T – Time (specific time; certain...
2. Success Key: S.M.A.R.T Goal Achievement Method – Part 3 Monitoring and evaluating progress feedback is absolutely necessary if you are to reach your Goal, no matter how simple or how sophisticated (or grand) your Goal may be. By implementing and using an effective progress measurement system, you obtain the necessary and crucial FEEDBACK that advises you as to whether...
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Announcing: The DEFINITIVE Law of Attraction Resource - A Virtual Law of Attraction Library

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Well, we have been talking about it for some time and it is finally complete and ready to roll.  NEVER BEFORE have the entire works of the world's Law of Attraction and Prosperity expert, Wallace D. Wattles, been available in ONE COMPLETE PACKAGE. It took us months, but we have done it . . . .

THE WATTLES PROSPERITY BIBLE - A Five Volume Compilation of the Works of Wallace D. Wattles

The Wattles Prosperity Bible - A Five Volume Compilation of the Works of Wallace D. Wattles

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THE WATTLES PROSPERITY BIBLE is a downloadble, Five-Volume Ebook Library of ALL of the Works by the Grand Master, Wallace D. Wattles.  Here's the breakdown by Volume: 

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• Lessons in Constructive Science
• What is Truth?
• The Personal Power Course

VOLUME THREE: THE POWER OF LIFE SERIES

•  The Powerful Life
• How to Get What You Want
• How to Promote Yourself
• Health Through New Thought and Fasting
• Scientific Marriage

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• God: The Servant of Man
• Jesus: The Man and His Work
• What Christ Says
• The Law of Opulence 

VOLUME FIVE: THE SELECTED WORKS SERIES

•  A Second Courtship
• May He Rest in Peace!
• Hell-Fire Harrison
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• A Sequel to 'As A Grain of Mustard Seed'

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• The Path to Prosperity by James Allen
• Thought Vibration by William Walker Atkinson
• Your Invisible Power by Genevieve Behrend
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• The Hidden Power and Other Essays by Judge Thomas Troward

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• Your Forces and How to Use Them by Christian D. Larson
• Thoughts Are Things by Prentice Mulford
• The Power of Concentration by Theron Q. Dumont

• Attaining Your Desires by Genevieve Behrend

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• The Ideal Made Real by Christian D. Larson
• The Master Key System by Charles F. Haanel
• Dynamic Thought by Henry Thomas Hamblin

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• How to Attract Success by F. W. Sears
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 Where can you find additional information and purchase this incredible e-Library?  Not here.  But, it will be available - VERY, VERY SOON - at our sister site.  STAY TUNED!!  WE WILL BE ANNOUNCING LATER TODAY WHEN THE PROSPERITY BIBLE SITE GOES LIVE!

 Thank you everyone for your support and generosity and for help making this happen!  Thank you for allowing me to live my Passion!

As always, my friends, Peace to you, and - Namaste!

To your Health, Wealth, Prosperity and Success,

The Success Manual Team

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1. Success Quotes: 50 Notable Quotes from The Science of Getting Rich by Wallace D. Wattles ____________________________________________________________ Success Quotes: 50 Notable Quotes from The Science of Getting Rich by Wallace D. Wattles In continued anticipation for the launch of our upcoming product, the 5-Volume Ebook Set titled, The Wattles Prosperity Bible, we thought we would list 50 notable quotes from Mr. Wattles, all directly excerpted...
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Precision is the difference between true Desire and idle, meaningless “wishing” or “hoping.”  If an individual’s Goal is to make “lotsa money” or “get rich someday” that is nothing more than wasteful wishing, dreaming or hoping.  The result: the Goal will never be achieved.  It just isn’t going to happen unless the Goal is made more – much more – specific.

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Success Key: S.M.A.R.T Goal Achievement Method – Part 1: SPECIFICITY

Several years ago during a teleseminar with Vic Johnson I was introduced to a great Goal achievement method: S.M.A.R.T.  I had never it heard of SMART, although it had been apparently been around for a few years.  Vic proclaimed that it is basic, easy to follow, and is so effective that he and his business team consistently use it every time that they set Goal, whether large or small.

If you have never heard of SMART, I think you will find it incredibly helpful, despite its simplicity.  For those of you who have heard of SMART, perhaps a bit of a refresher is in order.

Simply stated, SMART is a method to use whenever you establish a Goal that significantly assists you in the process of attaining your Goal, thereby increasing your likelihood of Success.

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Okay, you already figured out that SMART is an acronym.  Let’s get down to what it means.

S – Specific

M – Measurable

A – Achievable

R – Realistic

T – Time (specific time; certain day)

Simple enough, right?  Now let’s apply the method to a Goal.

For our example, being that yesterday was the Summer Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere of our home planet, I thought it might be nice to use an example that is a little different – not the usual “X amount of money by next month” hypothetical example.

On Sunday, as a Father’s Day event, my wife and I took the kids to a neat little place near the New Jersey waterfront called the Tuckerton Seaport.  A walking, village type of museum, the Tuckerton Seaport brings you back a hundred years or so to life on the bays – when “baymen” made their living harvesting clams, waterfowl and other natural resources using hand made wooden boats and bird decoys (the decoy shows and exhibits in this part of the East Coast are phenomenal).  As we scampered about, the kids got a blast out of a little wooden boat that looked like something that could be readily built with some detailed plans, rightful knowledge and appropriate tools.

Our Goal: Build a 12-foot wooden boat to row around a small farm pond.

Now, let’s apply SMART to our Goal.

Part 1: Specificity

All Goals must be specific – very specific.  In Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill repeated extols the serious requirements of Definiteness of Purpose and Definiteness of Plan.  You need to know exactly what it is that you are shooting for and definite means for attaining it.

The Success Manual Boat. To build your boat, you need to have a Specific Image of the Goal. Take away: The more SPECIFIC your Goal, the more likely that you will attain it. Get Specific NOW.

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Precision is the difference between true Desire and idle, meaningless “wishing” or “hoping.”  If an individual’s Goal is to make “lotsa money” or “get rich someday” that is nothing more than wasteful wishing, dreaming or hoping.  The result: the Goal will NEVER be achieved.  It just isn’t going to happen unless the Goal is made more – much more – specific.

Why?  First, if all you want is “lotsa money,” how in the world are you going to know when you have arrived?  I would surmise that, if you are an inhabitant of the US or other areas of the world, by standards compared to third world, impoverished countries, you likely would already be considered wealthy.  “Lotsa money” is not only vague and non-specific, but it is 100% subjective.  “Lotsa money” means something very different among Donald Trump, the average middle-income resident of this country and a homeless, earthquake-stricken family of Port au Prince, Haiti.  The Goal should be specific enough that it means the exact same thing to any observer, i.e., 100% objective, not subjective.

Second, while God certainly reads your heart, if you are not specific enough with your prayers, affirmations, visualizations, etc., God and His abundant Universe are not going to know how to respond.  Tell God exactly what you want.  Otherwise, as with our “lotsa money” example, you are merely sending out vague, static-filled and ambiguous messages.

Here is another example of looking at the issue of specific requests: When ordering dinner at a fine restaurant, what would your waiter better understand: 1) if you merely asked for a delicious meal high in protein, or 2) if you ordered the roasted duck with wild mushrooms, cranberries, water cress and pine nuts in a wine reduction demi-glace served with roasted herb-crusted exotic Peruvian root vegetables (of course, the special for the evening).  The answer is obvious.  By being specific, the wait service fully understands and is able to deliver that which you Desire.

Take away: The more SPECIFIC your Goal, the more likely that you will attain it. Get Specific NOW.

Applying this principle to our boat project, we need to be as specific as possible.  We already decided on a wood boat, 12 feet in length, that can be rowed (as opposed to a sail boat or other type of surface craft) on a small farm point.  Nothing fancy, nothing big, nothing that needs to be sea-worthy, i.e., is able to handle heavy weather and water conditions.  Seems pretty specific, but is it?

If you had to start right now, what would you do?  Chances are, if you had a pile of wood, tools, some hardware such as nails, screws, etc., you could walk out to the garage right this instant and start building your boat.  But why would you?  If you did, with no further precision as to your boat, how realistic is it that you would Succeed with something water worthy and that would last?  Probably not too good.

So, let’s get specific – real specific – with our boat.  I would recommend that we jump on the computer and start doing some research on boat building.  Or, perhaps, find a great book of actual boat plans.  Ah, yes . . . plans.

Definiteness of Purpose; Definiteness of Plans.

We need bona fide, legitimate plans that lay out, step by step, how to build the precise boat that we Desire.  As such, you continue your search on the computer and eventually find the definitive small boat-building website, and lo, there it is – the perfect little wood boat – something that you already imagined.  Wisely, you spend the $25.00 to buy the detailed, engineer-quality plans on how to build the boat, download them to your computer, print them up and give them a heavy review.

We now have a Specific Goal.  The Goal has been defined with precision and specificity, as the plans contain each and every detail necessary to build the boat that you have been dreaming about.  There is nothing subjective about the Goal - anyone from anywhere would be able to determine whether or not you built the boat (achieved the goal) based on pictures of the boat as per the plans.  The Goal has been objectified, a critical step in the process.

And, even better, you now have a very precise picture of the ultimate outcome: images of the boat which – whether you realize it or not – are being imprinted upon your conscious and subconscious mind.  The more you focus on these images, and the process of building the boat according to the detailed plans, the greater the likelihood that you will realize your Desire.

But wait – there’s more.  The more you focus on the idea of the boat, and the more that you fall in love with that little boat (e.g., you play mental videos of you and your children out in the boat, having fun, teaching them to row, etc. – all good, pleasurable images), building the boat is more than a Desire – it now also becomes an Ideal!  Ideals are Ideas in which you fall in love.  If you are in love with the building the boat and what it represents and means to you and your children, again - the greater your likelihood of Success.  Finishing the boat becomes less a matter of Will Power and more of a matter of Want Power.  Want Power is stronger and highly more effective.

From our little boat example, the importance of a Specific Goal should be obvious.  The more Specific YOUR Goal, the more likely that you will Succeed in achieving it.

So there you have it: S – SPECIFIC.

Of course, there is more to the formula.  A Specific Goal is an absolute crucial first step, but that it is still a first step.

In our next Success Key Post, Part 2 will address the M – Measurable.

Until next time, Peace my Friend, and - Namaste!

To your Health, Wealth, Prosperity and Success,

The Success Manual Team

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Debt is a contradiction of the universal equilibrium, and there is no such thing as lack of equilibrium in all the universe.  Therefore, in Spirit and in Truth, there is no debt.  However, men hold on to a thought of debt, and this thought is responsible for a great deal of sorrow and hardship . . .    Debts exist in the mind, and in the mind is the proper place to begin liquidating them.  These thought entities must be abolished in mind before their outer manifestations will pass away and stay away.  -  Charles Fillmore, "Prosperity"

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Success Key No. 23.  A New Prosperity Paradigm: God Will Pay Your Debts

This past week we added to our Success Manual Download Library an excellent Success Manual, "Prosperity" by Charles Fillmore.  In our post for that download, we included Lesson Six from the 12-Lesson work and I promised to post Lesson Eight the next day.  However, having also just completed Ralph Waldo Trine's beautiful work, "In Tune with the Infinite" (for our soon-to-be-released five-volume Bonus Set, THE LAW OF ATTRACTION PROSPERITY BIBLE), I felt it necessary to post a most compelling and timely chapter from that book, "The Law of Prosperity," and thus, that was the subject of yesterday's post.

Confused?  Me, too - it was a long, hard week.  But, I am now making good on my word by posting yet another compelling, timely and extremely relevent piece from Fillmore's "Prosperity" - Lesson Eight, "God Will Pay Your Debts."

Charles Fillmore, author of "Prosperity," "Teach Us to Pray" and "Christian Healing: The Science of Being," among many powerful Success and Prosperity Manuals.

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I don't need to tell you anything about debt.  You are likely either in debt, personally, or concerned about the debt of the various levels of government in this country (U.S.), or have read about the alarming debt of other countries.  Debt, and significant amounts of it, are everywhere and permeate budgets from households to businesses to governments of every level - municipal, state, federal and international.  Even if you don't carry personal debt, the alarming levels of global debt likely affect you in some capacity.  Debt is everywhere and a quick perusal of the New York Times online will reveal scores of articles, letters and Op-Ed pieces on debt.  The effects of debt are inescapable and "debt consciousness" is worldwide.  Debt has a profound, negative impact wherever it exists and allowed to fester.  The external world without, according to media and other accounts, is in "debt crises."

Debt has a profound, negative impact wherever it exists and allowed to fester.  The external world without, according to media and other accounts, is in "debt crises."  All of this talk and worry of debt - regardless of the source or the nature, level and extent of the debt at issue - is a powerful impetus to creating (if we allow it) "Debt Consciousness."

All of this talk and worry of debt - regardless of the source or the nature, level and extent of the debt at issue - is a powerful impetus to creating (if we allow it) "Debt Consciousness."

"Debt consciousness" is highly toxic.  First, it is impossible for Debt Consciousness and Prosperity Consciousness to co-exist. You cannot develop and maintain a healthy Prosperity Consciousness if you are focused on debt.  Debt, by its nature, is characterized and defined by concepts of lack and limitation - the exact opposite of what defines Prosperity Consciousness: Prosperity, Abundance and Wealth.  If self-inflicted precepts of lack and limitation impede your stream of consciousness, you will not be able to develop Prosperity Consciousness.  It is simply not possible to live in such a house divided. Debt Consciousness and Prosperity Consciousness are polar opposites.

You cannot develop and maintain a healthy Prosperity Consciousness if you are focused on debt.  Debt, by its nature, is characterized and defined by concepts of lack and limitation - the exact opposite of what defines Prosperity Consciousness: Prosperity, Abundance and Wealth.  Debt Consciousness and Prosperity Consciousness are polar opposites.

Yet, Prosperity Consciousness is KEY to achieving Success and attaining honest and lasting Wealth. 

The good news is that it IS possible to build Prosperity Consciousness even if you have debt issues that require resolution.  Pivotal to achieving Prosperity Consciousness when the world without is awash in red, and admittedly not an easy task, is to keep your debt challenges IN the external world, i.e., the world without, not let those obstacles become the focus of your internal attention, and maintain your focal point on Prosperity and Abundance.  In other words, keep the debt challenge outside the door to your mind, while you execute proper financial housekeeping on the inside.  While perhaps not the easiest of tasks, like any worthwhile objective, it can be accomplished with diligence, vigilance, concentrated effort and committment.  Moreover, and of major significance, Prosperity Consciousness MUST be properly attained if one is to escape debt with finality.

Prosperity Consciousness MUST be properly attained if one is to escape debt with finality.  Otherwise, debt will continue in a self-perpetuating cycle until the necessary intervention required to reprogram the faulty conditioning to that of true Prosperity Consciousness is effectuated.  It is that simple.

Simply paying off a debt does not - by itself - rectify faulty conditioning concerning debt. That programming must be erased and replaced with proper programming that produces Health, Wealth, Prosperity and Success.  The first step in eliminating faulty conditioning that gives rise to bad financial habits is to first rise above the Debt Consciousness that produced the debt in the first instance.  If bad financial conditioning is not corrected and replaced with solid conditioning founded on concepts of Prosperity, Abundance and Wealth, be assured that debt WILL return again - and again, and again . . . until the bad programming is eradicated and replaced with right conditioning.  In his phenomenal book, Secrets of the Millionaire Mind, T. Harv Ecker calls your economic conditioning your "financial blueprint," and you will ALWAYS live according to it, whether it be good or bad.  If positive financial change is what you seek, i.e., Wealth, you absolutely, positively MUST adopt and implement the right financial blueprint.  Otherwise, debt will continue in a self-perpetuating cycle until the necessary intervention required to reprogram the faulty conditioning to that of true Prosperity Consciousness is effectuated.  It is that simple.

Let's face it: debt stinks. Nobody wants to carry debt.  If you have debt, you MUST - starting right now - STOP focusing and obsessing on that debt.  It will only bring more debt, deteriorate your emotional, physical and spiritual health, and make your life miserable.  Despite the outer world circumstances of "debt," you must build an inner world of Prosperity.  The sooner you do so, the sooner you will escape Debt Consciousness and break the vicious debt cycle.

If you have debt, you MUST - starting right now - STOP focusing and obsessing on that debt.  It will only bring more debt, deteriorate your emotional, physical and spiritual health, and make your life miserable.

This may well be one of the most challenging issues in developing a solid, keenly established Prosperity Consciousness: attempting to do so while carrying personal debt.  How can one make that paradigm shift - from lack and limitation to Abundance and Prosperity - when current income seemingly is not enough to reduce and eliminate debt?

How's this for an answer: GOD WILL PAY YOUR DEBTS.

Before your write (or laugh) this one off, I urge you to read what Charles Fillmore has to say.  You don't have anything to lose, except, of course, your debt. Losing debt is a good thing.

We don't receive many comments to our posts, but on this issue, I would love to hear what you have to say on this subject.  Please leave a comment and let's open this topic up for some discussion.  Since debt is such a problem and an extremely negative emotional hot-button, your thoughts, comments, concerns and questions on this subject are greatly welcomed and appreciated.

Thank you for visiting our site.  We appreciate the support that we have been receiving and hope that the information, content and material that we work hard to make available proves to be of service to you.

As always, Peace Out, and - NAMASTE!

To your Health, Wealth, Prosperity and Success,

The Success Manual Team

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God Will Pay Your Debts

Charles Fillmore

“Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”  In these words Jesus expressed an infallible law of mind, the law that one idea must be dissolved before another can take its place.  If you have in your mind any thought that someone has wronged you, you cannot let in the cleansing power of Spirit and the richness of spiritual substance until you have cast out the thought of the wrong, have forgiven it fully.  You may be wondering why you have failed to get spiritual illumination or to find the consciousness of spiritual substance.  Perhaps the reason is here: a lack of room for the true thoughts because other thoughts fill your mind.  If you are not receiving the spiritual understanding you feel you should have, you should search your mind carefully for unforgiving thoughts.  “Thoughts are things” and occupy space in the mind realm.  They have substance and form and may easily be taken as permanent by one not endowed with spiritual discernment.  They bring forth fruit according to the seed planted in the mind, but they are not enduring unless founded in Spirit.  Thoughts are alive and are endowed by the thinker with a secondary thinking power; that is, the thought entity that the I AM forms assumes an ego and begins to think on its own account.  Thoughts also think but only with the power you give to them.

Tell me what kind of thoughts you are holding about yourself and your neighbors, and I can tell you just what you may expect in the way of health, finances, and harmony in your home.  Are you suspicious of your neighbors?  You cannot love and trust in God if you hate and distrust men.  The two ideas love and hate, or trust and mistrust, simply cannot both be present in your mind at one time, and when you are entertaining one, you may be sure the other is absent.  Trust other people and use the power that you accumulate from that act to trust God.  There is magic in it: it works wonders; love and trust are dynamic, vital powers.  Are you accusing men of being thieves, and fear that they are going to take away from you something that is your own?  With such a thought generating fear and even terror in your mind and filling your consciousness with darkness, where is there room for the Father’s light of protection?  Rather build walls of love and substance around yourself.  Send out swift, invisible messengers of love and trust for your protection.  They are better guards than policemen or detectives.

Do not judge others as regards their guilt or innocence.  Consider yourself and how you stand in the sight of the Father for having thoughts about another’s guilt.  Begin your reform with yourself.  That means much to one who enjoys an understanding of mind and its laws, though it may mean little to the ordinary individual.  He who knows himself superficially, just his external personality, thinks he has reformed when he has conformed to the moral and governmental laws.  He may even be filled with his own self-righteousness and daily lift up his voice to praise God that he is not as other men are, that he has forgiven men their transgressions.  He looks on all men who do not conform to his ideas of morality and religion as being sinners and transgressors and thanks God for his own insight and keenness.  But he is not at peace.  Something seems lacking.  God does not talk to him “face to face,” because the mind, where God and man meet, is darkened by the murky thought that other men are sinners.  Our first work in any demonstration is to contact God; therefore, we must forgive all men their transgressions.  Through this forgiveness we cleanse our mind so that the Father can forgive us our own transgressions.

The world cannot be free from the bondage of debt and interest until men start to work in their minds to erase those things from consciousness.

Our forgiving “all men” includes ourselves.  You must also forgive yourself.  Let the finger of denial erase every sin or “falling short” that you have charged up against yourself.  Pay your debt by saying to that part of yourself which you think has fallen short: “Thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing befall thee.”  Then “loose him, and let him go.”  Treat sin as a mental transgression, instead of considering it as a moral deflection.  Deny in thought all tendency to the error way and hold yourself firmly to the Christ Spirit, which is your divine self.  Part company forever with “accusing conscience.”  Those who have resolved to sin no more have nothing in common with guilt.

“Shall I be in debt as long as I hold debts against others?”  We find this to be the law of mind: a thought of debt will produce debt.  So long as you believe in debt you will go into debt and accumulate the burdens that follow that thought.  Whoever has not forgiven all men their debts is likely to fall into debt himself.  Does this mean that you should give receipted bills to all those who owe you?  No.  That would not be erasing the thought of debt from your mind.  First deny in mind that any man or woman owes you anything.  If necessary, go over your list of names separately and sincerely forgive the thought of debt which you have been attaching to each person named.  More bills may be collected in this way than in any other, for many of these people will pay what they owe when you send them this forgiving thought.

Debt is a contradiction of the universal equilibrium, and there is no such thing as lack of equilibrium in all the universe.  Therefore, in Spirit and in Truth, there is no debt.  However, men hold on to a thought of debt, and this thought is responsible for a great deal of sorrow and hardship.  The true disciple realizes his supply in the consciousness of omnipresent, universally possessed abundance.  Spirit substance is impartial and owned in common, and no thought of debt can enter into it.  Debts exist in the mind, and in the mind is the proper place to begin liquidating them.  These thought entities must be abolished in mind before their outer manifestations will pass away and stay away.  The world can never be free from the bondage of financial obligations until men erase from their minds the thoughts of “mine and thine” that generates debts and interest.  Analyze the thought of debt and you will see that it involves a thought of lack.  Debt is a thought of lack with absence at both ends; the creditor thinks he lacks what is owed him and the debtor thinks he lacks what is necessary to pay it, else he would discharge the obligation rather than continue it.  There is error at both ends of the proposition and nothing in the middle.  This being true, it should be easy to dissolve the whole thought that anyone owes us or that we owe anyone anything.  We should fill our mind with thoughts of all-sufficiency, and where there is no lack there can be no debts.  Thus, we find that the way to pay our debts is by filling our mind with the substance of ideas that are the direct opposite of the thoughts of lack that caused the debts.

Ideas of abundance will more quickly and surely bring what is yours to you than any thoughts you can hold about debtors discharging their obligations to you.  See substance everywhere and affirm it, not only for yourself but for everyone else.  Especially affirm abundance for those whom you have held in the thought of owing you.  Thus you will help them pay their debts more easily than if you merely erased their names from your book of accounts receivable.  Help pay the other fellow’s debts by forgiving him his debts and declaring for him the abundance that is his already in Spirit.  The idea of abundance will also bring its fruits into your own life.  Let the law of plenty work itself out in you and in your affairs.  This is the way the Father forgives your debts: not by canceling them on His books but by erasing them from His mind.  He remembers them no more against you when you deny their reality.  The Father is the everywhere present Spirit in which all that appears has its origin.  God’s love sees you always well, happy, and abundantly provided for; but God’s wisdom demands that order and right relation exist in your mind before it may become manifest in your affairs as abundance.  His love would give you your every desire, but His wisdom ordains that you forgive your debtors before your debts are forgiven.

To remedy any state of limited finances or ill-health that has been brought about by worry one must begin by eliminating the worry that is the original cause.  One must free one’s mind from the burden of debt before the debt can be paid.  Many people have found that the statement “I owe no man anything but love” has helped them greatly to counteract this thought of debt.  As they used the words their minds were opened to an inflow of divine love and they faithfully co-operated with the divine law of forgiveness in thought, word, and deed.  They built up such a strong consciousness of the healing and enriching power of God’s love that they could live and work peacefully and profitably with their associates.  Thus renewed constantly in health, in faith, and in integrity, they were able to meet every obligation that came to them.

The statement “I owe no man anything but love” does not mean that we can disclaim owing our creditors money or try to evade the payment of obligations we have incurred.  The thing denied is the burdensome thought of debt or of lack.  The work of paying debts is an inner work having nothing to do with the debts already owed but with the wrong thoughts that produced them.  When one holds to the right ideas, burdensome debts will not be contracted.  Debts are produced by thoughts of lack, impatient desire, and covetousness.  When these thoughts are overcome, debts are overcome, forgiven, and paid in full, and we are free from them for all time.

Your thoughts should at all times be worthy of your highest self, your fellow man, and God.  The thoughts that most frequently work ill to you and your associates are thoughts of criticism and condemnation.  Free your mind of them by holding the thought “There is now no condemnation in Christ Jesus.”  Fill your mind with thoughts of divine love, justice, peace, and forgiveness.  This will pay your debts of love, which are the only debts you really owe.  Then see how quickly and easily and naturally all your outer debts will be paid and all inharmonies of mind, body, and affairs smoothed out at the same time.  Nothing will so quickly enrich your mind and free it from every thought of lack as the realization of divine love.  Divine love will quickly and perfectly free you from the burden of debt and heal you of your physical infirmities, often caused by depression, worry, and financial fear.  Love will bring your own to you, adjust all misunderstandings, and make your life and affairs healthy, happy, harmonious, and free, as they should be.  Love indeed is the “fulfillment of the law.”

The way is now open for you to pay your debts.  Surrender them to God along with all your doubts and fears.  Follow the light that is flooding into your mind.  God’s power, love, and wisdom, are here, for His kingdom is within you.  Give Him full dominion in your life and affairs.  Give Him your business, your family affairs, your finances, and let Him pay your debts.  He is even now doing it, for it is His righteous desire to free you from every burden, and He is leading you out of the burden of debt, whether of owing or being owed.  Meet every insidious thought, such as “I can’t,” “I don’t know how,” “I can’t see the way,” with the declaration “Jehovah is my shepherd; I shall not want.”  You “shall not want” the wisdom, the courage to do, or the substance to do with when you have once fully realized the scope of the vast truth that Almightiness is leading you into “green pastures . . .  beside still waters.”

In the kingdom of Truth and reality ideas are the coin of the realm.  You can use the new ideas that divine wisdom is now quickening in your mind and start this very moment to pay your debts.  Begin by thanking God for your freedom from the debt-burden thought.  This is an important step in breaking the shackles of debt.  The funds to pay all your bills may not suddenly appear in a lump sum; but as you watch and work and pray, holding yourself in the consciousness of God’s leadership and His abundance, you will notice your funds beginning to grow “here a little, there a little,” and increasing more and more rapidly as your faith increases and your anxious thoughts are stilled.  For with the increase will come added good judgment and wisdom in the management of your affairs.  Debt is soon vanquished when wisdom and good judgment are in control.

Do not yield to the temptation of “easy-payment plans.”  Any payment that drains your pay envelope before you receive it is not an “easy payment.”  Do not allow false pride to tempt you to put on a thousand-dollar front on a hundred-dollar salary.  There may be times when you are tempted to miss paying a bill in order to indulge a desire for some thing.  This easily leads one into the habit of putting off paying, which fastens the incubus of debt on people before they realize it.  It is the innocent-appearing forerunner of the debt habit and debt thought that may rob you of peace, contentment, freedom, integrity, and prosperity for years to come.  The Divine Mind within you is much stronger than this desire mind of the body.  Turn to it in a time like this, and affirm: “Jehovah is my shepherd; I shall not want” this thing until it comes to me in divine order.

Bless your creditors with the thought of abundance as you begin to accumulate the wherewithal to pay off your obligations.  Keep the faith they had in you by including them in your prayer for increase.  Begin to free yourself at once by doing all that is possible with the means you have and as you proceed in this spirit the way will open for you to do more; for through the avenues of Spirit more means will come to you and every obligation will be met.

If you are a creditor, be careful of the kind of thoughts you hold over your debtor.  Avoid the thought that he is unwilling to pay you or that he is unable to pay you.  One thought holds him in dishonesty, and the other holds him subject to lack, and either of them tends to close the door to the possibility of his paying you soon.  Think well and speak well of all those who owe you.  If you talk about them to others avoid calling them names that you would not apply to yourself.  Cultivate a genuine feeling of love for them and respect their integrity in spite of all appearances.  Declare abundant supply for them and thus help them to prosper.  Pray and work for their good as well as for your own, for yours is inseparable from theirs.  You owe your debtor quite as much as he owes you and yours is a debt of love.  Pay your debt to him and he will pay his to you.  This rule of action never fails.

Far-seeing Christians look forward to an early resumption of the economic system inaugurated by the early followers of Jesus.  They had all things in common, and no man lacked anything.  But before we can have a truly Christian community founded on a spiritual basis we must be educated into a right way of thinking about finances.  If we should all get together and divide all our possessions, it would be but a short time until those who have the prevailing financial ideas would manipulate our finances, and plethora on one hand and lack on the other would again be established.

The world cannot be free from the bondage of debt and interest until men start to work in their minds to erase those things from consciousness.  If the United States forgave the nations of Europe all their debts and wiped the slate clean, the law would not necessarily be fulfilled; for there would probably remain a thought that they still owed us and that we had made a sacrifice in canceling the obligations.  We should not feel very friendly about it and would not truly forgive them, and in that case the error thought would be carried on.  We must first forgive the error thought that they owe us money and that we would be losing money by canceling the debts.  The man who is forced to forgive a debt does not forgive it.

Above all we should fill our mind with the consciousness of that divine abundance which is so manifest everywhere in the world today.  There is as much substance as there ever was, but its free flow has been interfered with through selfishness.  We must rid our mind of the selfish acquisitiveness that is so dominant in the race thought, and in that way do our part in the great work of freeing the world from avarice.  It is the duty of every Christian metaphysician to help in the solution of this problem by affirming that the universal Spirit of supply is now becoming manifest as a distributing energy the world over; that all stored-up, hoarded, vicious thoughts are being dissolved; that all people have things in common; that no one anywhere lacks anything; and that the divine law of distribution of infinite supply that Jesus demonstrated is now being made manifest throughout the world.  “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof.”

There is a legitimate commerce that is carried on by means of what is called credit.  Credit is a convenience to be used by those who appreciate its value and are careful not to abuse it, for to do so would be to ruin it.  However, many persons are not equipped to use the credit system to advantage and are likely to abuse it.  In the first place, few individuals are familiar with the intricacies of sound credit systems and often assume obligations without being certain of their ability to meet them, especially should some unforeseen complication arise.  Frequently, an individual loses all that he invests and finds himself involved in a burden of debt in addition.  Such things are not in divine order and are largely responsible for retarding prosperity.

No one should assume an obligation unless he is prepared to meet it promptly and willingly when it comes due.

No one should assume an obligation unless he is prepared to meet it promptly and willingly when it comes due.

One who knows God as his unfailing resource can be assured of his supply when it is needed.  Then why should he plunge into debt when he is confident of his daily supply without debt?  There are no creditors or debtors in God’s kingdom.  If you are in that kingdom, you need no longer be burdened with the thought of debt either as debtor or creditor.  Under divine law there is no reaching out for things that are beyond one’s present means.  There is an ever-increasing richness of consciousness coming from the certain knowledge that God is infinite and unfailing supply.  Outer things conform to the inner pattern, and riches are attracted to the one who lives close to the unselfish heart of God.  His environment is made beautiful by the glory of the Presence, and there is satisfying and lasting prosperity in his affairs.

There is but one way to be free from debt.  That is the desire to be free, followed by the realization that debt has no legitimate place in God’s kingdom and that you are determined to erase it entirely from your mind.  As you work toward your freedom you will find it helpful to have daily periods for meditation and prayer.  Do not concentrate on debts or spoil your prayers by constantly thinking of debts.  Think of that which you want to demonstrate, not that from which you seek freedom.  When you pray, thank the Father for His care and guidance, for His provision and plenty, for His love and wisdom, for His infinite abundance and your privilege to enjoy it.

Here are a few prosperity prayers that may help establish you in the truth of plenty and erase the error thought of debt.  They are offered as suggestions for forming your own prayers but may be used as given with excellent results.

I am no longer anxious about finances; Thou art my all-sufficiency in all things.

The Spirit of honesty, promptness, efficiency, and order is now expressed in me and in all that I do.

I am free from all limitations of mortal thought about quantities and values.  The superabundance of riches of the Christ Mind are now mine, and I am prospered in all my ways.

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1. Free Success Ebook: “Prosperity” by Charles Fillmore – MUST READ Free Download! In your mind, see plenty everywhere. Yes, it is hard sometimes to overcome the thought that there is not enough, for it is an insidious thought that has been in consciousness for a long time. But it can be done. It has been done and is being done by others....
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