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Lesson XII -
Concentrate On Wealth
By Theron
Q. Dumont
It was never
intended that man should be poor. When wealth is obtained under the
proper conditions it broadens the life. Everything has its value.
Everything has a good use and a bad use. The forces of mind like wealth
can be directed either for good or evil. A little rest will re-create
forces. Too much rest degenerates into laziness, and brainless, dreamy
longings.
If you acquire wealth unjustly from others, you are misusing your
forces; but if your wealth comes through the right sources you will be
blessed. Through wealth we can do things to uplift ourselves and
humanity.
Wealth is many persons' goal. It therefore stimulates their endeavor.
They long for it in order to dress and live in such a way as to attract
friends. Without friends they would not be so particular of their
surroundings. The fact is the more attractive we make ourselves and our
surroundings the more inspiring are their influences. It is not
conducive to proper thought to be surrounded by conditions that are
uncongenial and unpleasant.
So the first step toward acquiring wealth is to surround yourself with
helpful influences; to claim for yourself an environment of culture,
place yourself in it and be molded by its influences.
Most great men of all ages have been comparatively rich. They have made
or inherited money. Without money they could not have accomplished what
they did. The man engaged in physical drudgery is not likely to have
the same high ideals as the man that can command comparative leisure.
Wealth is usually the fruit of achievement. It is not, however,
altogether the result of being industrious. Thousands of persons work
hard who never grow wealthy. Others with much less effort acquire
wealth. Seeing possibilities is another step toward acquiring wealth. A
man may be as industrious as he can possibly be, but if he does not use
his mental forces he will be a laborer, to be directed by the man that
uses to good advantage his mental forces.
No one can become wealthy in an ordinary lifetime, by mere savings from
earnings. Many scrimp and economize all their lives; but by so doing
waste all their vitality and energy. For example, I know a man that
used to walk to work. It took him an hour to go and an hour to return.
He could have taken a car and gone in twenty minutes. He saved ten
cents a day but wasted an hour and a half. It was not a very profitable
investment unless the time spent in physical exercise yielded him large
returns in the way of health.
The same amount of time spent in concentrated effort to overcome his
unfavorable business environment might have firmly planted his feet in
the path of prosperity.
One of the big mistakes made by many persons of the present generation
is that they associate with those who fail to call out or develop the
best that is in them. When the social side of life is developed too
exclusively, as it often is, and recreation or entertainment becomes
the leading motive of a person's life, he acquires habits of
extravagance instead of economy; habits of wasting his resources,
physical, mental, moral and spiritual, instead of conserving them. He
is, in consequence, lacking in proper motivation, his God-given powers
and forces are undeveloped and he inevitably brings poor judgment to
bear upon all the higher relationships of life, while, as to his
financial fortunes, he is ever the leaner; often a parasite, and
always, if opportunity affords, as heavy a consumer as he is a poor
producer.
It seems a part of the tragedy of life that these persons have to be
taught such painful lessons before they can understand the forces and
laws that regulate life. Few profit by the mistakes of others. They
must experience them for themselves and then apply the knowledge so
gained in reconstructing their lives.
Any man that has ever amounted to anything has never done a great deal
of detail work for long periods at any given time. He needs his time to
reflect. He does not do his duties today in the same way as yesterday,
but as the result of deliberate and concentrated effort, constantly
tries to improve his methods.
The other day I attended a lecture on Prosperity. I knew the lecturer
had been practically broke for ten years. I wanted to hear what he had
to say. He spoke very well. He no doubt benefited some of his hearers,
but he had not profited by his own teachings. I introduced myself and
asked him if he believed in his maxims. He said he did. I asked him if
they had made him prosperous. He said not exactly. I asked him why. He
answered that he thought he was fated not to experience prosperity.
In half an hour I showed that man why poverty had always been his
companion. He had dressed poorly. He held his lectures in poor
surroundings. By his actions and beliefs he attracted poverty. He did
not realize that his thoughts and his surroundings exercised an
unfavorable influence. I said: "Thoughts are moving forces; great
powers. Thoughts of wealth attract wealth. Therefore, if you desire
wealth you must attract the forces that will help you to secure it.
Your thoughts attract a similar kind of thoughts. If you hold thoughts
of poverty you attract poverty. If you make up your mind you are going
to be wealthy, you will instill this thought into all your mental
forces, and you will at the same time use every external condition to
help you."
Many persons are of the opinion that if you have money it is easy to
make more money. But this is not necessarily true. Ninety per cent of
the men that start in business fail. Money will not enable one to
accumulate much more, unless he is trained to seek and use good
opportunities for its investment. If he inherits money the chances are
that he will lose it. While, if he has made it, he not only knows its
value, but has developed the power to use it as well as to make more if
he loses it.
Business success today depends on foresight, good judgment, grit, firm
resolution and settled purpose. But never forget that thought is as
real a force as electricity. Let your thoughts be such, that you will
send out as good as you receive; if you do not, you are not enriching
others, and therefore deserve not to be enriched.
The man that tries to get all he can from others for nothing becomes so
selfish and mean that he does not even enjoy his acquisitions. We see
examples of this every day. What we take from others will in turn be
taken from us. All obligations have to be met fairly and squarely. We
cannot reach perfection until we discharge every obligation of our
lives. We all realize this, so why not willingly give a fair exchange
for all that we receive?
Again I repeat that the first as well as the last step in acquiring
wealth is to surround yourself with good influences--good thought, good
health, good home and business environment and successful business
associates. Cultivate, by every legitimate means, the acquaintance of
men of big caliber. Bring your thought vibrations in regard to business
into harmony with theirs. This will make your society not only
agreeable, but sought after, and, when you have formed intimate
friendships with clean, reputable men of wealth, entrust to them, for
investment, your surplus earnings, however small, until you have
developed the initiative and business acumen to successfully manage
your own investments. By this time you will, through such associations,
have found your place in life which, if you have rightly concentrated
upon and used your opportunities, will not be among men of small parts.
With a competence secured, you will take pleasure in using a part of it
in making the road you traveled in reaching your position easier for
those who follow you.
There is somewhere in every brain the energy that will get you out of
that rut and put you far up on the mountain of success if you can only
use the energy.
You know that gasoline in the engine of an automobile doesn't move the
car until the spark comes to explode the gasoline.
So it is with the mind of man. We are not speaking now of men of great
genius, but of average, able citizens.
Each one of them has in his brain the capacity to climb over the word
impossible and get into the successful country beyond.
And hope, self-confidence and the determination to do something supply
the spark that makes the energy work.
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