On The Path Of Winners BY BAYO OGUNMUPE How To Get What You Want

On The Path Of Winners

How To Get What You Want

GETTING what you want is success. In effect, success comes from the application of a cause or goal. Essentially it’s the same in every facet of human endeavour. The difference is in what people want, it isn’t in accomplishments. Success is in the attainment of goals without regard to the things achieved. The cause of success is always in the person who succeeds because if the cause of success were in nature, outside the person, then every person similarly situated would succeed.

  This means the cause of success isn’t in the environment. Thus, it is certain that you can succeed if you will find out the cause of success, develop it and apply it properly to your work, for the application of the cause cannot fail to produce a given effect. The cause of success is a cosmic power within you. You have the power to develop this power without limit, because there is no limit to the development of mental growth. You can increase this mental power indefinitely. So you can strengthen it to achieve what you want. All you need learn is how to apply your cosmic power to attain your aims.

  The development of a perfect professional competence is essential to success in your chosen vocation. Which is why the application of the musical ability causes success in music, while that of the mechanical faculty causes success in engineering.

  But what is this something in a person that causes him to use his faculties successfully? The few who succeed use their faculties successfully. It is hard to get a word, which expresses the ability to succeed at your job. But I shall call the power, poise although it means more than poise, for poise is a condition combining action with faith. Faith consists in the action of believing things which cannot be proved. And what causes success is more than this.

  This is active power consciousness the Gnostics call Cosmic Consciousness. It is what happens when you know that you can do a thing and how to do it. That places success within your grasp, since you possess a success mindset already. You can when your subconscious affirms you can do it. But if your subconscious is dithering, then affirm your faith in the success mechanism of Cosmic Consciousness. The subconscious is the source from which power comes in the action of any faculty. And doubt impugns this power, impairing its efficacy. So, for effectiveness saturate your mind with the knowledge that you can do what you want to do. Because no one has ever used all the power that he is capable of, so it is within your power to make a greater success in your business than anyone has ever made before you.

  Having filled your mind with this can do spirit proceed to undertake the attainment of what you want. Attaining your aim is made more plainly by considering this analogy. In evolution, squirrels developed their leaping power to its fullest extent through continuous effort to advance. This brought forth the flying squirrel, with a membrane uniting the legs to form a parachute, enabling it to sail distances beyond an ordinary leap. An extension of the parachute jump of the flying squirrel produced the bat, which has wings that can fly. Continuous flight produced the bird with feathered wings. These transitions were accomplished simply by perfecting and extending functions. If squirrels had not kept leaping, there would have been no flying squirrel, and no power of flight. If you are jumping only half-heartedly, you will never fly.

  In life, we advance from one plane to another by perfecting the functions of a lower plane. When an organism contains more life by functioning perfectly on its own plane, it begins to perform the functions of the next higher plane. This is the principle of evolution, and of all attainment. Accordingly, you can advance only by more than filling your present post. You must do all that you can do now, so that you can become what you want to be in the future. The doing into perfection of one thing equips us to advance to the next level.

  The perfect workman is instantly presented the opportunity to begin doing the next larger thing. This is an unfailing law of advancement. By being perfect in your job, you develop into an inventor in your professional calling or vocation. It is the perfection with which you do your work now, that extends your field and brings you in touch with a larger environment. Whenever an organism has more life than can find utility on a given plane, its surplus life lifts it to the next higher plane to find expression. Your surplus power will empower you to attain your cherished desires.

  However, the scriptures say, if you want a happy life and good and lengthy days, keep your tongue from speaking evil and keep your lips from telling lies, 1 Peter 3:10.

  Our champion for today is Arthur Moeller van den Bruck, the German historian and cultural critic whose book, The Third Empire, provided Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Germany with its dramatic name, The Third Reich. Moeller was born in Solingen, Germany in April 1876. He died in May 1925. He fled Germany in 1900 to avoid military service. Then he lived in France, Italy and Scandinavia. While abroad he wrote an eight volume history of the German people. In his books, he classified his countrymen according to psychological types such as, drifting, dreaming and decisive. He returned to Germany at the outbreak of World War I in 1914. In the same year he completed the editing of the German edition of the works of Fyodor Dostoyevsky. For the record, Dostoyevsky was the Russian journalist and short story writer whose novels penetrated the darkest recesses of the human heart, who has had a profound influence on the 20^th century novel.

  After the war, Moeller mounted the criticisms of European civilization as the destruction of true culture. He called for a new Germanic faith to save the country from the vulgarity of the modern industrial society. In despair over the course of German history, he took his own life in 1925. Though the Nazis denied him as their intellectual precursor, Moeller’s thoughts helped create German receptivity to the National Socialist ideology of Hitler.

On the Path of Winners By Bayo Ogunmupe How you create your fate

On the Path of Winners

By Bayo Ogunmupe

 

How you create your fate

WHY are some people more successful than others? And why do so many people live lives of quiet desperation? The reason is attributable to Aristole’s Principle of causality. Today we call it the law of Cause and Effect. This law means: everything happens for a reason, for every effect there is a specific cause. The Greek philosopher, Aristotle was the first person to aver that we live in a world governed by law, not by chance. Thus, the search for truth, for causal relationships among events, has led to the rise of the West in science, technology, philosophy and warfare for more than 2000 years. Today, this focus has shifted our mindset and is driving the development that is changing our world so dramatically.

  This law says that personal and business achievements are all the direct or indirect, results of causes or actions. This means that if you know what you want, you can achieve it through observing others who have achieved the same goal. By doing what they did, you can get the same results. Success isn’t an accident, you can create it by your actions.

  In the Bible, the law of cause and effect is called, the Law of Sowing and Reaping, which says, ‘whatsoever a man soweth, that also shall he reap’. Sir Isaac Newton called it the third law of motion. He said that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. But for you and me, the only relevant expression of this law is that thoughts are causes and conditions are effects. Put another way, this means thoughts create. You create your world by the way you think. People and things in your life, have only the meaning you give them in your thoughts. That is how you create your future by the way you think.

  Thus, the most important principle of personal success is simply: you become what you think about most of the time. This is the principle upon which all religions and philosophies are based. This principle is as applicable to individuals as to organizations. It is not the outside world that dictates your circumstances, it is the world inside you that creates the conditions of your life.

  Besides, you are always free to choose. You choose your own destiny. Four other laws flow from the law of cause and effect. They are the laws of Belief, Expectations, Attraction and Correspondence. One, the law of Belief says: whatever you believe becomes your reality. You always act in a manner consistent with your beliefs. Often, you don’t believe what you see, rather, you see what you already believe. You reject information that contradicts what you already believe. But most of the time, your beliefs are not based on facts. You may be prejudiced, meaning you prejudge an event without reason or facts.

  A good success strategy is to refrain from judging other people or situations until you can make an informed decision. This extends to self limiting beliefs. Don’t ever limit yourself in any way. Whatever your mind can conceive and believe, you can achieve.

  Two, the law of expectations which translates to: whatever you expect becomes your own self fulfilling prophecy. You are a fortune-teller in your own life. What you think, talk and believe are going to happen to you. What you expect from people determines your attitude towards them. If you expect good things to happen to you, good things usually happen and vice versa.

  David Mc Clelland of Harvard in an experiment, found that the very best and happiest families were characterized as positive expectation families. So expect the best from others. Three, the law of Attraction says you are a living magnet; that you invariably attract into your life the people, situations and circumstances that are in harmony with your dominant thoughts. This is a great law of success. This law has been discovered in Egyptian mystery schools 3000 years before Christ. This law affects anything you have in life, you have attracted to yourself. And finally, the law of correspondence, meaning, your outer world is a reflection of your inner world, it corresponds with your dominant thoughts. Thus, it is your responsibility to create within yourself the mental equivalent of what you want to experience in your life.

  Our champion for today is Harold Alexander, in full, Field Marshal Harold Rupert George Alexander, the first Earl Alexander of Tunis. Born in London on 10 December, 1891 and died in June 1969, Alexander was a British military commander and field marshal who served with distinction in both world wars. Afterwards he became Governor General of Canada and British Minister of Defence.

  Born to aristocratic parents, he was educated at Harrow and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. In 1911 he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Irish Guards and promoted lieutenant in 1912. Alexander rose to prominence through his service in the First World War, receiving numerous honours and decorations. He continued his military career through various British campaigns across Europe and Asia. In World War II, Alexander oversaw the evacuation from Dunkirk and subsequently had high ranking field commands in Burma, North Africa and Italy, including Commander-in-chief of the Middle East and the command of the 18^th Army in Tunisia. Then, he commanded the 15^th Army for the capture of Sicily and again in Italy before receiving his field marshal’s baton and being made the Supreme Allied Commander in the Mediterranean.

  Alexander was one of a few platoon commanders in history who survived to become field marshal. Twice wounded in battle, on 14 October 1931, Alexander was married to Lady Margaret Bingham, daughter of the Earl of Lucan and with whom he had two sons and a daughter, he also adopted another daughter while Governor General of Canada. By reputation, Alexander was regarded as the best military strategist since the Duke of Wellington. (1769-1852). He signed the bill finalizing the union of Newfoundland and Canada in 1949.

On The Path Of Winners BY BAYO OGUNMUPE Principles Of Getting Rich

On The Path Of Winners

BY BAYO OGUNMUPE

 

Principles Of Getting Rich

IN enunciating the principles of getting rich, we have to tackle first things first. We have to set the tone, create the mindset of richmen. Here, by riches, we are speaking in real terms, for to be rich does not mean to be satisfied or contented. No man ought to be satisfied with little if he is capable of enjoying more. God’s purpose is the advancement of life, and every man should have all that can contribute to his greatness, power, elegance, beauty and riches. And for a person to be content with less is sinful.

  Everyone should become all that he is capable of becoming, so there is nothing wrong in wanting to be rich. It is only that there are certain laws, which govern the process of acquiring riches. Once you learn these laws and are obeyed, you will get rich with mathematical precision. Riches come as a result of doing things in a certain way. Those who do things in this Certain Way, get rich while those who do not do things in this Certain Way, no matter how hard they work or how able they are, remain poor. It is like the natural laws of like attracts like, like causes always produce like effects. Therefore anyone who learns to do things in this Certain Way will infallibly get rich.

  Furthermore, ability or talent has nothing to do with it, because many people with talent remain poor, while many intellectual mediocres get rich. Getting rich isn’t the result of saving or thrift which is why many free spenders get rich. Nor getting rich due to doing things which others fail to do; for two men in the same profession often do exactly the same things, and one gets rich while the other remains bankrupt. From these, you can surmise that getting rich is the result of doing in a Certain Way.

  Thought is the only power which can create tangible riches from the formless. The stuff from which all things are made is a substance, which thinks and the thought of this substance produces form. So everything you can see today first existed as a thought-form. Every thought form held in thinking helps create the substance of your desire. This happens at least generally, along lines of growth and action already established by the aspirant.

  The thought of a house of a certain size, if it were impressed on the subconscious, might not cause the instant formation of the house. But it would cause the turning of creative energies already working in trade and commerce into such channels as to result in the speedy building of the house. By impressing your thought form on the subconscious, you create the object of your desire. Every created substance first existed as a thought form. That makes thought a force in nature.

  Thus, through thought forms you can create anything you want in life. Because, thought is a substance from which all things are made; and which, in its original state, permeates, penetrates and fills all of the universe. A thought as this substance, produces the thing that is imaged by the thought. Man can form things in his thought and by impressing his thought upon formless substance, he can cause the thing he wants to be created.

  I have said that men get rich by doing things in a certain way, and in order to do so, men must become able to think in a certain way. That means a man’s way of doing things is the direct result of the way he thinks. To think in the way to create what you want, you have to think Truth regardless of appearances. However, everyone has the innate ability to think right, but it requires far more effort to do so rather than to think the thoughts that are suggested by appearances. To think by appearance is easy. To think truth regardless of appearances is laborious, for it requires the expenditure of more power than any other work man is called upon to perform. There is no labour from, which most people shrink as that of sustained and consecutive thought. This is very hard to do, particularly when truth is contrary to appearances. Appearances becloud and dominate the mind, producing a corresponding form in the mind, which observes it. This can only be prevented by holding the thought of the Truth.

  To think health when surrounded by disease, or to think riches in the midst of poverty requires power. He who acquires this power becomes a master mind, he can conquer fate, he can have anything he wants. Thus, grasp the fact that behind all appearances is one thinking substance from which and by which all things are made. Thus, every thought held in this substance becomes a form and a man can impress his thoughts upon it, causing it to become visible things. Through this thought power, you can create what you want, you can get what you want to have and you can become whatever you want to be. Thus, to get rich, you must believe these three statements we have dealt with so far. One, there is a stuff in the form of thought which permeates the entire universe. Two, this thought is a substance, which produces things as imaged by the thought. Thirdly, man can form things in his thought, by impressing upon this substance, this substance can cause things he thinks about to be created. This means, you can create things through the power-of your thought. Finally, your success depends on the wish of God to fulfill His purpose through you. That is to say, the way of your assignment isn’t wealth. Your assignment might be to be a great inventor rather than a millionaire.

  Like our champion for today: Ronald Coase, the winner of the Nobel Prize for Economics in 1991, he chose to be a thinker rather than a billionaire. The job of clever people is to ask difficult questions. The job of very clever people is to ask simple ones. Eighty years ago Coase wondered: why do companies exist? The answer he gave remains as fascinating today as it was then.

  Ronald Coase lived a long and productive life. In awarding him the Nobel prize for economics in 1991 the Swedish Academy singled out two papers for praise, one published in 1937 based on a lecture he gave in 1932 when he was only 22 years old and one published in 1961. He published his last book: “How China Became Capitalist,” last year at the age of 101.

  Not bad for a London boy whose parents both left school at 12 and who was consigned to a special school because he wore leg braces. It was only the timely intervention of a phrenologist who detected “considerable mental vigour” in the bumps on his head that redirected him to grammar school and thence to the London School of Economics (LSE). It was Coase’s work on the firm that marked him out for greatness. Economists had been content to treat firms as black boxes. But Dr. Coase wondered what the black boxes were doing there. He used a scholarship he won to visit leading firms in the United States. He summed up his thinking in his 1937 essay: “The Nature of the Firm,” which attracted no attention but continues to be cited to this day.

  Coase was born in December 1910 in Willesden, England. He received the BA in Commerce from LSE in 1932 and a doctorate in Economics from the same school in 1951. After lectureships in various universities, he ended up at the Graduate School of Business, University of Chicago. Coase’s work enabled legal scholars to pay attention to an efficient marketplace and to negotiation rather than litigation. Coase died recently at the age of 102.

Halting the craze for impunity

Halting the craze for impunity

By Bayo Ogunmupe

THE rate at which impunity from prosecution goes on in Nigeria under the very eyes of President Ebele Goodluck Jonathan is alarming. Incidents of oil theft have assumed condemnable proportions which call for urgent attention. With an estimated 150,000 barrels of crude oil being stolen daily in the Niger Delta during the first quarter of 2013, and a global loss of 400,000 barrels of crude oil, it is clear, oil theft is an organised crime in Nigeria.

  In fact, President Jonathan, during his media chat in September, confessed that government had watched the crime of oil theft go on for too long. He also told Nigerians that those involved in oil theft were rich, powerful and well-connected people in society.

  A well-known militant –Tompolo recently shared the same view with President Jonathan when he said, “oil theft is a business for the rich.” Tunde Ruwase, vice president of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce recently accused the Federal Government of knowing those behind oil theft. He said only the rich and powerful could engage in oil theft, arguing that the equipment like barges, tankers as well as the manpower used in stealing oil cannot be bought by the poor.

  Nenji James, chairman of the Civil Liberties Organisation accused politicians for the crime. He said it is high time security agents went beyond rhetorics and go for the real culprits. Mutiu Sunmonu, managing director and country chairman of Shell Petroleum Development Company said, “I believe the perpetrators of oil theft need to be arrested and prosecuted. Until there is deterrence, oil industry doesn’t stand a chance of survival against this illegal bunkering of the scale we are seeing today.”

  Boniface Aniebonam, chair of the Board of Trustees of the New Nigerian Peoples Party, wondered how crude oil theft could go on without government connivance. He said something tells him that there is official endorsement of this large-scale larceny. In recent years, graft has flourished as unemployment. The impunity with which crime is carried out in the country is stunning.

  Actually, criminality thrives because of impunity. Although Jonathan promised to check impunity during his last media chat, critics aver that the president’s hands are tied because oil thieves are people whom he cannot fight, they are his cronies. Moreover, Jonathan had declared in an Abuja church that he was neither a Pharaoh nor Nebuchadnezzar. He also said he was not a lion or an army general trained to do things with immediate effect.

  However, going by recent reports, economists say that Nigeria’s revenue dropped by 42 per cent monthly since July because of the distruption to oil production caused by oil thieves who hacked into pipelines. Worse still, reports from the labour market leave much to be desired. Indeed, Nigeria’s unemployment rate rose from 21.1 per cent in 2010 to 23.9 per cent in 2011, so said the National Population Commission (NPC) in its website on October 10, 2013. The NPC said figures from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed Nigeria’s economic growth had not translated into job creation.

  The NPC report said that NBS estimates Nigeria’s population grew by 3.2 per cent in 2011 from 159.3 million people in 2010 to 164.4 million people in 2011, reflecting rapid population growth.

  In 2011, our unemployment rose to 23.9 per cent compared to 21.1 per cent in 2010. It said the labour force swelled by 2.1 million to 67.2 million people with just 51.2 million persons employed, leaving 16 million people jobless. The report added that unemployment was high in the rural areas at 25.6 per cent than urban centres where it is 17 per cent.

  Thus, unless government takes decisive steps by clamping down on oil thieves, confidence in President Jonathan will be eroded. Government needs to openly dissociate itself from allegations that those in oil theft have its backing, otherwise people will continue to see as hypocritical, government preaching against the crime. Jonathan’s estimation in the eyes of Nigerians would be poor as he would be seen as an ethnic jingoist who is more interested in the affairs of his kinsmen than the good of all Nigerians.

  Meanwhile, Jonathan’s persistent search for the saving grace may be found in steering Nigeria towards modernity. This can be achieved by strengthening the institutions meant to protect Nigeria from internal and external economic disasters. For example, the Excess Crude Account and the Sovereign Wealth Fund shielding the economy from declining oil prices are now in place. Jonathan should be shopping for a competent replacement for the meticulous and indefatiguable Lamido Sanusi the out-going Central Bank governor. For an active Central Bank (CBN), a transparent bond market and a stock exchange that is on the rebound are areas where we have recorded significant gains.

  Our current financial boon has gone beyond oil and gas. The growth of our non-oil sector has been impressive. Agriculture, wholesale and retail trade and services have come to the fore to compete with petroleum. But the pace has been slow compared with the jousts between the president and the state governors over federal allocations. These fights are often dressed in the costume of true fiscal federalism.

  Though both the states and the federation have tax-raising powers, both never exercise such powers. However, what we sorely needed now are institutions which ensure security of lives and property. Such institutions are hospitals, the police, the National Guard and financial independence for the judiciary.

  On hospitals, the best hospital in Egypt is owned by Egyptair, Egypt’s biggest airline. Nigeria can imitate that by partnering with a private company to foster medical tourism by creating big and efficient hospitals. Jonathan should call on Globacom, Shell or Mobil to establish hospitals for the good, health of Nigerians. Two companies can partner with the government on 40: 30: 30 basis with a company becoming the core investor.

  On security, government should increase the strength of our police force from 377,000 cops to one million men, because we need 1.7 million policemen to secure 170 million Nigerian population. In spite of our economic boom therefore, the Nigerian nation state remains vulnerable to factional disputes such as that of Boko Haram. Repeated outbreaks of violence show limited access to security, making the people vulnerable to instability arising from shifts in the dominant ruling coalition. Thus, it is essential for our democracy to build a strong, united and enlightened civil society to check the excesses of a predatory government elite.

WHY YOU MUST SEEK RICHES

On The Path Of Winners

BY BAYO OGUNMUPE

 

Why You Must Seek Riches

THE desire for increase is inherent in nature. It is the fundamental impulse of the universe. Every human activity is based on the desire for increase. People are seeking more food, more clothes, better shelter, more luxury, more beauty, greater knowledge, more pleasure and more life.

  Every living organism is under this siege for continuous advancement. When increase of life ceases, dissolution and death set in. man instinctively knows this and he is forever seeking more riches. This law of perpetual increase is set forth by Jesus the Christ in His parable of the talents. Only those who continuously gain more, retain any. From him who has not, shall be taken away even from whatever he has left. Thus, to aspire for increase is lawful. Which is why all men and women are attracted to him who can give them more of the means of life.

  Do everything that you do in the firm conviction that you are an advancing person and that you are giving advancement to everybody. Feel that you are getting rich and that you are making others rich by conferring benefits on all. Do not boast of your riches, true faith is never boastful. The boastful person betrays doubt and fear. Let every act, tone and look express the assurance that you are getting rich. Undying faith in your riches will attract wealth and helpers to you.

  Impress others in such a way that they will feel that in associating with you, they are getting and will continue to get increase for themselves. See that you give everyone use value greater than the cash value you are taking from them. Take pride in doing this and let everybody know it.

  For that, you will have no lack of customers. People go where they are given increase and Jehovah who desires increase in all, will move you toward men and women who have never heard of you. Thus, your business will increase rapidly and you will be surprised by the windfall of benefits accruing to you. Hence from day to day, you will be able to secure greater advantages.

  But doing all these, you must never lose sight of your vision of financial independence. However, hearken to this word of caution! Beware of the insidious temptation of seeking power over others. Nothing is so pleasant to the profane mind as the exercise of power over others. The desire to dominate for selfish gratification is a curse of civilization. For ages, kings have drenched the earth with blood in their battles to extend their dominions. This is the source of poverty in a country like Nigeria. Corrupt leaders lay waste the lives and hearts of millions in their scramble for power over others. Commercial gain inspire politicians to lust for power. Therefore, you should  beware of being tempted to seek authority, to become a “master” and be considered a lord, one who is above the common herd, to impress others with lavish display of wealth.

  The mind that seeks mastery over others is the competitive mind. In order to become a champion, it is not necessary that you should rule over your fellowmen. Indeed, when you fall prey to the struggle for high office, you begin to be conquered by fate and your environment. Thus, your getting rich becomes a matter of chance and speculation. This is the golden rule of creative action. Do all you can do at work with your undying purpose of getting ahead. But do not work with the idea of currying favour with your employer. It isn’t likely he will advance you by your good work.

  The man who is merely a good workman, is valuable to his employer, it is not in his employer’s interest to promote him. He is worth more where he is. To secure advancement, being more than too large for your place, is necessary. The person who would advance is the one too big for his place and who has a clear vision of what he wants to be, and who is determined to be what he wants to be.

  Begin to think and act this way and opportunities will speedily open for you. Do not try more than fill your present position with a view of pleasing your employer. Do your work with the idea of advancing yourself. Hold the faith and purpose of increase and soon your power of purpose will begin to radiate and new opportunities will be attracted to you. There is a divine power that never fails to offer opportunities to the advancing man, who is moving in obedience to natural law. God cannot help helping you if you act this way. God must do so in order to fulfil His purpose through you. Do not wait for opportunities, seek new and take opportunities as they come. It will be the first step toward a greater opportunity. There is no such thing in the universe as a lack of opportunities for the man of genius. It is inherent in the cosmos that all things shall be for him and work for his good.

  Our champion for today is Otto Heinrich Warburg, the German physiologist, medical doctor and Nobel laureate. He was an officer of the elite cavalry regiment during the First World War and won the Iron Cross for bravery. He was a leading biochemist of the 20^th century who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology in 1931. In total, he was nominated an unprecedented three times for the Nobel prize for three separate achievements.

  Son of the physicist Emil Warburg, Otto was born in October 1883 and died in August 1970. Warburg’s father was a member of the illustrious Warburg family of Altona but had converted to Christianity from his Conservative Jewish parents. Warburg earned a doctorate in Chemistry from the University of Berlin in 1906. He earned the degree of Doctor of Medicine from the University of Heidelberg in 1911.

  Between 1908 and 1914, Warburg conducted research in marine biology in Naples, Italy. He left the Army to return to Academia at the behest of his friend Albert Einstein in 1918. Warburg investigated cancer cells and in 1931 was awarded the Nobel Prize for his discovery of the nature and mode of action of the respiratory enzyme. In 1963, the German Society for Biochemistry instituted The Otto Warburg Medal to commemorate Warburg’s outstanding achievements in molecular biology. It is the highest award for biologists and chemists in Germany.

Willing Yourself To Power

On The Path Of Winners

BY BAYO OGUNMUPE

Willing Yourself To Power

WHEN you know what to think and do, then you must use your will power to compel yourself to think and do the right things. That is the legitimate use of the will. That is how to will yourself to stardom. Thus, use your will to keep yourself thinking and acting in the certain way by which you can accomplish your goals. Imagine what you want and hold that vision with faith and purpose; then use your will to keep your mind working in the right way.

  The more steady and continuous your faith and purpose, the more rapidly you will get rich, because you will make only positive impressions upon your subconscious. The picture of your desire, held with faith and purpose, is taken up by your subconscious, permeating it to great distances, throughout the universe for all to know. As this impression spreads, everything is set toward its realization. Everything is stirred toward bringing into being that which you want. Every force moves in your direction, the minds of the people everywhere are influenced toward helping you fulfill your desires, with them working for you unconsciously.

  But with just a negative impression, you stop or arrest your subconscious from implementing this natural function. Doubt, fear, worry-all hinder you from riches. All the promises are unto them only. Notice how insistent Jesus was upon this point of belief; and now you know the reason why. Since belief is very important it behooves you to guard your thoughts by enabling your beliefs to shape your thoughts.

  That is where your will comes into use. It is by your will that you determine upon what things your attention shall be fixed. To become rich is the noblest aim you can have in life. If you lack physical health, you will find that the attainment of it is contingent on your getting rich. Only the rich have the means to live a carefree existence and follow hygienic practices, which enable them to attain good health. If your heart is set on happiness, remember that love flourishes best where there is refinement, a high level of thought and freedom from corruptive influences. And these are to be found only where riches are attained by creative thought without strife or rivalry.

  People are poor because of ignorance of the fact that there is wealth for them and this is best shown to them by the way to affluence in your own person and practice. Others are poor because, while they feel a way out, they are too intellectually indolent to put forth the mental effort necessary to find the way. For these, the very best you can do is to arouse their desire by showing them the happiness that comes from being rightly rich. Indeed, the very best thing to do is to show by practice: an ounce of doing things is worth a pound of theorizing. The most effective way to serve God and man is to become rich. So far I have told you that in order to be rich, you must form a clear picture of your desire, hold this picture in your thought with the fixed purpose of getting it and with unwavering faith of its accomplishment, closing your mind against all that may tend to shake your purpose, dim your vision or quench it.

  The next strategy is to act in the way of champions. Thought is an impelling force that causes creative power to act by implementing your desire. Through action you achieve your purpose, without action nothing can be achieved. Your  thought makes all things work to bring you what you want. But your actions must be such that you can rightly receive what you want when it reaches you. You are not to take it as charity, nor steal it, you must give every man more in use than he gives you in cash value. The creative use of thought power consists in forming a clear and distinct image of your desire, in holding fast to the purpose to get your desire and in realizing with grateful faith that you do get your desire.

  Ultimately, when your desire is fulfilled, it will be in the hands of others, who will ask an equivalent for it. And you can only get what is yours by giving others their due. The meaning of the foregoing is that your pocketbook isn’t going to be transformed into a Midas’ purse overnight. In getting rich, thought and personal action must be combined. Many people consciously set the creative forces in action by the strength and persistence of their desires, but who remain poor because they do not provide for the reception of their fortune when it comes. By thought, your desire is supplied, by action you receive it.

  Always act now, don't postpone till tomorrow, what you can do today. Because you are not in the right business or environment now, don't think that you must postpone action until you get into the right business or environment. Just have faith in your ability to meet any emergency when it comes. Hold with faith and purpose the vision of yourself in the better environment, but act upon your present situation with all your heart, and with all your strength and with all your mind. Don't day-dream but hold on to the one vision of your desire and act now.

  Hold the vision of yourself in the right business, with the purpose to get into it. Your vision if held with faith and purpose will cause the Almighty to move the right business to you and your action will cause you to clinch the business. Your vision and faith will set the creative force in motion, causing you to get the job you want.

  Our champion for today is Edwin Meese, a famous American litigation lawyer, law professor and the 75^th Attorney General of the United States. Meese was born in Oakland, California, USA, the eldest of four sons of Leone and Edwin Meese. Born in December 1931 of German descent, Meese published Weekly Herald at age 10, and was a vendor in high school. He entered Yale University on scholarship and served as president of Yale Political Union, chairman of the Conservative Party and chairman of the Yale Debating Association. He graduated cum laude in Political Science in 1953.

  Upon graduation, Meese obtained a commission in the U.S. Army as a second lieutenant and spent 24 months, gaining experience in logistics, continuing in the Army reserve specializing in military intelligence. Meese retired from the Army Reserve as a Colonel in 1984. He returned to California, obtaining a law degree from the University of California, Berkeley. Thereafter, he accepted a position as law clerk at the District Attorney’s office, Alameda County, California.

  In 1959, he married his High School sweetheart Ursula Herrick. Meese joined the late U.S. President Ronald Reagan’s California governor’s staff in 1967. First as legal affairs secretary, Meese served Governor Reagan as chief of staff from 1969 to 1974. Despite Reagan’s fondness for Meese, Meese was reluctant to serve Reagan because Meese saw himself as a non-partisan figure. In 1980, Meese joined the 1980 Reagan presidential campaign as chief of staff. After Reagan was elected President, Meese became Counsellor to the President and member of both the President’s Cabinet and National Security Council from 1981-85.

  Edwin Meese’s involvement in the Iran Contra Affair as counselor and friend to Reagan was scrutinized by the Independent Counsel. He raised serious legal questions for his involvement. Meese was considered a powerful and influential figure inside the Reagan White House. Meese became Attorney General in the Reagan Presidency between 1985 and 1988, when he resigned due to his role in the Wedtech scandal. Reagan publicly exonerated Meese in his role as Attorney General stating during a press conference: “If Ed Meese is not a good man, there are no good men.” Meese has served on boards of several institutions. He served two terms as member of the Board of Visitors of George Mason University, serving as chairman of the board from 1998-2004. For his lifetime of service and leadership he was named the first ever Honorary Reagan Fellow of Eureka College, Illinois. Meese is widely recognized as a model for young people as an intellectual who has put his immense sagacity in the service of humanity rather than personal gain.