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LESSON XIX. A CONCENTRATED WILL DEVELOPMENT

Books: The Power of Concentration

I attended a banquet of inventors recently. Each inventor gave a

short talk on something he thought would be accomplished in the

future. Many very much needed things were spoken of. One inventor

spoke of the possibilities of wireless telephone. Distance, he

said, would shortly be annihilated. He thought we would soon be

able to talk to the man in the submarine forty fathoms below the

surface and a thousand miles away.
hen he got through he asked

if there were any that doubted what he said. No one spoke up.

This was not a case of tactful politeness, as inventors like to

argue, but a case where no one present really doubted that the

inventor's vision would, in the future, materialize.



These shrewd men, some real geniuses, all thought we would in

time be able to talk to those a thousand miles away without

media. Now, if we can make an instrument so wonderful that we can

send wireless messages a thousand miles, is there any reason why

we should not through mental control transmit messages from one

person to another? The wireless message should not be as easy to

send as the projected thought.



The day will come when all business will employ highly developed

persons to send out influences. These influences will be so

dominating that employes will be partly controlled by them and so

you will profit more and more by your mental powers and depend on

them to draw to you all forces of a helpful nature. You will be

constantly sending out suggestions to your employes and friends.

They will receive these unconsciously, but in case yours is the

stronger personality they will carry them out the same as if you

had spoken them.



This is being done even today. A finely organized company secures

the combined effort of all its men. They may be each doing a

different kind of work, but all work to bring about the very best

results. The whole atmosphere is impregnated with a high standard

of workmanship. Everyone feels he must do his best. He could not

be in such surroundings and be satisfied to do anything but his

best work.



A business will succeed only to the extent that the efforts of

all are co-ordinated towards one result. At least one person is

needed to direct all toward the desired end. The person at the

head does not have to exactly outline to the others what steps to

take, but he must possess the mental power of control over

others.



An up-to-date business letter is not written in a casual,

commonplace way today. The writer tries to convey something he

thinks the receiver will be interested to know. In this way he

awakens a responsive spirit. Sometimes just the addition of a

word or two will change a letter of the matter-of-fact style to

one that compels a response. It is not always what is actually in

a letter, but the spirit which it breathes that brings results.

That intangible something that defies analysis is the projected

thought of the master that brings back the harvest that it

claims.



But we should not always claim success for ourselves only. If you

are anxious that some friend or relative should succeed, think of

this person as becoming successful. Picture him in the position

you would like to see him in. If he has a weakness, desire and

command that it be strengthened; think of his shortcomings which

belong to his negative nature as being replaced by positive

qualities. Take a certain part of the day to send him thoughts of

an up-building nature. You can in this way arouse his mental

powers into activity, and once aroused, they will assert

themselves and claim their own.



We can accomplish a great deal more than many of us are ready to

believe by sending to another our direct, positive and

controlling suggestions of leadership, but whether a man is a

success or not is greatly determined by the way he acts on the

suggestions he receives.



We either advance or decline. We never stand still. Every time we

accomplish something it gives us ability to do greater things.

The bigger the attempt undertaken, the greater the things

accomplished in the future. As a business grows, the head of the

business also has to grow. He must advance and be ever the

guiding influence. By his power to control, he inspires

confidence in those associated with him. Often employes are

superior to their employers in some qualities, and, if they had

studied, instead of neglected their development, they could have

been employers of more commanding influence than those whom they

serve.



Through your mental power you can generate in another enthusiasm

and the spirit of success, which somehow furnishes an impetus to

do something worth while.



In concentrated mental control, there is a latent power more

potent than physical force. The person becomes aware that the

attitude of the mind has a power of controlling, directing and

governing other forces. He has been placed in an attitude capable

of acquiring that which he desires.



All of us no matter how strong we are, are affected by the mental

forces of our environment. There is no one that can remain

neutral to influences. The mind cannot be freed from the forces

of a place. If the environment of your place of business is not

helpful, it will be harmful. That is why a change of position

will often do a person a great deal of good.



No person was ever intended to live alone. If you are shut up

with only your own thoughts you suffer from mental starvation.

The mind becomes narrow; the mental powers weaken. Living alone

often causes some of the milder forms of insanity. If children do

not play with those their own age, but associate with only older

people, they will take on the actions of the older people. The

same is true of older persons if they associate with people

younger than they are. They take on the spirit of youth. If you

wish to retain your youth you need the influences of youth. Like

attracts like all over the world.



The thought element plays a great part in our lives. Every

business must not only command physical effort but it must also

command thought effort. There must be co-ordination of thought.

All employers should aim to secure employes that think along

similar lines. They will work in fuller sympathy with each other.

They will better understand each other. This enables them to help

each other, which would be utterly impossible if they were not in

sympathy with each other. It is this that goes to make up a

perfect organization, which directs and influences them toward

the one end. Instead of each person being a separate unit, each

one is like a spoke in a big wheel. Each member carries his own

load, and he would not think of shirking. Anyone working in such

an atmosphere could not help turning out his best work.



All great leaders must be able to inspire this co-operative

spirit. They first secure assistance through their mental

control. They then make their assistants realize the value of

mental control. Soon there is a close bond between them; they are

working toward a single purpose. They profit by their combined

effort. The result is that they accomplish much.



If your business is conducted in the right spirit, you can

instill your thoughts and your ideas into your employes. Your

methods and ideas become theirs. They don't know it, but your

mental forces are shaping their work. They are just as certain to

produce results as any physical force in nature.



The up-to-date business man of the future is going to take pains

to get his employes to think and reason better. He will not want

them to become depressed or discouraged. There is time that

instead of being wasted he will endeavor to have them use in

concentrated effort that will be profitable to both employer and

employed. There must be more of the spirit of justice enter into

the business of the future.



There is a firm I know that will not hire an employe until he has

filled out an application blank. No doubt those that fill it out

think it is foolishness, but it is not. A capable manager can

look over this application blank and pretty nearly tell if this

person will fit into his management. The main thing he wants to

know is the applicant's capacity for efficient co-operative

effort. He wants persons that have faith in themselves. He wants

them to realize that when they talk of misfortunes and become

blue they are likely to communicate the same depressing influence

to others. The up-to-date manager wants to guard against hiring

employes who will obstruct his success.



You must realize that every moment spent in thinking of your

difficulties of the past, every moment spent in bad company is

attracting to you all that is bad; is attracting influences that

must be shaken off before you can advance.



Many firms prefer to hire employes that never worked before so

that they have nothing to unlearn. They are then not trained, but

have no bad business habits to overcome. They are more easily

guided and grasp the new methods more effectively because they

are not contrary to what they have already learned. They are at

once started on the right road, and as they co-operate readily

they receive the mental support of the management in learning the

methods that have been perfected. This inspires confidence in

themselves and they soon become efficient and, finally, skilled

workers.



Most big business firms today employ efficiency experts. Each day

or week they are in a different department. They earn their money

because they familiarize persons with very little business

experience with plans that has taken the "expert" years of

training and much money to perfect.



The attitude we take has a great deal more to do with our success

than most of us realize. We must be able to generate those forces

that are helpful. There is a wonderful power in the thought

rightly controlled and projected and we must through

concentration develop this power to the fullest possible extent.



We are surrounded by many forces of which we know but little at

present. Our knowledge of these is to be wonderfully increased.

Each year we learn more about these psychic forces which are full

of possibilities of which we are not even dimly conscious. We

must believe in mental control, learn more about it, and use it,

if we want to command these higher powers and forces which will

unquestionably direct the lives of countless future generations.



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