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the next lesson of this Reading Course on the Law ofSuccess, which is imagination.There are generally many plans through theoperation of which a desired object may be achieved,and it often happens to be true that the obvious andusual methods employed are not the best. The usualmethod of procedure, in the case related, would havebeen that of borrowing from a bank. You can see thatthis method was impractical, in this case, for thereason that no collateral was available.A great philosopher once said: "Initiative is thepass-key that opens the door to opportunity."I do not recall who this philosopher was, but Iknow that he was great because of the soundness ofhis statement.We will now proceed to outline the exactprocedure that you must follow if you are to become aperson of initiative and ation and eliminate it from your make-up.This habit of putting off until tomorrow that whichyou should have done last week or last year or a scoreof years ago is gnawing at the very vitals of yourbeing, and you can accomplish nothing until youthrow it off.The method through which you eliminateprocrastination is based upon a well known andscientifically tested principle of psychology which hasbeen referred to in the two preceding lessons of thiscourse as Autosuggestion.Copy the following formula and place itconspicuously in your room where you will see it asyou retire at night and as you arise in the morning:- 13 -

INITIATIVE AND LEADERSHIPHaving chosen a definite chief aim as my lifework I now understand it to be my duty to transformthis purpose into reality.Therefore, I will form the habit of taking somedefinite action each day that will carry me one stepnearer the attainment of my definite chief aim.I know that procrastination is a deadly enemy ofall who would become leaders in any undertaking, andI will eliminate this habit from my make-up by:(a) Doing some one definite thing each day, thatought to be done, without anyone telling me to do it.(b) Looking around until I find at least one thingthat I can do each day, that I have not been in thehabit of doing, and that will be of value to others,without expectation of pay.(c) Telling at least one other person, each day, ofthe value of practicing this habit of doing somethingthat ought to be done without being told to do it.I can see that the muscles of the body becomestrong in proportion to the extent to which they areused, therefore I understand that the habit of initiativealso becomes fixed in proportion to the extent that itis practiced.I realize that the place to begin developing thehabit of initiative is in the small, commonplace thingsconnected with my daily work, therefore I will go atmy work each day as if I were doing it solely for thepurpose of developing this necessary habit ofinitiative.I understand that by practicing this habit of- 14 -

taking the initiative in connection with my daily workI will be not only developing that habit, but I will alsobe attracting the attention of those who will placegreater value on my services as a result of thispractice.Signed .Regardless of what you are now doing, every daybrings you face to face with a chance to render someservice, outside of the course of your regular duties,that will be of value to others. In rendering thisadditional service, of your own accord, you of courseunderstand that you are not doing so with the object ofreceiving monetary pay. You are rendering thisservice because it provides you with ways and meansof exercising, developing and making stronger theaggressive spirit of initiative which you must possessbefore you can ever become an outstanding figure inthe affairs of your chosen field of life-work.Those who work for money alone, and whoreceive for their pay nothing but money, are alwaysunderpaid, no matter how much they receive. Money isnecessary, but the big prizes of life cannot bemeasured in dollars and cents.No amount of money could possibly be made totake the place of the happiness and joy and pride thatbelong to the person who digs a better ditch, or buildsa better chicken coop, or sweeps a cleaner floor, orcooks a better meal. Every normal person loves tocreate something that is better than the average. Thejoy of creating a work of art is a joy that cannot bereplaced by money or any other form of materialpossession.I have in my employ a young lady who opens,- 15 -

WHAThelpedovertheyougreatobstacles of life?" wasasked of a highly successful man. "The otherobstacles," he replied.- 16 -

assorts and answers much of my personal mail. Shebegan in my employ more than three years ago. Thenher duties were to take dictation when she was askedto do so. Her salary was about the same as that whichothers receive for similar service. One day I dictatedthe following motto which I asked her to typewrite forme:Remember that your only limitation is the onethat you set up in your own mind.As she handed the typewritten page back to meshe said, "Your motto has given me an idea that isgoing to be of value to both you and me."I told her I was glad to have been of service toher. The incident made no particular impression on mymind, but from that day on I could see that it hadmade a tremendous impression on her mind. She beganto come back to the office after supper and performedservice that she was neither paid for nor expected toperform. Without anyone telling her to do it she beganto bring to my desk letters that she had answered forme. She had studied my style and these letters wereattended to as well as I could have done it; in someinstances much better. She kept up this habit until mypersonal secretary resigned. When I began to look forsomeone to take his place, what was more natural thanto turn to this young woman to fill the place. Before Ihad time to give her the position she took it on herinitiative. My personal mail began to come to my deskwith a new secretary's name attached, and she was thatsecretary. On her own time, after hours, withoutadditional pay, she had prepared herself for the bestposition on my staff.But that is not all. This young lady became so- 17 -

noticeably efficient that she began to attract theattention of others who offered her attractivepositions. I have increased her salary many times andshe now receives a salary more than four times aslarge as the amount she received when she first wentto work for me as an ordinary stenographer, and, totell you the truth, I am helpless in the matter, becauseshe has made herself so valuable to me that I cannotget along without her.That is initiative transformed into practical,understandable terms. I would be remiss in my dutiesif I failed to direct your attention to an advantage,other than a greatly increased salary, that this younglady's initiative has brought her. It has developed inher a spirit of cheerfulness that brings her happinesswhich most stenographers never know. Her work is notwork-it is a great interesting game at which she isplaying. Even though she arrives at the office ahead ofthe regular stenographers and remains there long afterthey have watched the clock tick off five o'clock andquitting time, her hours are shorter by far than arethose of the other workers. Hours of labor do not dragon the hands of those who are happy at their work.This brings us to the next step in our descriptionof the exact procedure that you must follow indeveloping initiative and leadership.Second: You of course understand that the onlyway to get happiness is by giving it away, to others.The same applies to the development of initiative.You can best develop this essential quality in yourselfby making it your business to interest those aroundyou in doing the same. It is a well known fact that a- 18 -

man learns best that which he endeavors to teachothers. If a man embraces a certain creed or religiousfaith, the first thing he does is to go out and try to"sell" it to others. And in exact proportion to theextent to which he impresses others does he impresshimself.In the field of salesmanship it is a well knownfact that no salesman is successful in selling othersuntil he has first made a good job of selling himself.Stated conversely, no salesman can do his best to sellothers without sooner or later selling himself thatwhich he is trying to sell to others.Any statement that a person repeats over and overagain for the purpose of inducing others to believe it,he, also, will come to believe, and this holds goodwhether the statement is false or true.You can now see the advantage of making it yourbusiness to talk initiative, think initiative, eatinitiative, sleep initiative and practice initiative. Byso doing you are becoming a person of initiative andleadership, for it is a well known fact that people willreadily, willingly and voluntarily follow the personwho shows by his actions that he is a person ofinitiative.In the place where you work or the community inwhich you live you come in contact with other people.Make it your business to interest every one of themwho will listen to you, in the development ofinitiative. It will not be necessary for you to give yourreasons for doing th is, nor will it be necessary for youto announce the fact that you are doing it. Just goahead and do it. In your own mind you willunderstand, of course, that you are doing it because- 19 -

this practice will help you and will, at least, do thosewhom you influence in the same practice no harm.If you wish to try an experiment that will proveboth interesting and profitable to you, pick out someperson of your acquaintance whom you know to be aperson who never does anything that he is notexpected to do, and begin selling him your idea ofinitiative. Do not stop by merely discussing thesubject once; keep it up every time you have aconvenient opportunity. Approach the subject from adifferent angle each time. If you go at this experimentin a tactful and forceful manner you will soon observea change in the person on whom you are trying theexperiment.And, you will observe something else of moreimportance still: You will observe a change inyourself!Do not fail to try this experiment.You cannot talk initiative to others withoutdeveloping a desire to practice it yourself. Throughthe operation of the principle of Auto-suggestionevery statement that you make to others leaves itsimprint on your own subconscious mind, and thisholds good whether your statements are false or true.You have often heard the saying: "He who livesby the sword will die by the sword."Properly interpreted, this simply means that weare constantly attracting to ourselves and weaving intoour own characters and personalities those qualitieswhich our influence is helping to create in others. Ifwe help others develop the habit of initiative, we, inturn, develop this same habit. If we sow the seeds ofhatred and envy and discouragement in others, we, inturn, develop these qualities in ourselves. Thisprinciple through which a man comes to resemble in- 20 -

his own nature those whom he most admires is fullybrought out in Hawthorne's story, The Great StoneFace, a story that every parent should have hisoffspring read.We come, now, to the next step in our descriptionof the exact procedure that you must follow indeveloping initiative and leadership.Third: Before we go further let it be understoodwhat is meant by the term "Leadership," as it is usedin connection with this Reading Course on the Law ofSuccess. There are two brands of leadership, and oneof them is as deadly and destructive as the other ishelpful and constructive. The deadly brand, whichleads not to success, but to absolute failure, is thebrand adopted by pseudo-leaders who force theirleadership on unwilling followers. It will not benecessary here to describe this brand or to point outthe fields of endeavor in which it is practiced, withthe exception of the field of war, and in this field wewill mention but one notable example, that ofNapoleon.Napoleon was a leader; there can be no doubtabout this, but he led his followers and himself todestruction. The details are recorded in the history ofFrance and the French people, where you may studythem if you choose.It is not Napoleon's brand of leadership that isrecommended in this course, although I will admit thatNapoleon possessed all the necessary fundamentals forgreat leadership, excepting one-he lacked the spirit ofhelpfulness to others as an objective. His desire forthe power that comes through leadership was basedsolely upon self-aggrandizement. His desire forleadership was built upon personal ambition and not- 21 -

CHERISHyourvisionsand your dreams as theyare the children of yoursoul; the blue-prints ofyourultimatements.- 22 -achieve-

upon the desire to lift the French people to a higherand nobler station in the affairs of nations.The brand of leadership that is recommendedthrough this course of instruction is the brand whichleads to self-determination and freedom and selfdevelopment and enlightenment and justice. This isthe brand that endures. For example, and as a contrastwith the brand of leadership through which Napoleonraised himself into prominence, consider our ownAmerican commoner, Lincoln. The object of hisleadership was to bring truth and justice andunderstanding to the people of the United States. Eventhough he died a martyr to his belief in this brand ofleadership, his name has been engraved upon the heartof the world in terms of loving kindliness that willnever bring aught but good to the world.Both Lincoln and Napoleon led armies in warfare,but the objects of their leadership were as different asnight is different from day. If it would give you abetter understanding of the principles upon which thisReading Course is based, you could easily be cited toleadership of today which resembles both the brandthat Napoleon employed and that which Lincoln madethe foundation of his life-work, but this is notessential; your own ability to look around and analyzemen who take the leading parts in all lines ofendeavor is sufficient to enable you to pick out theLincoln as well as the Napoleon types. Your ownjudgment will help you decide which type you preferto emulate.There can be no doubt in your mind as to thebrand of leadership that is recommended in thisReading Course, and there should be no question in- 23 -

your mind as to which of the two brands described youwilladoptasyourbrand.Wemakenorecommendations on this subject, however, for thereason that this Reading Course has been prepared asa means of laying before its students the fundamentalprinciples upon which power is developed, and not asa preachment on ethical conduct. We present both theconstructive and the destructive possibilities of theprinciples outlined in this course, that you maybecome familiar with both, but we leave entirely toyour own discretion the choice and application ofthese principles, believing that your own intelligencewill guide you to make a wise selection.THE PENALTY OF LEADERSHIP*In every field of human endeavor, he that is firstmust perpetually live in the white light of publicity.Whether the leadership be vested in a man or in amanufactured product, emulation and envy are ever atwork.In art, in literature, in music, in industry, thereward and the punishment are always the same. Thereward is widespread recognition; the punishmentsfierce denial and detraction.When a man's work becomes a standard for thewhole world, it also becomes a target for the shafts ofthe envious few. If his work be merely mediocre, hewill be left severely alone - if he achieve amasterpiece, it will set a million tongues a-wagging.Jealousy does not protrude its forked tongue atthe artist who produces a commonplace painting.*(With the compliments of the Cadillac Motor Car Co.)- 24 -

Whatsoever you write, or paint, or play, or singor build, no one will strive to surpass or slander you,unless your work be stamped with the seal of a genius.Long, long after a great work or a good work hasbeen done, those who are disappointed or enviouscontinue to cry out that it cannot be done.Mean voices were raised against the author of theLaw of Success before the ink was dry on the firsttextbooks. Poisoned pens were released against boththe author and the philosophy the moment the firstedition of the course was printed.Spiteful little voices in the domain of art wereraised against our own Whistler as a mountebank, longafter the big world acclaimed him its greatest artisticgenius.Multitudes flocked to Beyreuth to worship at themusical shrine of Wagner, while the little group ofthose whom he had dethroned and displaced arguedangrily that he was no musician at all.The little world continued to protest that Fultoncould never build a steamboat, while the big worldflocked to the river banks to see his boat steam by.Small, narrow voices cried out that Henry Fordwould not last another year, but above and beyond thedin of their childish prattle Ford went silently abouthis business and made himself the richest and mostpowerful man on earth.The leader is assailed because he is a leader, andthe effort to equal him is merely added proof of hisleadership.Failing to equal or to excel, the follower seeks todepreciate and to destroy - but only confirms thesuperiority of that which he strives to supplant.There is nothing new in this.- 25 -

It is as old as the world and as old as the humanpassions - envy, fear, greed, ambition and the desireto surpass.And it all avails nothing.If the leader truly leads, he remains the LEADER!Master-poet, master-painter, master-workman,each in his turn is assailed, and each holds his laurelsthrough the ages.That which is good or great makes itself known,no matter how loud the clamor of denial.A real leader cannot be slandered or damaged bylies of the envious, because all such attempts serveonly to turn the spot-light on his ability, and realability always finds a generous following.Attempts to destroy real Leadership is love'slabor lost, because that which deserves to live, lives!········We come back, now, to the discussion of the thirdstep of the procedure that you must follow indeveloping initiative and leadership. This third steptakes us back for a review of the principle oforganized effort, as described in the preceding lessonsof this course.You have already learned that no man canaccomplish enduring results of a far-reaching naturewithout the aid and co-operation of others. You havealready learned that when two or more persons allythemselves in any undertaking, in a spirit of harmonyand understanding, each person in the alliance therebymultiplies his own powers of achievement. Nowhere isthis principle more evidenced than it is in an industryor business in which there is perfect team-work be-- 26 -

tween the employer and the employees. Wherever youfind this team-work you find prosperity and goodwillon both sides.Co-operation is said to be the most importantword in the English language. It

LAW OF SUCCESS IN SIXTEEN LESSONS Teaching, for the First Time in the History of the World, the True Philos-ophy upon which all Personal Success is Built. BY NAPOLEON HILL 1 9 2 8