Human beings have within them, if they would know it, tremendous powers and faculties of which we have never had any conception.

These powers are within you, and by the use of affirmations and the power of metal imagery, you can arouse these vast potencies, and harnessed them to your service, for the enrichment of your life and the accomplishment of your ambitions.

Every active life can be influenced by affirmations, but do not confuse yourself by employing too many at once. Set yourself to progress by steps, not by huge bounds which take you anywhere but in the right place. Day by day, and step by step, is the sure road to success. Do not attempt too much, a little at a time well done is better than a huge and ambitious scheme that may have to be abandoned. 

This strategy is also true in business and career. If you have a little shop do not attempt to turn it all at once, into a huge department store. Commit first to make it by far the best small shop in town. Make yourself very efficient in your small shop, and it will not be very long before the opportunity comes for you to make it a large one, or to buy a bigger business. As you outgrow that, other opportunities for expansion will come your way, and this is how you grow from small beginnings to great things. Suppose you have a small law practice, don’t try to grow it out all at once into a high class, lucrative partnership. Seek first to make yourself so exceedingly efficient in your small practice that you will be prepared for the high-class practice when it comes. Affirm success and keep visualising in your mind’s eye, the kind of success that you desire, and always by means of visualisation create an image of what that looks like. But remember to travel step-by-step, to grow gradually, to develop, like a plant, on natural lines. Remember nature is never in a hurry; all her vast works are accomplished slowly, methodically, step by step, cell by cell but whatever she seeks to do is ultimately accomplished. So will it be with you. You have the knowledge by which you can develop your success with mathematical exactness. All you have to do is to put the law into action and to advance step-by-step. Begin with small things; when you have conquered in small things you can pass to greater, and from greater things to boundless power.

Do not expect the maximum of success all at once. If  you get only partial success at first, be satisfied, knowing that you will keep on improving. Even if you fail at least you will be stronger and better for it having tried. “It is the way of the reflex nervous system that whatever wonders you focus on, or endeavours you do, any given thing, in a certain way, adds a modicum of power, it is added everyday, whereby it is daily always a little bit easier at the next effort, an added strength at the next and the next, until that which was difficult and was done with great effort in the beginning becomes easy in the end – that which we do haltingly and stumblingly at first, by and by, so to speak, does itself, even without conscious effort on our part, and will become easier. This is the law; it is the secret of habit forming, character building, of all attainment.“

In your career, you may get offered a job or an opportunity to take a leap to a much higher role in another company. This is rock climbing without a rope. Better by the observation of nature you give yourself time, many months to grow into that role rather than a leap and miss the hand hold without a safety rope. It is like starting a new job and expecting to make sales in the next hour, or lead a group with respect on the first month. It is unwise. Grow into new roles, and better you be master of the last role rather than jump out of the fat into the fire to escape a job you cannot do well. Be aware that this leap will be best accomplished step by step rather than all at once.

If you set out on a certain course to accomplish certain work to overcome a bad habit, to repair and strengthen a weak part of your character, or whatever it may be, never leave off  (quit) until you have accomplished that which you set out to do. To leave off (QUIT) before you have conquered is to play fast and loose with your mental power and to do them irreparable damage. Never leave off one thing and start another; instead concentrate, concentrate, concentrate upon what you have decided to achieve and work out how to do it well. Then, if you choose, move on as an achiever not a quitter.

Above all, live your life according to this principal. This principle will steady the most vacillating character. It is possible for a wise person to estimate with mathematical exactness the result of what they might call, right action,” but they can also easily predict the result of an unprincipled action. The first is according to law and produces certain results; the second, i.e. unprincipled action, is against the law and no one can tell where the evil affect will end up.

Live your life to a principal and you will always know how to act in all cases of uncertainty. Set up as your standard the highest aspect of truth of which you know and bring everything into line with it. When confronted with two or three courses of action and you do not know which to follow, compare each line of action with your principal, and adopt that one which is in harmony with it.

When once you have learnt to live your life according to a principal, you will feel a great load lifted from your mind. For the first time there will be certainty and precision in your life and absolute peace of mind. You will have nothing to worry about because you know that your line of action will always be right and can only bring the highest good into your life.

The first principle to live by is your higher purpose. It is your highest value. It is the steadying influence in all life. If your marriage breaks or your company fails, life purpose will pull you through such disruptive circumstances in days not years. 

The second principle and the third and forth depend on where you are at in your journey. 

However, there are some generic principles that hold true for affirmation and visualisation. 

• Never wrong any person
• Never take advantage of one with less knowledge than yourself
• Never sacrifice your principles.
• Never give up your ideals. 
• See that you are known for your integrity and absolute honesty, as well as for your cleverness and capacity. 

It may look, on the face of things, that this course of action is not going to lead to success. You might see so many of your competitors making money by shonky practice, and you feel that by adopting an honest line of action you are simply putting yourself up as a target for people of less principle to shoot. That is what it looks like, but I can assure you, speaking from experience, that the reverse is the case. It is the person of integrity, authenticity and honour who scores in the long run. 

When in business I was more successful than anyone in my entire circle of family and friends had ever been before, and I never found it necessary to be “dishonest“ or “overreaching.“ I never practised corrupt “salesmanship“ because I truly believed in what I was selling. As a result I had more business than I asked for; I never went out of my way to get customers, yet they “found” my business, as they do now, from morning until night. Because I do I believe in what I am doing. I believe not only for the principle of affimation and my own success, I do believe that what I do adds to the world through the lives of those who are ready, and for those who are not ready, no words will convince them. Therefore my love and passion for what I do is my integrity.

In my engineering firm, 35 years ago, I was new a business owner who suddenly began to live their life to a principal. Instead of covering up occasional defects in my services, as I had been trained to do in my one and only employment in my life for an American Global Firm, I made it a principle to point them out to my customers. Many of my friends said I was a fool and predicted my ruin and failure, but instead my business grew and flourished. My friends were very surprised at my success, but they need not have been. As a business owner, even 35 years ago from the date of writing this book, I was simply coming into line with the eternal law, I was putting into action forces which could not fail to bring success and prosperity. Do not misunderstand me, it is not enough to be honest or to live one’s life to a high principle, but all of the things being equal, it will be the person of integrity who will win in the end.

Therefore live your life to a principal, and persevere with the course which you have laid out before yourself for the future. Be constant, be truth, be faithful, be strong, be persevering and fair to yourself, be fair to the inward powers which are seeking to find expression in your life.

Be true to yourself. I cannot say this with enough weight and force to transmit its importance to you. By value you might wish to please your spouse and this is a good idea but be true to yourself must be higher.

Remember the law of compensation; if you are to extract and receive the highest good in your life, you must give the world your best service. And this means be true to yourself.

You cannot cheat life, you must give your very best if you are to retrieve and receive the best in return. It is useless to potter along and copy other people, or to do as your father or mother did, just because they did it, or take the advice of a spouse who is driven by jealousy or fear from their own past. There is nothing more nauseating than to see a person handing over their power to a spouse, or copying, or trying to copy, another persons success. Be original, be yourself. Be true to yourself. It is the most attractive you can be.

Be original, be yourself.