Twenty-two

And what will be accomplished with this habit?

Herein lies the hidden secret of all man's accomplishments.

As I repeat the words daily they will soon become a part of my active mind, but more important, they will also seep into my other mind, that mysterious source which never sleeps, which creates my dreams, and often makes me act in ways I do not comprehend.

Eventually I will find myself reacting to all situations which confront me as I was commanded in the scrolls to react, and soon these actions and reactions will become easy to perform, for any act with practice becomes easy.

You become what you believe. You are where you are today in your life based on everything you have believed. Today I begin a new life.

The career I have chosen is laden with opportunity yet it is fraught with heartbreak and despair.

Yet I will not fail, for in my hands I now hold the charts which will guide through perilous waters to shores which only yesterday seemed but a dream.

And how will this be accomplished? For I have neither the knowledge nor the experience to achieve the greatness and already I have stumbled in ignorance and fallen into pools of self-pity.

The answer is simple. I will commence my journey unencumbered with either the weight of unnecessary knowledge or the handicap of meaningless experience.

Nature already has supplied me with knowledge and instinct far greater than any beast in the forest and the value of experience is overrated, usually by old men who nod wisely and speak stupidly.

In truth, the only difference between those who have failed and those who have successed lies in the difference of their habits. Good habits are the key to all success.

Bad habits are the unlocked door to failure. Thus, the first law I will obey, which precedeth all others is ——I will form good habits and become their slave.

As a child I was slave to my impulses; now I am slave to my habits, as are all grown men.

I have surrendered my free will to the years of accumulated habits and the past deeds of my life have already marked out a path which threatens to imprison my future.

My actions are ruled by appetite, passion, prejudice, greed, love, fear, environment, habit, and the worst of these tyrants is habit.

Therefore, if I must be a slave to habit let me be a slave to good habits. My bad habits must be destroyed and new furrows prepared for good seed.