Napoleon Hill
The floor is dirty; the walls are dusty; the typewriter you are using looks as if it might be the
one Mr. Noah used in the Ark during the big flood; your pants are
bagged at the knees; your collar is dirty; your face is unshaved, and
you have a look in your eyes that tells me you are defeated.
Please go ahead and get mad - that's just what I want you to do, because it may shock you into doing some thinking that will be helpful to you and to those who are dependent upon you. I can see, in my imagination, the home in which you live. Several little children, none too well dressed, and perhaps none too well fed; a mother whose dress is three seasons out of style, whose eyes carry the same look of defeat that yours do.
This little woman whom you married has stuck by you but you have not made good in life as she had hoped, when you were first married, that you would. Please remember that I am not now talking to a prospective student, because I would not sell you this course at THIS PARTICULAR MOMENT if you offered to pay cash in advance, because if I did you would not have the initiative to complete it, and we want no failures on our student list.
The talk I am now giving you will make it impossible, perhaps, for me ever to sell you anything, but it is going to do something for you that has never been done before, providing it makes you think.
Now, I will tell you in a very few words exactly why you are defeated; why you are pecking out letters on an old typewriter, in an old dirty office, in a little town:
IT IS BECAUSE YOU DO NOT HAVE THE POWER TO REACH A DECISION!
All your life you have been forming the habit of dodging the responsibility of reaching decisions, until you have come, now, to where it is well-nigh impossible for you to do so. If you had told me that you wanted the course, or that you did not want it, I could have sympathized with you, because I would have known that lack of funds was what caused you to hesitate, but what did you say?
Why, you admitted you did not know whether you wanted it or not. If you will think over what I have said I am sure you will acknowledge that it has become a habit with you to dodge the responsibility of reaching clear-cut decisions on practically all matters that affect you."
The real estate man sat glued in his chair, with his
under jaw dropped, his eyes bulged in astonishment, but he made no attempt
to answer the biting indictment.
The salesman said good-bye and started for the door. After he had closed the door behind him he again opened it, walked back in, with a smile on his face, took his seat in front of the astonished real estate man, and explained his conduct in this way: "I do not blame you at all if you feel hurt at my remarks.