Self Help

THE person who sows a single beautiful thought in the mind of another, renders the world a greater service than that rendered by all the faultfinders combined.

"The law of Nature is, Do the thing and you shall have the power; but they who do not the thing have not the power."

"Men suffer all their life long, under the foolish superstition that they can be cheated. But it is as impossible for a man to be cheated by anyone but himself, as for a thing to be, and not to be, at the same time. There is a third silent party to all our bargains. The nature and soul of things takes on itself the guaranty of fulfillment of every contract, so that honest service cannot come to loss."

Before you begin the experiment that you have been requested to undertake, read Emerson's essay on Compensation, for it will go a very long way toward helping you to understand why you are making the experiment.

Perhaps you have read Compensation before. Read it again!

One of the strange phenomena that you will observe about this essay may be found in the fact that every time you read it you will discover new truths that you did not notice during previous readings.

A few years ago I was invited to deliver the graduation address before the students of an eastern college. During my address I dwelt at length, and with all the emphasis at my command, on the importance of rendering more service and better service than that for which one is paid.

After the address was delivered, the president and the secretary of the college invited me to luncheon. While we were eating, the secretary turned to the president and said: "I have just found out what this man is doing. He is putting himself ahead in the world by first helping others to get ahead."

In that brief statement he had epitomized the most important part of my philosophy on the subject of success. It is literally true that you can succeed best and quickest by helping others to succeed.

Some ten years ago, when I was engaged in the advertising business, I built my entire clientele by the application of the fundamentals upon which this lesson is founded. By having my name placed on the follow-up lists of various mail order houses I received their sales literature.

When I received a sales letter or a booklet or a folder, which I believed I could improve I went right to work on it and made the improvement, then sent it back to the firm that had sent it to me, with a letter stating that this was but a trifling sample of what I could do - that there were plenty of other good ideas where that one came from - and, that I would be glad to render regular service for a monthly fee.