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In Lesson One, You Will Learn:In the introduction, we told you that taking this course might be a turning point in your life. You may think that such moments cannot happen, or that they only happen to other people in other countries. Yet they do happen, all the time. You may think that years of education or therapy or training or meditation are necessary to achieve real change. But how long does it take to go from being sad to being happy? In the right situation it can happen in a split second. You are angry about a situation at work or home and you unexpectedly see someone you love and the anger disappears and you are filled with happiness. You are depressed and you receive good news and all of a sudden you can barely remember why you had been so down. Or it can go the other way. You are happy and then someone cuts you off in traffic and suddenly you are upset. Your mind changes constantly. It is highly adaptive. Simple changes in the way that you think can make the difference between fulfillment and misery. We’ve all seen people who have everything we think is necessary for success and yet seemed to be depressed. Then we’ve seen others who, we would think, have every reason to be unhappy and yet seem to be joyous and full of life. What is the difference between those who can never find reasons for happiness and those who almost never see a reason for sadness? The difference is in how and what they think. The Russian author Anton Chekov wrote, "Man is what he believes." If you can learn the principles and strategies of successful men and women, you can use their methods to achieve whatever you desire.
The key is to take control of your own mind. You are about to learn about the tremendous power of self-control and self-reliance. These are inner resources, which you already possess, which you have always possessed. You may not have realized that you have these abilities. You may not have used them or you may have underutilized them. This is all about to change. After taking the actions recommended in this course and following the Action Principles, get ready to hear yourself described as outstanding, extraordinary and respected as well as tough, kind and rich. Get ready for peace and prosperity. Get ready to live a life of conviction and purpose. The Scottish essayist Thomas Carlyle wrote, "Have a purpose in life, and throw yourself into your work with all the strength of mind and muscle as God has given." Life is your game to win. Life should be about growth and your willingness to keep learning and to keep helping others. What are you prepared to give, to sacrifice, to endure? Are you ready? Dr. Abraham Maslow, one of the founders of humanistic psychology, wrote, "If you plan on being anything less than you are capable of being, you will probably be unhappy all the days of your life." The American philosopher and writer, Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, "Our chief want in life is somebody who will make us do what we can." Make up your mind to do what you can as you encourage others to do the same. This means to be a person of action. The Indian mystic Patanjali, who lived several hundred years before Christ, and who first recognized the power in the practice of meditation, said, "When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bonds; your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction, and you find yourself in a new, great and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive, and you discover yourself to be a greater person by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be."
As you prosper and travel the world, you will discovery that people everywhere are just like you. In every country and in every culture, you will find that 90% of the people want their government and their economies to afford them the opportunities to enjoy a peaceful and prosperous lives. They want to be happy. They want better lives for their children. On the extremes, you will find 5% of the population to be extraordinarily selfless, kind and generous and you will find the remaining 5% to be extraordinarily lazy, greedy and a few dangerous. How fast can this positive change begin to happen? It’s in less time than it has taken you to read this lesson. You may find it hard to believe that change can happen that quickly. But it does. In the blink of an eye a cigarette smoker can become a non-smoker. A pessimist can become a can-do optimist. In a second a lazy person can become a hard worker. A coward can become courageous. How does it happen? That is what you will learn in the lessons that follow. Unlike most courses that you just sit back and read, this course is part of a system. The system is meant to be understood and acted upon. This is life’s journey. Don’t anticipate being happy in ten years. Be happy right now. Pope John Paul II said, "The future starts today, not tomorrow." Right now, you can choose to become fitness oriented, hard working and kind to others. Right now, you can define success based on your own values and beliefs. Make the choice. You don’t need anyone’s permission. Peace and prosperity await your choice. In a study of lottery winners in the United States, the positive impact of being rich wore off in about a year and a half. In 18 months, the winners reverted back to their true personalities. If they were happy people before the big win, they were happy 18 months later. If they were whining and miserable negative types before the big win, they tended back toward being whining and miserable. "Everybody’s after me for my money." "The taxes are killing me." Can you guess what happened to the mental states of people who were paralyzed as the result of horrific accidents? Yes, in 18 months, if they were miserable before the accident, they stayed miserable or worse. But, if they were positive happy minded people before the accident, they started to cope with their disability and start to find ways to be happy again. The moral is that the secret to true human happiness lies within us and cannot be permanently enhanced by money or destroyed by fate. Your life is a test and you will not be judged by the material possessions you accumulate. You will be judged to the extent to which you have work toward your individual potential and you will be judged on your commitment to helping others. The greater your material success, the greater your obligation to help others. John Wooden, the famous basketball coach, advises us "Don’t measure yourself by what you have accomplished, but by what you should have accomplished with your ability." In Lesson Two, you’ll find a list of qualities characteristic of humankind’s most successful people. These are universal characteristics that you can copy wherever you live. As you begin to identify and develop these characteristics for yourself, you will grow increasingly enthusiastic and energized as incredible personal opportunities emerge. You will begin to see new ways to make real changes in your life. The Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw pointed out, "Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything." Quite possibly these changes are greater and more exciting than any you have ever made. How much change is possible? How much success is possible? Oprah Winfrey, American TV star and one of country’s richest woman, has said, "What God has intended for you goes far beyond anything you can imagine." To find out what is possible you need only look at history. You only have to read the quotes sprinkled throughout these lessons. If you like these motivational sayings, go to the AP store on this site and order one of our pocket sized quotebooks. Successful living is not a new concept. There have always been successful people in every age and from every country — from your country! There have always been people of influence and fortune. Every page of world history shows us men and women who made decisions to lead extraordinary lives and become generals, politicians, explorers, composers, builders, inventors and merchants. The style, attitude and habits that these people used to succeed are exactly the same that you can use. If someone else has done it before then you know that it can be done again. Why not by you? Two hundred and fifty years ago, the French Writer Voltaire wrote, "Each player must accept the cards life deals to him or her. But once they are in hand, he or she alone must decide how to play the cards in order to win the game." George Washington was not a character in a novel. He existed. He was a general and the first President of the United States. He took action and helped found a great democracy. Some might say that is in the past and that those sort of things don’t happen anymore. They are wrong! Right now there are men and women from around the world doing things that will change the world. These are things that will bring them more wealth than has ever been possible in the history of mankind. They will help bring peace and happiness to mankind. They represent every race, every creed, every age and every country. Some are born to poverty and others to privilege. Some live in perfect health while others by birth or accident are physically challenged. Some emerge from supportive, loving environments while others have had to fend for themselves. All have decided to live their lives as tough, compassionate people of action. On the journey to peace and prosperity, they have committed themselves to self-improvement and service to others. This is the good life. Theirs will be proud, meaningful lives. This can be your life. If you have had an easy life and have had everything handed to you and seen everything always go your way, you are at a disadvantage. You may have to be diligent in your efforts to overcome the well meaning pampering of your parents and teachers. Your spirit may be soft. Your ability to fully appreciate the small joys and victories of daily life may have been taken from you. If you have had to work hard and struggle and put up with a few unpleasant things, you may be better prepared to meet the challenges and enjoy the blessings ahead. The cadets at United States Military Academy at West Point are motivated by the following maxim which is good advice for anyone willing to work for success, "Risk more than others think is safe. Care more than others think is wise. Dream more than others think is practical. Expect more than others think is possible."
It is possible that you, the person reading this sentence right now, could be one of the people who will take advantage of these incredible international opportunities and help build a better life and a better world. You can make the choice to pledge allegiance to action. You can be happy. You can be content that you have done your best. Too many people look at where they are and imagine that this is where they must always be. They feel somehow trapped by the status quo. They look at the people who have what they want and think that those people were somehow lucky or blessed. This overlooks all of the things that people have overcome to be where they are. If you look at the rich you may admire all the exterior trappings of their wealth. You cannot see the rocky path they may have walked to arrive at financial success. If you could look inside their hearts and minds, you might be surprised to find the many obstacles they have overcome. Perhaps there were obstacles far greater than you face. You might also be surprised to discover that despite all they overcame they succeeded using simple, practical principles. Remember that it’s not where you start that counts but the joys you experience along the path. Over the next few weeks as you read and think about what you have read, you will learn these same simple, practical principles. You will learn by doing as you complete the assignments at the end of each chapter. You may still be thinking ‘Yes, I know all that but you don’t understand. I have really serious problems. I just can’t do it.’ The American actress Mary Tyler Moore has said, "You can’t be brave if you’ve only had wonderful things happen to you." If you say that you can’t do it, the world will believe you. If you say that you can do it, the world will await the proof. You may feel you are too shy to do it. In 1965 Jim Morrison and Ray Manzarek were trying to get their new band, The Doors, started by playing in small clubs around Los Angeles, California. There were just two problems — the audiences hated them and Morrison couldn’t face the audience. It was much more than being nervous or reluctant to go onstage. He literally could not face the audience while he was performing. He would sing while facing the blank wall at the back of the stage giving the audience a clear view of the back of his head! To avoid this embarrassing scene, Ray would do most of the singing. Yet, Ray knew that it was Morrison who was blessed with the extraordinary singing talent. It was Morrison’s voice that could turn around the hostility of the crowds. Ray was certain that if he kept pestering Morrison to connect and keep practicing that they would eventually find their audience and success. When Ray and Jim met in 1964, Morrison had never sung in a band. Morrison did listen to Ray. He did keep practicing. By taking action, night after night and exercising little bits of courage, he was able slowly to overcome his fear and became an incredible stage performer able to bring stadiums full of cheering people to their feet. You may feel you are not educated enough to do it. Winston Churchill, the English Prime Mister, graduated last in his college class. Les Brown, the African-American motivational speaker, was labeled "educable mentally retarded" in grade school. Muriel Seibert was the first woman to make one billion dollars and she only had a high school diploma. Richard Branson, the British founder of Virgin Airlines, with a net worth estimated at $1.9 billion, dropped out of high school. Stephen Spielberg, the American director, was an unknown C student in high school. Thomas Edison, the American inventor, had only three months of formal education. Sean Connery, the Scottish actor, quit school at age 13 with a sixth grade education. One of his early jobs was polishing coffins. His first acting coach told him that he needed more schooling. That day, he picked up a book and started reading and has never stopped. What separated these people from the crowd were not credentials from exclusive schools or rich parents or knowing the right people but rather a commitment to setting goals and then taking decisive action every day to achieve them. Study and keep studying. Read a book that leads to the next book. Ask a question that leads to the next question. Find teachers and mentors. Again, ultimately, all education is self-education. Start today. Never stop. Over two thousands years ago, the Roman Poet, Horace, observed, "Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents, which, in prosperous circumstances, would have lain dormant." You may feel you are not healthy enough to do it. Glenn Cunningham’s legs were burned so badly that he was told that he would never walk again. He won an Olympic gold medal in track. Max Cleland stepped on a mine in Vietnam and lost an arm and two legs. He went on to become the youngest person to administer the U.S. Veterans Administration and was the first Vietnam veteran to head the agency. He is now a United States Senator. Eddie Timanus lost his eyesight to retinoblastoma tumors at age 2. He became a sports reporter for USA Today and a champion on the American TV quiz show Jeopardy. Robert Kerrey received massive permanent injuries while completing his mission and saving the lives of the Navy Seal team under his command in Vietnam. Lt. Kerrey was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. He is now a United States Senator. As a child, Wilma Rudolph caught pneumonia and scarlet fever leaving her with a crippled left leg. She later won three Olympic gold medals in track for the United States. Helen Keller was blind and deaf. She became a teacher, a writer and an inspiration to millions. Jackie Joyner-Kersee came from an impoverished background. Her family life was traumatic. Her mother died. She had asthma. Yet she has won seven Olympic medals for the United States. Heather Whitestone is deaf and yet became the 1995 Miss America. Professional quarterbacks complete only 60% of their passes. Basketball players hit only 50% of their shots. Baseball players only hit 25% of the time. Perhaps you feel that circumstances are against you. Country superstar Shania Twain grew up poor. At 22, her parents were killed in a car crash. Her first CD bombed. Her second sold 9 million copies. Nelson Mandela spent 30 years in prison before becoming the president of South Africa. Tommy Hilfiger, the American designer, started his business by selling jeans from the trunk of his car. In 1962, Decca Records wouldn’t give the Beatles a recording contract. Twenty-three publishers rejected Theodore Geisel, "Dr. Seuss," before his first book was accepted. Tom Clancy worked for many years as a low level U.S. defense analyst before becoming a mega-selling author. Ruth Fertel had two small boys and a low paying job when her husband left. She mortgaged her house to start a small restaurant. Her chain of Ruth’s Chris Steak Houses is now nationally respected in the United States. Ray Kroc was fifty-two when he bought the McDonald brothers’ hamburger stand and Colonel Sanders began his worldwide chain of restaurants when he was in his mid-sixties. In 1945, just seven weeks after the end of World War Two, Masaru Ibuka and seven employees rented a small section of a bombed-out department store and set up the headquarters of the Tokyo Telecommunications Research Institute in the shattered ruins of the city’s old shopping district. They had no heat and the employees had to scavenge for food. The company’s first consumer product was an electrically heated cushion that was a fire hazard. Their first successful consumer product was a phonograph player. There were terrible shortages of basic materials and the engineers had to salvage the steel needed from the structural reinforcements of demolished buildings. Starting from a bombed out building in the rubble of postwar Tokyo Masaru Ibuka persisted in the face of failed products, shortages of materials, foot-dragging government bureaucrats, skeptical American partners and wary American consumers and in just twelve years revolutionized — indeed practically created — the field of consumer microelectronics. You know his company as Sony Electronics. Ibuka epitomized the spirit of the Action Principles. He was persistent. Despite numerous false starts he remained fully committed to his dream of creating consumer products. He was totally committed to serving the customer. When others chose the easy money and safety of government contracts he pursued the consumer market by coming to the United States and personally studying American consumer needs. He was committed to constant and never-ending improvement and the highest standards of quality. He wrote a mission statement and then acted to carry it out each and every day.
You can tell yourself all that now. And it might provide some small comfort, for the time being. But how will you feel in ten years when you look around and many of the people you know who made a different decision, who did take action and who did take control of their futures are now reaping the rewards while you remain forever the same. Maybe you’ll be a little bit better off, making a few thousand more dollars a year or perhaps with a few more possessions. But not where you wish you could be. You won’t be where you could have been. Not who you might have been. Even now you can look back at those actions not taken, those things not said, those dreams abandoned and feel the pain of loss. There is the pain of knowing what you gave up, the pain of knowing that giving up was a choice and that you are responsible for that choice. If that is bad, why willingly subject yourself to another year of inaction? After another two years? After ten? Think of ten years of shattered dreams, or ten years of missed opportunities. What price are you paying today for decisions that you made in the past? Mark Twain, the American author, echoed this sentiment in saying, "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream." As you read this book and take the recommended actions, you will find yourself at a crossroads in your life. Which path will you take? Will it be action or inaction? If you finish reading the book, there is little doubt that you will make the correct initial choice. Everyone has 24/7, no more no less. You have the same amount of time to do with your life as Henry Ford, Shakespeare and Mother Teresa. A Cuban proverb reinforces this point, "When the sun rises, it rises for everyone." Research, meditation, decision and action are the keys to success. Dr. Viktor Frankl, the Austrian psychiatrist who survived the Nazi death camps, saw a lot before he said, "Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: to choose one’s own way." You can choose to master success. Study pastry baking, on-line trading, portrait painting, home building, family counseling, fashion designing, muscle building, plotting the stars, sailing your charter boat or anything else that excites you. Become the master: study, practice and teach. The master is content and smiles because she is doing what she wants to do. She is improving herself and helping others. Right now and forever. So start now. Make a promise to yourself to finish this level and complete the Action Challenges. Think about the ideas and principles as you map a glorious life for yourself. It is and always was and always will be your choice. Only 10% of Americans read one book a year. Fewer read for self-improvement. A small fraction act. Make yourself part of this elite group of book readers and forever reap the benefits. How have others succeeded? Self-education through reading is an excellent start. Two thousand years ago, the Roman statesman Seneca said, "As long as you live, keep learning how to live." These words survived through two millennia for a very simple reason. They represent the simple truth. Power comes in the moment of decision. In this moment, make that decision. Decide that your life is too important to leave to chance. Decide that you want to be the best you that you can be. Right this instant make the switch from passivity to power. You do have what it takes — if — if — you believe in yourself. Helen Keller was deaf and blind and yet had wonderful insights into life, find inspiration in her reflection, "There is no king who has not has a slave among his ancestors, and no slave who has not had a king among his."
Go to Lesson 2
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