Oh my name is W Clement stone a general manager of the Napoleon Hill associates it is my privilege to introduce you to Napoleon Hill how do you do I'm very happy to have this personal visit with you won't you be seated please and now may I request that you forget all your problems and just relax while I bring you the master key with which you may unlock the door to any opportunity that your mind can conceive the master key consists of 17 principles the first of which is definiteness of purpose right here at the beginning of our visit I'm going to make you a promise if you will decide definitely what you want most during your entire lifetime and write it down on paper so that I can read I will give you the master key with which you may open the door to the attainment of your desires whatever they may be the exact moment when I will deliver this master key to you we will depend entirely upon when you are ready to receive it this is the first of 13 messages that I will deliver to you in each message I will describe the master key in terms that you will understand if you are ready to understand and now I shall give you the first two as to the nature of the great master key which has been responsible for all the great successes in every calling in every part of the world please listen carefully to what I have to say because you may discover the secret of the master key in this first visit you may get your first cue as to the nature of the great master key when I tell you that psychologists have discovered a natural law which is the very foundation of all personal successes and I can describe it to you in one short sentence so you can understand it whatever the mind can conceive and believe that mind can cheese isn't that a profound statement you'll notice that it says nothing about the need for education but simply that's whatever your mind can conceive and believe your mind can achieve now if you want evidence that the mind can achieve whatever the mind can conceive without the benefit of formal education you only have to remember that Thomas a Edison conceived the idea of becoming an inventor and lived to become the world's greatest scientists in the field of invention but only three months of common school education when I first heard Andrew Carnegie described this natural law which makes it possible for you and I and everyone else to write his own price tag in life and retain it I became so enthused over it that I began to search for the power back of it and my curiosity let me finally to the discovery of the master key which I shall reveal to you if you are ready to receive it my search led me to the study of the spiritual forces with which all of us are blessed and it was in this field that I came upon a clue which is enable me to help millions of people to find their perfectly destinies I want to describe my discovery in the simplest terms possible because it will reveal to you why it is true that's whatever the mind can conceive and believe the mind can achieve regardless of how many times you may have failed in the past or how lofty or aims and hopes may be I caught my first fleeting glimpse of the profound law which provides the means but which we may choose our own purpose in life and attain it while I was being coached by Andrew Carnegie during the organization of the science of success philosophy I had just finished telling mr. Carnegie that I feared he had chosen the wrong person to give the world the first practical philosophy of personal success because of my youth my lack of education and my lack of finesse well at this point mr. Carnegie delivered a lecture that I shall never forget because it changed my entire life and paved the way for my helping to change the lives of millions of people some of them not yet born let me call your attention to a great power which is under your control set mr. Carnegie a power which is greater than poverty greater than the lack of education greater than all of your fears and superstitions combined it is the power to take the station of your own mind and direct it to whatever ends you may desire this profound power mr. Carnegie continued is the gift of the Creator and it must have been considered the greatest of all of his gifts to men because it is the only thing over which man has the complete and unchallengeable right of control and direction when you speak of your poverty and lack of education mr. Carnegie explain you are simply directing your mind power to attract these undesirable circumstances because it is true that whatever your mind feeds upon your mind attracts to you now you see why it is important that you recognize that all success begins with definiteness of purpose with a clear picture in your mind of precisely what you want from life then mr. Carnegie continued his speech with a description of a great universal truth which made such an impact upon my mind that I began then there to give myself a new outlook on life and I set up for myself a goal so far above my previous achievements that it shocked my friends and relatives when they heard about it everyone said mr. Carnegie comes to the earth plane blessed with the privilege of controlling his mind power and directing it to whatever ends he may choose but he continued everyone brings over with him at Birth the equivalent of two sealed envelopes one of which is clearly labeled the riches you may enjoy if you take possession of your own mind and directed to ends of your own choice and the other is labeled the penalties you must be if you would neglect to take possession of your mind and direct it and now it be revealed you said mr. Carnegie the contents of those two sealed envelopes in the one labeled riches is this list of blessings one Sound health - peace of mind three a labor of love of your own choice for freedom from fear and worry 5 a positive mental attitude 6 material riches of your own choice and quantity in the sealed envelope labeled penalties mr. Carnegie continued is this list of the prices one must pay for neglecting to take possession of his own mind one ill-health to fear and worry 3 indecision and doubt for frustration and discouragement throughout life 5 poverty and want 6 and the whole flock of evils consisting of in the greed jealousy anger hatred and superstition now my mission in life is to help you and everyone who needs my help to open up and use the contents of the sealed envelope label riches and the starting point from which you must take off if you wish to write your own ticket from here on out for the remainder of your lives I will describe for you in these simple instructions 1 procure a neat pocket size a notebook or something on the order of this one here loose-leaf affair and on page 1 write down a clear description of your major are in life the ones circumstance or a position or thing which you will be willing to accept as your idea of success and remember before you begin writing that your only limitations are those which you set up in your online or from your others to set up for you and to on page 2 of your notebook write down a clear statement of precisely what you intend to give in return for that which you desire from life and then start in right where you stand now to begin giving and 3 memorize both of your statements what you desire and what you intend to give in return for it and to repeat them at least a dozen times daily and always and your statements with this expression of gratitude for the blessings with which you were gifted at birth I ask not for divine providence for more riches but more wisdom with which to accept and use wisely the riches I received at birth in the form of the power to control and direct my mind whatever inside desire if you are not too successful or self-satisfied to accept and Express this profound prayer if you accept it and express it in the same spirit of humble sincerity in which I pass it on to you a new and the better world will reveal itself to you a world in which you will see reflected the circumstances and the things which you yourself have created in my next visit I will give you a description of the second principle of success through the application of which you may make use of the education and experience of other people and get the necessary help you may need in attaining your definite major purpose in life and now let me close this our first visit to my favorite expression of gratitude Oh divine providence I ask not for more riches but more wisdom with which to make wiser use of the riches you gave your bird consisting in the power to control and direct my own mind to whatever ends I desire