| "THE MAJORITY OF PERSONS who fail begin by doubting their ability to do the things they attempt. The moment a young man starting out on a career admits doubt into his mind, he is letting an enemy into his camp, a spy who will betray him.
Doubt belongs to the failure family, and once admitted and not expelled will introduce “Mr. Take-It-Easy,” “Mr. Let-Up-A-Little,” “Mr. Let-Go-When-It-Gets-Hard,” “Mr. Wait,” and other members of the failure family.
When these once get into the mind, they attract other qualities like themselves, and there is an end of ambition. Your longing for prosperity and yearning for achievement will all be vain while you are entertaining the idlers, the losers, the failures. They will exhaust your energy, destroy your power for attracting success. Failure will soon be in the ascendancy in your mind and in your actions.
The moment you admit weakness, the moment you confess defeat, your are gone. There is no hope for a man who has lost his stamina, who has given up the struggle,’; you can’t do anything for him.
If there is anything despicable in the world, it is a human being who has lain down, who has given up, who says “I can’t,” “It’s no use,” “The world’s against me,” “I am down on my luck.”
To hold perpetually the thought that you are down, that you cannot rise, that success is for others, but not for you, is to adjust yourself to your thought, and to make any other condition impossible.
How can you expect to be lucky when you are always talking about your ill luck? People who do great things are powerful in their affirmations. They have tremendous positive ability; they do not know the meaning of negatives. Their power of assertion and their conviction of ability to do are so strong that the opposites do not trouble them.
When they make up their mind to do a thing, they take it for granted that they can do it. They are not filled with doubts and fears, no matter how people may scoff."
- Orison Swett Marden |