Kahlil Gibran - The Prosperity & Wealth Bible

Ruts Ruts One of the important lessons of this life is to learn to keep out of Ruts. Everyone is bound to strike them at times. But they should be gotten out of — immediately. For to stay in a Rut is to stick still — and stagnate, while others pass you and forget you. Keep your eyes Open and your Mind Awake. Watch out for the Imitation Rut — the Rut that takes you away from your own Work and your own Ideas and makes a Duplicate out of you instead of an Original. Creators stand in a class by themselves. Pay tribute to the Head cm your own shoulders. Get the habit of Initiation. Keep your Eyes Open and your Mind Awake. Think. Get together new Ideas. Welcome them. Read. Profit from the Minds of past ages. Compare them with the advancing Thought and Experiences of your own age. Delve into the Mysteries. Seek out the Truths they hold. Learn SOMETHING new each day — and you will be ready armed against getting into Ruts. Keep your Eyes Open and your Mind Awake. Vary your Work each day as greatly as possible. Think out new ways of doing old Tasks. The Brain acts spryest when it is most interested. Love your Work. If you don’t, find Work that you do. Keep your Eyes Open and your Mind Awake. And be kind to your own human Machine. Give it Rest. Occasionally dip away into new Surroundings, see new Faces, mid meet new Scenes. Find delight among those who Do and Dare. Lock arms with the Smilers — pass by the Frowners. Now, read this little talk over again — resolving that you will from this time on stay out of the Rut business.

Together Together For the sake of this little Talk, let us suppose that the one word Together is derived from the three words — TO GET THERE. It is quite possible, anyway. For when people get themselves Together, or you collect all your individual forces Together, the thing aimed at usually happens. TO GET THERE is to get Together. Analyze a Human Failure. Here is what you learn. He is all apart — all unhitched. His Brain is without organization. Most of his fine sensibilities are stunned or dead. His Will isn’t Landlord any more. It’s just a Boarder — and half-starved at that. His original farce of Executives and assistants — once alert and healthy and willing — have all gone out into the yard to Doze. Confusion and Ruin is everywhere. Chaos reigns. What is the Remedy? This — TO GET THERE is to get Together. It’s marvelous the change that comes about when a man gets Together all his Forces and centers them upon the doing of ONE thing at a time. The Together idea is the progressive idea. “Where there is a Will, there is a Way.’’ But the Will is of no use without the Plan back of the Will. Plan, Will — Way. All Together and things are accomplished. TO GET THERE is to get Together. When you begin to Divide your interests or to Distribute your forces, you begin to lose your Grip. As you draw all your Forces Together, you increase your Power. Big things are done on the Together plan. Bird shot will kill small game but it takes the angle Rifle balls to bring down the big game. TO GET THERE is to get Together. Weigh and consider this thought as you face your work each day. Give it an honor place as a working rale. Get Together. Then stick Together.

Win Win The very first commandment in the decalogue of Winning is to — Keep your Chin up! Get busy at the first job that you run into or that runs into you. Tackle it “on all fours,” if necessary. Center your whole enthusiasm in it. Study its every detail. Drive your very Heart interest into it. But don’t forget to — Keep your Chin up. People who look down never get much of an idea of the sky where the Stars are set. And the fellow who doesn’t hitch at least one or two of his wagons to a Star never gets very high up. Get your eyes off the ground. Look ahead. Keep your Chin up. For, after all, Winning is a thing within — then out. No other man will or can Win for you. No other man in all the world, no matter how exalted, has the ability and power that is concentrated in you, waiting for some match of Action to touch it off. Also, your Success can be as the Success of no other man. But you alone must find the Thing and DO the Work. It’s great fun, too, if you — Keep your Chin up. It is easier to Win than to Fail. Everybody sides with the Winner. But the Failure walks alone. Keep your Chin up. Remembering that to Win is to do your work well — to-day. The thing delayed or put off is the thing undone. Start right now. Straighten your shoulders. Set your eyes ahead. Clench your fist — close your jaw, and — Keep your Chin up. And you will WIN!

Time Time The reason I beat the Austrians is, they didn’t know the value, of five minutes. Napoleon . Learn to use your Time. For if you don’t it passes on, never to return — coldly mindless of your sorrow and your regret. As steadily, silently and smoothly as does this aged Earth move in its path, so does Time move on. It never stops to tie its shoestrings. It never waits. Time is Effort, harnessed and worked to a full day’s portion. Time has no Business, boasts no monied Millions, hires no fast-legged Errand Boys, houses no Clerks, thinks no Problems, rules no States. Time IS Business, Money, the Errand Boy, the Clerk, the Problem, the State! Time is but the man in the job put to action and to work. And Time used to profit To-day will accumulate Power for you To-morrow just as sure as Time goes on. Meditate not on Trifles. Attempt big things. Remembering that — This day will never dawn again! And yet, mighty as Time is, priceless in comparison to all else in the world, Time is the freest thing in existence. Perhaps that is why so many fail to grasp it with earnestness and with enthusiasm? Perhaps that is why so few realize its presence and let it pass on? Think! No matter what your work to-day, if it is worthwhile at all — Time to plan it out, Time to do it well, and Time to finish it, is your day’s greatest gift and your greatest job. Learn to use your Time.

Success Success In Success, defeat is but an incident. Obstacles, stumbling blocks, disappointment in ideals — these things weave into and form the Raiment to Success. For Success is a series of failures — put to flight. Learn to walk past Failure. A few years ago a young man stood behind a New England counter as a Clerk. Quiet, honest, faithful, yet a Failure in the eyes of his Employer, who one day drew aside the father of the boy and advised that the son be taken back to the farm for he never would become a Merchant. To-day if you will but walk down State Street, Chicago, you will behold this young man’s monument — a tribute to the failures, disappointments and iron persistence of Marshall Field, who died the greatest Merchant in the World. Learn to walk past Failure. But Success isn’t measured in tangible assets. Lincoln left next to nothing in money standards. His Success, though, is the marvel and inspiration of the Ages. Learn to walk past Failure. Success is largely a matter of personal Viewpoint. It is impossible for you to fail permanently if you determine to Succeed. Let each new day of your life then, take invoice of its own self. Let it chalk up the Failures with the Successes — let it mark plainly the Record. But inside of your own consciousness let nothing take from the image of your mind, the Knowledge that real Success consists wholly in sacrificing temporarily in repeated failures that you may win permanently in worthwhile Deeds done. Learn to walk past Failure.