Self- Confidence, The Lead Into "Power-House"

Down in Louisville, Kentucky, USA lives Mr. Lee Cook, a man who has practically no legs and has to wheel himself around on a cart. In spite of the fact that Mr. Cook has been without legs since birth, he is the owner of a great industry and a millionaire through his own efforts. He has proved that a man can get along very well without legs if he has a well developed Self-confidence. In many cities one may see a strong able- bodied and able- headed young man, legs, walking down Fifth Avenue every afternoon, begging for a living. His head is perhaps as sound and as able to think as the average. This young man could duplicate anything that Mr. Cook, of Louisville, has done, if he thought of himself as Mr. Cook thinks of himself. 

Henry Ford owns more millions of dollars than he will ever need or use. Net worth: $188.1 billion (based on February 2008 data from Forbes). Not so many years before he started his company, he was working as a laborer in a machine shop, with but little schooling and without capital. Scores of other men, some of them with better organized brains than his, worked near him. Ford threw off the poverty consciousness, developed confidence in himself,
thought of success and attained it. Those who worked around him could have done as well had they thought as he did.

Milo C. Jones, of Wisconsin, was stricken down with paralysis a few years ago. So bad was the stroke that he could not turn himself in bed or move a muscle of his body. His physical body was useless, but there was nothing wrong with his brain, so it began to
function in earnest, probably for the first time in its existence. Lying flat on his back in bed, Mr. Jones made that brain create a definite purpose. That purpose was prosaic and humble enough in nature, but it was definite and it was a purpose, something that he had never known before. His definite purpose was to make Pork Sausage.
Calling his family around him he told of his plans and began directing them in carrying the plans into action. With nothing to aid him except a sound mind and plenty of Self-confidence, Milo C. Jones spread the name and reputation of "Little Pig Sausage" all over the United States, and accumulated a fortun6e besides. All this was accomplished after paralysis had made it impossible for him to work with his hands.

Where thought prevails power may be found!

Henry Ford had made millions of dollars and is still making millions of dollars each year even after death, because he believed in Henry Ford and transformed that belief into a definite purpose and backed that purpose with a definite plan. The other machinists who worked along with Ford, during the early days of his career, visioned nothing but a weekly pay envelope and that was all they ever got. They demanded nothing out of the ordinary of themselves. If you want to get more be sure to demand more of yourself. Notice that this demand is to be made on yourself!

There comes to mind a well-known poem whose
author expressed a great psychological truth:

If you think you are beaten, you are;
If you think you dare not, you don't;
If you like to win, but you think you can't,
It is almost certain you won't.
If you think you'll lose you've lost,
For out of the world we find
Success begins with a fellow's will –
It's all in the state of mind.
If you think you are outclassed, you are -
You've got to think high to rise.
You've got to be sure of yourself before
You can ever win a prize.
Life's battles don't always go
To the stronger or faster man;
But soon or late the man who wins
Is the man who thinks he can.

Somewhere in your make-up there is a "subtle something" which, if it were aroused by the proper outside influence, would carry you to heights of achievement such as you have never before anticipated. Just as a master player can take hold of a violin and cause that instrument to pour forth the most beautiful and entrancing strains of music, so is there some outside influence that can lay hold of your mind and cause you to go forth into the field of your chosen endeavour and play a glorious symphony of success. No man knows what hidden forces lie dormant within you. You, yourself, do not know your capacity for achievement, and you never will know until you come in contact with that particular stimulus which arouses you to greater action and extends your vision, develops your Self-confidence and moves you with a deeper desire to achieve. 

I make bold to say ‘You have within you all the power you need with which to get whatever you want or need in this world, and about the best way to avail yourself of this power is to believe in yourself.’

"Know thyself, man; know thyself."

Napoleon Hill Is Instrumental To This Article, The Law Of Success In Sixteen Lessons, Pages 53-56.