(An excerpt from If You Can Count to Four available on Amazon)

How To Get Started On Your Dream

It has been said by a wise old sage, that to get started on a journey is to be half way there. Of course, it is quite obvious that if one never gets started toward an objective, it is absolutely impossible to ever reach that objective. It is of vital importance, therefore, for one to learn how to get started on ones dream.

Before we pursue the matter of how to get started on one’s dream, let us review briefly some of the fundamentals which we have been considering.

What is the secret of genuine success? The secret is very simple.

All anyone has to do to enjoy a large measure of happiness, health and prosperity is to find a great human need, to find the answer to filling that need, burn all of his bridges behind him, and learn to take the answer to that need through a channel of service in quality and quantity.

It is very important also want to become aware of some of the very simple mental processes upon which success is based.

For instance, one must become aware that he is a thinking being.

The majority of the people of the world are unaware of this basic fact. Besides being aware that he is a thinking being, one must become aware that he thinks constantly and that he thinks only one thought at a time.

At times, it seems that one thinks more than one thought at a time because it is possible for us to switch our attention from one thing to another so rapidly that it seems like we’re thinking of three or four thoughts at a time, but basically, and this has been scientifically proved, one thinks only one thought at a time.

Next, it is important that one become keenly aware that he can control the one thought which he thinks at a time through will power.

He must be aware that nothing on the outside of himself has any power to control him unless he permits it. This establishes the seat of control within himself.

Next, it is important that he become keenly aware that he is, that everyone is what they are, because of the quality and the quantity of their past thoughts and experiences.

This basic truth is crystallized in the saying of wise old Solomon, “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.”

Now, if we are thinking being, if we think constantly, if we think only one thought at a time, if we can control our thoughts, if we are what we are because of what we have permitted ourselves to think throughout the entire past, then, in order to be anything we want to be and to have anything we want to have, we can exercise the privilege of control over our thoughts, and from this moment forward, direct all of our attention toward that which we want to be and have. It is obvious that the law of cause and effect will bring about the fulfillment of our dream.

It is important for us to choose our objectives or our goals.

Due to the peculiar nature of the mental processes, operating through the conscious mind and the subconscious mind, it is necessary to choose or definitize our thinking relative to an objective or a goal. Otherwise, thought concentration to the point of action toward our objective or goal is impossible. It is amazing to me that only 2 people out of 100, according to statistics, have made a definite decision relative to their goal in life.

In order for one to be happy, healthy and prosperous, one must have an objective.

If he does not, he will not be appropriating the great power within himself.

It is important that one develop self-confidence.

One must feel strongly that he is capable of doing the things which are necessary to reach his objective. The basic cause for a feeling of inferiority is that we’re making false comparisons constantly. We are inclined to compare ourselves with other people. There is really no basis for comparison between one person and another, because every person is an individual.

Everyone is especially and exclusively designed to do something well and possibly better than anyone else. Therefore, due to the fact that no two individuals are like or are designed for the same purpose, there is no intelligent basis for comparison of one individual with another.

• Realize that you are important.


• Realize that you are designed especially to do a great service to humanity and that you are different.


• Realize that you are exclusive.


• Realize that you have your own individuality.


• Become keenly aware of your individuality, and your great purpose, and then dedicate yourself to fulfilling that great purpose, and you will develop self-confidence.

In order to get started on our dream, we need to know the proper concept of money, which is the medium of exchange used in our economic world today.

Money is a symbol of service. Money is deferred service. Money isn’t affected, service is cause.

So, when we get into the habit of giving most of our attention to the effect or a symbol, which is money, then we do not have very much money. However, when we learn to render a quality and a quantity of service to humanity, which is cause, like planting in the field of life, we know that we are compensated in proportion to the quality and quantity of service rendered, not only in the realm of joy and living, but in the realm of the finances as well. We will then have the proper concept of money and money will not be a power over us but we will be the power over money.

There is a great law in this universe, the law of habit.

It is sometimes referred to as the law of cosmic habit force. It is a basic universal law, which maintains that when we have a thought experience or a physical experience, which occurs over and over and over, it becomes established, and soon we think the thought or do the act. Therefore, we can learn to think, automatically or habitually, the thoughts which will cause us to be successful and we can learn to do the things, automatically or habitually, which will cause us to be successful.

There is a way for every individual to obtain the missing ingredients he needs in order to reach his dream or objective. I refer to the Mastermind Principle.

Through this mastermind principle, which means the friendly alliance of two or more people working toward a common objective, one can obtain every necessary ingredient, the experience, the skill, the prestige, the time, the energy and even the money which is necessary to reach an objective.

Discovering this great principle and learning how to use it, will eliminate all need for an excuse for not reaching any objective in life.

Consider, too, the will power, which every individual possesses.

This will power is not the creative power within ourselves, but it is the power to direct our attention and to control our attention, at any time we choose, toward that which we desire to be or desire to have.

Once we used this will power for a brief period of time, controlling our attentions and our thought processes along constructive and desirable lines, the power of habit takes over and becomes established, and then we automatically do the things or say the things and think the things which make it possible for us to reach our objectives.

Another very important factor in getting started on your dream and having the dream fulfilled is to become thoroughly acquainted with the marvelous imagination which every individual possesses.

It is the instrument or the faculty to design and experience a new idea. Our ability to definitize a new idea, is like planting the seed of life in the soil of life. When we imagine and definitize an idea and plant it in the subconscious, the great law of sowing and reaping will cause the idea to grow and become a reality.

So, accept the challenge to constantly learn to use this wonderful ability to imagine. It is an ability which gives us the power to us so that we already are what we want to be and that we already have what we want to have. It is the power which makes all desires obtainable.

The habit of going the second mile is one of the most important principles of success.

It is unfortunate, but the majority of people in the world today are not in the habit of going the second mile. Going the second mile means rendering more service than that which is usually expected in any situation and rendering that extra service with a positive attitude. Every great individual in history discovered this principle and made it a habit. They always looked for an opportunity to do more than that which was usually expected and perform that extra service with a positive mental attitude. One of the finest ways in the world for you to realize your