SELF-CONFIDENCE 223which is perfectly appropriate. You could not make this creed your own
without developing the positive attitude that would attract people who
would aid you in your struggle for success.
This would be a splendid creed for every salesperson to adopt. It
might not hurt your chances for success if you adopted it. Mere adop-
tion, however, is not enough. You must practice it! Read it over and over
until you know it by heart. Then repeat it at least once a day until you
have literally transformed it into your mental makeup. Keep a copy of it
in front of you as a daily reminder of your pledge to practice it. By doing
so you will be making efficient use of the principle of autosuggestion
as a means of developing Self-Confidence. Never mind what anyone
may say about your procedure. Just remember that it is your business
to succeed, and this creed, if mastered and applied, will go a long way
toward helping you.
You learned in Lesson Two that any idea you firmly fix in your
subconscious mind, by repeated affirmation, automatically becomes a
plan or blueprint that an unseen power uses in directing your efforts
toward the attainment of the objective named in the plan.
You have also learned that the principle through which you may
fix in your mind any idea you choose is called autosuggestion, which
simply means a suggestion that you give to your own mind. It was this
principle of autosuggestion that Emerson had in mind when he wrote:
"Nothing can bring you peace but yourself!"
Similarly, you might well remember that nothing can bring you
success but yourself. Of course, you will need the Cooperation of others
if your aim is success of a far-reaching nature, but you will never get
that Cooperation without the positive attitude of Self-Confidence.
Perhaps you have wondered why a few will advance to highly paid
positions while others all around them, who have as much training and
who seemingly perform as much work, do not get ahead. Select any two
people of these two types, and study them, and the reason why one
advances and the other stands still will be quite obvious to you. You