242 THE PRINCIPLES OF SELF-MASTERY
His remark fell on fertile ears. It was the first time that anyone
outside my family had ever told me that I was bright, or that I might
accomplish anything worthwhile in life. It started me thinking, and
the more I allowed my mind to dwell on those thoughts, the more
certain I became that the remark had behind it a possibility.
It might be truthfully stated that whatever service I am rendering
the world and whatever good I accomplish should be credited to that
offhand remark.
Suggestions such as this are often powerful, and none the less so
when they are both deliberate and self-expressed. Go back now to the
Self-Confidence formula and master it, for it will lead you into the
"powerhouse" of your own mind, where you will tap a force that can be
made to carry you to the very top of the ladder of success.
Others will believe in you only when you believe in yourself They
will "tune in" on your thoughts and feel toward you just as you feel
toward yourself The law of mental telepathy takes care of this. You
are continuously broadcasting what you think of yourself, and if you
have no faith in yourself, others will pick up the vibrations of your
thoughts and mistake them for their own. Once you understand the
law of mental telepathy, you will know why Self-Confidence is the
third of the seventeen laws of success.
You should be cautioned, however, to learn the difference between
Self-Confidence, which is based on sound knowledge of what you know
and what you can do, and egotism, which is based only on what you wish
you knew or could do. Learn the difference between these two terms or
you will make yourself boring, ridiculous, and annoying to people of
culture and understanding. Self-Confidence is something that should
never be proclaimed or announced except through intelligent perform-
ance of constructive deeds.
If you have Self-Confidence, those around you will discover this fact.
Let them make the discovery. They will feel proud of their alertness in
having made the discovery, and you will be free from the suspicion of