ACCURATE THINKING 671Very well, let those who are satisfied with this standard of success
have it. But there are some who will want to go higher up the ladder,
in search of success that is measured other than in material standards,
and it is for their benefit in particular that this and the subsequent
lessons of this course are intended.
DEDUCTIVE REASONING
Accurate Thinking involves two fundamentals. First, in order for you
to think accurately you must separate facts from mere information.
There is much "information" available to you that is not based on
facts. Second, you must separate facts into two classes: the important
and the unimportant, or the relevant and the irrelevant.
All facts that you can use in the attainment of your Definite
Chief Aim are important and relevant; all that you cannot use are
unimportant and irrelevant. It is mainly the neglect of some to make
this distinction that so widely separates those people who appear to
have equal ability and those who have had equal opportunity. Within
your own circle of acquaintances you can likely point to one or more
who have had no greater opportunity than you, and who have no
more ability than you, but who are achieving far greater success.
And you wonder why. The answer is that they have acquired the
habit of combining and using the important facts that affect their
line of work. Far from working harder than you, they are perhaps
working less and with greater ease. By separating the important facts
from the unimportant, they have provided themselves with a sort of
fulcrum and lever with which they can move, with their little fingers,
loads that you cannot budge with the entire weight of your body.
So that you may understand the importance of distinguishing
between facts and mere information, study the type of person who
is guided entirely by what they hear-the type who is influenced by
gossip; who accepts, without analysis, all that they read or hear in